The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-01-03
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PERFECT SHIP YET A MYTH-BUT MARINE DISASTERS ARE
FREQUENT A GENERATION OR TWO AGo-HARD-
SHIPS EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, TRAVELLERS.

nothing was left of the ship or pas
sengers except some drifting wreck
age.
Another East Indian, the 1,3SO-tor
ship Kent, had tragic end. She
sailed in February of 1925 for Bengal
with 651 persons on board, consisting
of 344 private soldiers, 20 officers, A.
women, Sc children, 20 private passen-
/ gers and crew of 14S men.
Nine days after sailing and while the
ship was encountering a heavy gale
in the Atlantic, one of the officers went
! below to secure a spirit cask which
/ had got adrift in the hold. The cask
was stove in, and. probably from the
light the officer carried, the escaping
spirit caught fire. In a moment the
after-hold of the ship. was in flames.
Although streams of water We're
poured upon the fire it spread rapidly,
and the order was given to scuttle
the lower decks and cut away the
c0mbings and hatchways, so as to al
low the steam to rush into that part of
the vessel. So eXpeditiously was this
done that some of the sick soldiers and
women who were below, together with
some of the children, were unable to
reach the upper deck in time, and
were drowned.
The flames were checked for a while,
bu5 the ship was water-logged and
unmanageable. The flames regained
Roadway, and 1t was soon apparent
that to save the ship was impossible.
A strong gale was blowing and the
outlook became so hopeless that some
of the soldiers wanted to touch off the
powder magazine and end the misery
of all hands at once. While affairs
were in this desperate condition a sail
was sighted on the lee bow and the
minute gun was fired to attract the
others attention.
The newcomer proved to be the ship
Cambria, and she was soon nearby.
The big cutter was lowered and the
women and children were the first to
be taken off. Only a certain number
could be carried each trip, and it took
the cutter 40 minutes to make the
journey back and forth. All the time
the fire was getting hotter and the
danger of the King blowing up greater
The high sea made it hazar lous work
to get into the boat. and again to reach
the deck of the Cambria. Many were
drowned or crushed on each trip, and
no time could be taken to save them.
The Kent blew up while the cutter
was carrying her last load back to the
Cambria. In all SO were lost out of a
total OF 65l.
The wreck of the steamer Killarney
on the Irish coast on January 20. 1898,
was largely due to the cargo of live
pigs. The pigs caused the ship TO roll
heavily in the rough weather as they
shifted about with the motion of the
craft. Great quantities of water poured
in, and after a time the pumps became
clogged and useless. An effort was
made to dump the pigs overheard, but
this was slow work. The water put out
The engine fires and the vessel was
helpless. Eventually she was dashed
upon the rocks, but before she went
down some few of the passengers and
crew managed TO climb on the high
cliffs above the range of the big seas.
These were rescued, but in all more
than 100 were drowned.
Within the past 45 years tens of
thousands OF lives have been lost in
ocean catastrophes. 1t is possible only
to summarize the most important of
these as follows In the Amazon,
burned in the Bay of Biscay in 1858,
104 lives We're lost; in the Anglo-S Saxon,
wrecked off Cape Race in 1863, 237
lives; in the Atlantic, wrecked near
Meagher's Island. Nova Scotia, in 1873,
4S1 lives; in the Arctic, 90 lives; in the
Austria, burned in mid-Atlantic in 1858,
40 lives; in the City of Boston. lost
at sea, 191 lives; in the Borussla. 200
lives; in the Cimbria, bound from
Hamburg for New York sunk by the
Sultan in 1888, asa lives; in the Central
America, lost on the way from Havana
TO New York, in 1S47, 400 lives: in the
Evening Star. fOundered between New
York and New Orleans in 1866, pa
lives; in the George Canning, bound
for New York. wrecked off the Elbe
in 1866. 90 lives: in the City of Glas-
gov. fOundered in the Atlantic in 1854
$50 lives: in the Hungarian wrecked
off the coast of Nova Scotia in 1860. 205