Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-03-02
A FIRE IN MIDOCEAN.
one WHO HAS B. ZEN THROUGH IT
RELATES HIS EXPERIENCE.

vox.rer-Exorts OF the Onicers to Keep
.hs Exciteme.s 1Down-PecuIiar Traits
Of Character Brsaght Ont by the Danger.
The man who has never enjoyed the
uniuue experience of spending week or
W on board of burning steamer In MD
.cean can hardly ra1lize the sensation pro
duced by such thrilling incident. j. r.
Dodson of the Kend.,l company had TINS
experience while retn rning to England
acme two wears ago, an d the story IS pest
told in his own words: I'VE had booked
massage on one OF the big stea mships, ne
savs. sand at the lssJ mornent IL was
learned that something was Inc 'ha..er
with her machinery, aud we were an eraus
ferred to the City of Richmond, an OLD
boat. but considered perfectly sea"or'ny
OF course we were dis0ppointed az .he
change. but there was no help Tor u, SO
yYe proceeded to make the best OF 1t. Wen,
tho weather was disagreeable from the
start. and many of the pas engers were
very sick. One chap in part GUAR hao
hard time. He was an eccentric ei,o"' anu
he insisted upon having his me- uS ser'eu
on the deck, possibly because 1t w,uiu per
nit him to be conveniently near nc i'i,
in case of emergency. One day WI Nched
him nj DINNER. Ilc uhA So"p p'"Nf
mis- went into the ocean. Fish follow "a IL
,bcro soon afterward. SO did every Oh her
course in turn. At last he struck q "a
he seemed to relish. It was asparagus. I've
demolished one order of it and then gave
IL IN to the sea. lie was persistent, now
ever and called for another portion inns
shared n similar fate. A third and iourtn
order followed with like results. Ihen ne
gave In. After that we called nm As
paraous and that name stuck by nm
through the voyage. He used to drop INTO
the smoking room and lecture the men ior
plavin~ cards, saying that something
dreadful would happen to the ship II they
persisted in gambling. He was general
nuisance.
.WeII. about the fourth night out was
aroused from n sound sleep by one VI the
ladies of our company. She raped OH 'he
door of my stateroom and tod me IN AVA
tones that the ship was on iIre dresse'
bnstily and went on deck. 1t was piach
night, and the rain was pouring IN TOR
rents. The captain and all OF his olhce's
were on the bridge | learned that the
cotton between decks was on fire, and
asked one of the officers, n friend of mine.
what was m. Don't say Il word of this,
he whispered 'as it would cost me my po-
sition. but unless we can keep that IRE
under we are gone. You run to my cabin
ard nut on some oilskins you II ind there
Also get two revolvers you'll find IN my
locker could see the need of ollsklns,
but | failed to understand why needed
shooting irons. we are going to provision
the boats for an emergency, he SAID, ana
the first men to rush for them will be the
firemen and stokers They are the scum
Of the earth, and the only way to hold them
back is ut the point of n revolver. we
must provide for the women first. Don't
breathe Il word of what I've told you, or
III lose my place.
AT the head of the big companionway
there was crowd of the women, all hud-
died together and there was Caroline
Hill. the actress, her blond hair flying
and in her hands silver backed hand
glass and other trinkets, which she pro
posed to save. With the women was my
old friend Asparagus, telling them that
he knew disaster would come on account
of the card playing in the smoking room.
took him gently but firmly aside and
told him to shut up--that he was soaring
the women. DO you think SOP he asked
did, and then he went and crawled I'M
der a blanket, where he remained the rest
of the night. All of us started to provi
sion the boats then, and we carried hams
aud sides of bacon and crackers and kegs
of water and canned goods and slowed
them away in the big boats. We worked
ON till morning came, and the dawn was
most welcome. They had turned steam
into the hold, and it kept the fire down.
Once they lifted hatch to pour water
in, and looked into n glowing furnace.
The air gave the fire life, and they clapped
the hatch on again, battened it down aud
Il a., II
hope During the morning we sighted an
other vessel and sent up signals OF dis
tress She came near and was told by sig
nails of our plight and asked to stand by.
We felt treasured, but pretty soon the Off
.fi Ger knew told me that we could never
transfer passengers on that sea The
stranger signaled, too. that she had vel
low fever on board and no room for our
500 people. We would be obliged to sleep
on the cargo in the hold Pleasant pros
pect, wasn't it? But she stood by us any
way.
1.-The next day we sighted a big steam
err. 1t proved to be the Servia Of our line.
and when she learned of our trouble she
hove to and agreed to stand by. We felt
better then. as had been told that the
boats could not live five minutes in the
heavy sea. The next day it was compar
AtlNely CAIN, anu tUp tHFtt captains pun
out in boats and had consultation, the
result of which was that the yellow feve,
vessel went on her way, and the big Servia
stood by us. At last we were safe. One
day In the smoking room n Scotch pas
senger arose and said that we should give
thanks to the Almighty for our deleever
ance' We thought it was not the time
and place for that exactly, but he insisted
that his friend. the ev'rend Master Mac
Pheerson,' offer prayer. He did SO, and
it was long one too. Just as he said
amen the steward came in. went up to
him and said. Here's your cocktail, sir.
We did not dare laugh. We arranged to
take up subscription for the brave men
who had acted so nobly in the face of dan
ger, and i was one of the committee ap-
pointed, I had many queer experiences
One old Scotchman, said to be one of the
richest men in Glasgow, said to me when
approached him: Il think a subscription
is aw vera weel, but I'm not on dry land
yet Wait till them We raised hand
some sum, which we turned over as a ties
timonial of our gratitude. Wa were al
very happy when we sighted land, after