The San Francisco call., 1896-04-25

fetch mdde oy captain Kidd OF the BrW3sR
the nearest port and put into Lyttleton on De-
cember 27, where we discharged 1858 tons of
coal.
Sailed from Lyttleton on February'10 and had
light northeast and easterly winds. On April
16, in latitude "a 10 N, longitude 132 so W.,
fell in with the British ship Republic, from
Newcastle, n S. W., for San Francisco. Cap
tain Hughes reported that he was on fire and
asked us TO stand by him in case of accident.
Stayed by him until the 10Th of April, when
he had to abandon his vessel and come aboard
my ship. The crew consisted of thirty all
told. 1t was very rough at the time and it
was impossible to save the boats they came
with.
When we last saw the Republic sheets of
flame were coming from the matches and the
main and fore mast went over the side.
Captain Hughes is an old and tried
navigator and is well known in San
Francisco. He said yesterday: "On
April 10 the first indication that tae
cargo was on fire was given. Thin spiral
columns of smoke began to creep out of
the fore hatch. ordered it opened up
and found the thermometer registering
57.5S degrees. All the men were put to
work and several streams of water were
turned into the hold. For nearly week
we worked morning. noon and night, but
the fire gained on US spite of all we
could do.
ION April Is the fore and main matches
b'ew off and Dick Jones had his hand and
arm injured by one of the matches and
badly burnt by the flames. After that
the coal gas kept going off at intervals,
and everybody was driven aft, as it was
impossible to live in the forecastle. The
boats were got out, but an attempt to pro-
vision them failed, and the men could not
get any of their clothing. All we had to
live on was aft in the cabin, and had we
been compelled to abandon the ship with
out assistance being at hand we would
have been in terrible predicament.
"On the 10th inst. the HOLLYWOOD hove
in sight, and although the thermometer
then registered 12O degrees I still had
hopes of saving my ship. We were then
| only a little over $50 miles from San Fran
| cisco, and given fair wind I could easily
have made port At this time it was
rainy. squally and high sea was running
l signaled the HOLLYWOOD to stand by
me. which Captain Kidd did.
"On the 10Th inst. the foremast began to
sink, and the decks were so hot that we
could barely stand it. / gave orders to
abandon the ship and at S P. NJ. we went
| away in our own boats. Early on the
morning of the Goth inst. the foremast
| went by the board, and the fall lit up the
| sky for miles around About IA. NJ. the
mainmast followed the foremast and took
the mlzzen royal with it. Two hours later
we could still see the smoke and the livid
| glare, but the hull of the ship we never
saw again. Captain Kidd treated us with
| everv kindness and we reached port yes
| terday." ~
| Captain Kidd gives this account of his
voyage: "We had cargo Of West Wall
send coal, and when eleven days out
found WAS heated. 1 ran for Port Lyttle-
| ton, and there the surveyors recommended
| that the ship be discharged. All they left
in her was 1400 tons, and that l have still
on board
| l"On the 10th inst. I saw the Republic 8
| signals and ran down for her. The smoke
was coming out of her matches, and
asked Captain Hughes if he wanted to
come aboard. He answered that he was
going to hold on to the last minute, so I
ordered my gig away and went aboard of
her. He still insisted on staying by mis-
ship, and we then arranged for night sig
nails. If his ship was dangerous and he
was able to leave her in his own boats he
would fire rocket. If it was impossible
to get away in his own boats he was to
burn blue light, and then l would send
my boats to his assistance. esq
II kept the Republic company until last
Sunday, when Captain Hughes signaled
that the foremast was settling and the fire
increasing. / asked him, What are you
going to dor and he answered, 4 will hold
on little longer On Sunday evening he
slgnaled, i must abandon her, as the fire
is now dangerous / laid the HOLLYWOOD
to and waited for his boats. Only two
boats could be launched, and one of them
had to make two trips in order to get the
entire crew aboard my ship.
Il still stayed by the burning ship, and
at P. NJ. there was big explosion, and
the matches went flaming into the air. She
blazed at intervals all night, and when the
flames would shoot along they would make
the scene as light as day. AT 3:15 A. NJ. on
the 10th inst. the foremast went by the
board, and at $50 A. NJ. the mainmast fol-
lowed. BY this time / saw there was no
use in standing by the burning vessel, so I
proceeded an my course Two hours later
we could still see the smoke from the
burning derelict.''