The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1912-08-03

ueI tud0 Nate ClaXtOn ever
dreamed of, Mrs Bates always went
to sea with her captain-husband
Their first trip was made In 1850.
when her husband was In command
OF the Boston ship Nonantum. On
July q Mrs. Bates left Baltimore on
the Momentum forSan Francisco The
ships cargo was a thousand tons OF
coal and a huge quantity of provisions
listed for Panama When the NOnan-
tum reached the latitude of the Rio de
la Plata flames broke out In the hold
and for twelve whole days Mrs. Bates.
her husband and the rest Of the crew
stuck to the burning hulk and, by
fighting desperately with the fire. final
ly managed to bring the vessel to the
Falkland islands before the flames ate
through its sides.
mile from shore the fire conquered
the fighters and the Nonantum began
to fall apart as all hands got clear In
the small boats.
After weeks of waiting. the party on
the barren island were picked up by
the Dundee ship Humayoon, bound
from Scotland to Valparaiso. The cargo
of the Humayoon was also coal, and,
when the vessel reached Cape Horn,
the Bates hoodoo'-as sailors always
called it-got in its work again and
the ship went up in flames. Mrs. Bates
and the others on the ship We're com
PEELED to take to the small boats.
The Liverpool ship Symmetry. bound
to Acapulco, rescued them. II was
learned that the Symmetry was laden
with coal, as the other two ships had
been, and Mrs. Bates and the sailors
gathered on deck and offered up pray
er that the Bates hoodoo" would pass
them by this time.
During the first three hours that
Mrs. Bates was aboard nothing hap
pened. But the crew of the Symmetry
were SO positive in their superstition
that fire would surely break out il
she remained on the vessel, that Mrs.
Bates and her husband were persuad-
ed to transfer themselves to the Fan
chon, that passed the Symmetry on
its course to San Francisco The Fan
chOn. Mrs. Bates learned to her hor.
ror, was also laden with coal.
On Christmas night, several days
later, when the Fanchon was twelve
hundred miles from land, the usual
hoodoo fire came about as sure as fate.
Half of the crew was quickly ordered
to go below and fight the flames and
Mrs. Bates. DOMINIC sailors clothes.
gave the men her assistance, remain
ing below on watch for two days aft
er the fire had been extinguished Five
days later the Fanchon struck the
rocks of the Galapagos islands and
Mrs. Bates was one of those who was
hurled overheard by the shock of col
lision. Three hours after she reached
the shore-her life having been saved
by the merest chance-the flames
burst out on the Fanchon once more
and one hour later the vessel was a
black ruin.
After living for weeks as Crusoes on
the island, the shipwrecked colony was
rescued by a passing bark. Mrs Bates
was then transferred to the steamship
, Republic. carrying four hundred pas
sengers. Five days out, the old hoo
doc again asserted itself. Another
fierce fight with fire was in order. but
this time with little damage.
In short, fire followed Mrs. Bates
as a shadow. not only for years on sea.
but on land as we'll Shortly after her
arrival in San Francisco that city suf-
fered one its greatest conflagrations,
Six months later the hotel in which
Mrs. Bates was stopping in Marysville
was destroyed by fire and Mrs Bates
narrowly escaped death.
Mrs Bates. the fire woman of the
sea-" is regarded by American sailors
as the most extraordinary escaper
from death that they have ever en-