The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-05-12
1T WAS A DEATH STRUGGLE.
CAPTAIN DAGGETT DESCRIBES THE
FIRE ON THE LEONA.

by the City of Augusta and the
Passengers Rescued - Thrilling
story of the Disaster ut Sea-Testi-
mOniaIs For Captain Daggett and
the First and second Mates.
The steamship City of Augusta. of the
Ocean Steamship Company, which went to
the rescue of the passengers of the burn
ing steamer Leona of the Mallory Line
on its trip from New York, arrived in Sa-
vannah yesterday at 80 o'clock.
Capt. Daggett, told the story of the dis
aster which befen the Leona, and the
thrilling scenes enacted during the time he
held his ship at her side for the purpose
of rescuing the doomed passengers while
the fire preyed mercilessly upon the Nal
Tory liner.
1T was certainly a death struggle
said Capt. Daggett to a Morning News
reporter yesterday, sitting in his room
aboard the City of Augusta, just after
she had drawn up at dock, land If any
body had asked me what / would give for
that ship when l saw her aflame' / would
have told them not one red cent. TOO
much praise cannot be given the captain
and officers and crew of the burning ship
for their heroic work and GOODNESS in saw
sng that boat, 1t was great work. and
those fellows are heroes, everyone OF
them.
"Of course, our part in the affair was
simply that Of rescuers," said the captain
modestly, land all we had to do was TO
stand by our fellows and their crew Tor
the sake of humanity and simple mercy.
This we were glad to do, and am thank
ful to say we were the means of saving
the passengers and allowing the crew of
the stricken ship to extinguish the fire
which was playing havoc with her at
the time we drew near.
ut was about o'clock in the morning
when we first sighted her. Second Mate
"a. A. Daggett was on watch, ana atter
observing the ship for quite little whi'e
he thought there must be something
wrong. but he could not discover just
what the trouble was. If the ship was
burning her distress signals, and l sup
pose she was, the second mate could not
make them out, but he could see that
something strange was going on, and af-
ter spending some time in perpleXity as
TO what the trouble could be, he awakened
me with the statement that ship was
sighted and something was wrong with
her. I went out and took a view OF the
situation.
=" That ship's a-fre,' / said, and quick
" gave orders for our ship TO be put ABOUT
and go to her. Just then she began 70
blow her distress signals, and l answered
them. In a short while 1 was close beside
the burning ship, and l tell you IT was a
distressing sight. The flames were Tar
more advanced than had even dreamed
of when l first saw her, and saw that
there was a struggle for life ahead.
"'What can / do for you, captain, l
shouted to the officer in charge of the
doomed vessel, Just give me your orders;
am here to help you in every way posi-
ble and will stand by you in all That
can do
Take my passengers he shouted back
eagerly, That's the first thing to be done
and do 1t quickly
WITHOUT a moments delay we lowered
our boats, and First Mate Frank Bogart
and Second Mate Daggett went aboard the
burning ship and began to take the pas
sengers off. 1t was just in time to get
them away from what might have been
a total wreck or at least panic, put
must say the passengers, as well as the
crew of the Leona, were cool and clear
headed all the while and this aided us
considerably in rescuing them without the
slightest trouble. The fire was Tar adVanc-
ed and Increasing every minute, II SEEM
ed, Her bow was red hot and great Jumps
of paint was rolling from her sides, DIS
tered by the intense heat within. They
told us that there were ten dead already
I heard afterwards that the number was
sixteen, thirteen passengers and three or
the crew, but / didn't learn this until
reached Savannah a while ago.
much of the freight Of the ship was
hurled into the sea. Two or three dozen
sewing machines were cast OUT, anu
other freight at random. Some of It was
picked up by fishermen, who had come
up in their smacks, and were drifting
about the scene of disaster. While COM
ing over in the boat to the city of Augusta
some of the passengers picked bundle
of buggy whips, which had been thrown
overheard, and gave them to the passen-
gers on the City of Augusta as souvenirs.
The handles were badly charred by the
flames In the Leona, and much of the
other freight that was thrown overheard
was equally damaged. When the passen-
gers were all safely landed on our decks
the crew of the Leona went about the
work of eXtinguishing the flames with
heartier zest and a newness Of life, and
have never seen men fight fire as those
lads did. They saw that IL was a death
struggle, and they determined TO fight II
TO a finish. Il was an awful picture, too,
and l don't suppose there was a soul who
witnessed the terrible spectacle who ever
thought that ship would be wrenched
from the grasp of the flames But by
heroic effort, the crew got the fire under
control in a few hours, and by II o'clock
they were ready. under their own steam,
20 put back to New York with their pas
sengers aboard. The fire was entirely out,
and the ship was in condition TO make the
trip In perfect safety.
Meantime, the passengers had all quiet
ed down sufficiently to mingle with each
other and discuss quite calmly the events
OF the day and their narrow escape The
passengers on the City of Augusta. who
had been awakened early in the morning
by the stopping OF our engines, and who
had been up all the forenoon In great
excitement and concern at the spectacle
before them, wrote letters aud gave them
TO the passengers aboard the Leona, who
took them back 10 New York for them.
We were delayed six hours. and that ac-
counts for our hardness IN reaching port
to-day
The passengers aboard the City OF Au-
gusta tell many thrilling stories about
the eventful trip from New York, and an