BURNED TO DEATH. 283 



lady, apparently to keep the heat from her. A female passenger rushed on deck, having 

 on only her night-gown, the bottom of which and her legs were much burnt. Three times 

 she was placed in one of the boats which was saved, but she refused to remain. Several 

 persons hurriedly said to her that they would soon give her plenty of clothing when she 

 got away from the ship, but modesty prevailed over the love of life, and she remained 

 behind to perish. 



A horrible story of one standing near the helm is given : his face and side burnt, 

 and a huge blister formed, which burst in ; the skin was falling away in ribbons. A little 

 boy was also burnt black, and the skin was falling from him in a similar manner. Still 

 the vessel was dashing forward in headlong speed, but still efforts were made to launch 

 the boats; but here, in consequence of the manner in which they were stowed resting on 

 iron crutches or brackets, instead of being simply suspended, as usual unexpected difficulties 

 presented themselves. It was necessary first to raise them, put them over the bulwarks, and 

 lower them a work of time and labour. In the hurry two of the boats were stove in ; and in 

 the case of others, one end would be lowered properly, the other remaining high in the air, so 

 that the wretched passengers and sailors who crowded into them were plunged violently into 

 the water, escaping the fury of one element only to be devoured by another. In one single 

 case fifteen were thus drowned, while one only escaped. Not to accumulate the details of 

 horrors, which constantly repeated themselves, it may be here stated that the whole number of 

 persons on board the Amazon when she left Southampton was 162 ; of these 110 formed the 

 crew ; there were 50 passengers, and the mail agent and his servant. The first boat which 

 landed at Plymouth brought in 21 ; the Gertruida, a Dutch galliot, picked up a boat con- 

 taining 16 on Sunday night, and another containing 8 on the following morning. Another 

 vessel, also a Dutch galliot, picked up 13 more. The total number lost amounted, therefore, 

 to 104, and 58 only were saved. 



A survivor stated that during the time they were drifting in their boat towards the ship, 

 which was burning broadside on to the wind, her mainmast went first, the foremast following ; 

 it was a considerable time before the mizen-mast fell, directly after which he noted a slight 

 explosion of gunpowder. Previous to this a barque hove in sight, and passed between their boat 

 and the burning ship. They judged her to be outward-bound from her being under close- 

 reefed topsails. As she passed at between three and four hundred yards they hailed her 

 several times with their united voices, strengthened by all the energy of despair. She 

 answered them, and brailed her spanker, and they naturally thought she was preparing to 

 bear up for their rescue. " I shall never forget," said the narrator, " the deep sob of hope 

 with which I noticed these preparations, or the bitterness of feeling with which I saw him 

 spread his canvas to the wind, and wear round past the stern of the burning vessel, as he left 

 us to our fate." 



Among those who perished on that terrible night was a distinguished author, whose 

 writings are, or should be, familiar to all readers. Wai-burton* perished either in the flames 

 or, as some thought, in one of the boats which was swamped. He had been sent out by the 

 Atlantic and Pacific Junction Company, specially deputed to make a friendly arrangement 

 with the Indians of the isthmus of Darien. As an old and practised traveller, he had proposed 

 * Eliot Warburton, the author of " The Crescent and the Cross," &c. , &c. 



