The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1908-08-20

was fine bark, nearly new, of about
| 200 tons, and was seeking, in ballast
| cargo of sugar in some one of the Cubal
| ports. Boats were dispatched to brinf
/ off the crew, and such provisions. cord
age, sails and paints as thu differen
departments of my ship stood in neec
of. and at about 10 o'clock at night tn,
order was given to apply the torch [,
her.
I, The wind by this time had becom,
very light, and the night was pitch
dark-the darkness being of that kint
graphically described by old sailor.
when they say, you may cut 1t with 6
knife. l regret that 1 cannot give t.
the reader the picture of the burning
ship as it presented itself to the silent
! and solemn watchers on board the
Sumter as they leaned over her ham
| mock rails to witness it The boat
| which had been sent on this errand
of destruction, had pulled out of sight
and, her oars ceasing to resound, we
knew that she had reached the doomed
ship. but so impenetrable was the
darkness that no trace OF either boat
or ship could be seen, altho the Sum-
ter was distant only a few hundred
yards. Not sound could be heard on
board the Sumter, altho her deck was
crowded with men. Every one seemed
busy with his own thoughts, and gaZ-
ing eagerly in the direction of the
doomed ship endeavoring in vain to
penetrate the thick darkness. Suddenly
one of the crew exclaimed, There is
the flannel She is on fret The decks
on the Maine-built ship were of pine,
calked with old-fashioned oakum and
paid with pitch; the woodwork of the
cabin was like so much finder, having
been seasoned by many voyages to the
tropics, ard the forecastle was slowed
with paints and oils. The consequence
was that the flame was not long in
Kindling, but leaped, full grown into
the air. in very few minutes after its
first faint glimmcr had been seen. The
boarding officer. to do his work more
effectually, had applied the torch 81
simultaneously in three places, the
cabin. the main hold and the forecas-
tie; and how the devouring flames
rushed up these three apertures with
fury which nothing could resist. The
burning ship. with the Sumter's boat in
the act of showing off from her side;
the Sumter herself, with her grim,
black sides, lying in repose like some
great sea monster. gloating upon the
spectacle, and the sleeping sea, for
there was scarce ripple in the water,
were all brilliantly lighted. The in
draught into the burning ships holds
and cabins added every moment new
fury to the flames, and now they could
be heard roaring like the fires of a
hundred furnaces, in full blast The
prize ship had been laid to- with her
main topsail to the mast, and all her
light sails, tho clewed up, were flying
loose about the yards. The forlSed
tongues of the devouring element, leap
ing into the rigging, newly tarred, ran
rapidly up the shrouds, first into the
tops, then to the topmast heads, thence
to the topgallant and royal mastheads.
and in moment more to the trucks;
and whilst this rapid ascent of the main
current of fire was going on other cur
rents had run out upon the yards and
ignited ali the sails. A topgallant SAIL
all on fire, would now fly off from the
yard, and. sailing leisureIy in the di-
rection of the light breeze that was
tanning, rather than blowing. break into
bright and sparkling patches of fame
and settle or, rather. silt into the sea
The yard would then follow, and not
being wholly submerged by it's descent
into the sea, would retain portion of
its flame and continue to burn as
fioating brand, for some minutes. At
one time the intricate network of the
cordage of the burning ship was traced.
as with pencil of fire, upon the black
sky beyond, the many threads of flame
twisting and writhing like so many SER
penis that had received their death
wounds. The mizzenmast now went by
the board. then the foremost, and in
a few minutes afterward the great main
mast tottered, reeled and fell over the
ships side into the sea, making a noise
like that of the sturdy oak of the for
ests when IL falls by the stroke of the
axeman'