"SHIP ON FIRE!" 63 



cooking-stove washing- about from side to side ; but almost every other movable article, in- 

 cluding spars and ropes, had apparently been removed by previous boarders." It would have 

 -delayed them too long to tow her into port, or they might have recovered some 1,500 as 

 salvage, while to blow her up would have required more powder than they had on board. 

 So she was left helplessly drifting about, a danger to any vessel running into her full steam 

 or sail almost as great as a sunken rock. 



Later, the owner of the Sunbeam was of real service, for a fine vessel was encountered, 

 under full sail and on fire, her cargo being smelting coal. Her red Union Jack was upside down, 

 while her signals read the terrible announcement, " Ship on fire ! " These were followed by 

 the signal, " Come on board at once/' and a boat's crew was at once despatched to the 

 rescue. They were purposely well armed, and for the sufficient reason that there was little 

 :sign of fire or smoke on board, and it was thought that there might be a mutiny on board. 

 In a few minutes the boat returned with the chief mate, a fine-looking Norwegian, who 

 a-eport ed his vessel the Monkshaven, sixty-eight days from Swansea, and bound for Val- 

 paraiso. The fire had been discovered five days previously, and the morning following the 

 first day the crew had got all their clothes and provisions on deck, and had thrown every- 

 thing of a combustible nature tar, oil, pitch, spare spars, and so forth overboard. The 

 hatches had then been battened down, but all efforts to subdue the fire were unavailing. The 

 officers and men had been living on deck under a canvas screen, the water being a foot deep 

 even there. When the hatches were opened for a moment, dense clouds of hot, suffocating 

 yellow smoke immediately poured forth, driving back all who approached. In such 

 cases it is often difficult to find the location of the fire, which may at any time burst open 

 the deck or burn a hole through the hull. The dangerous nature of such cargoes may be 

 inferred from the fact that of every three vessels going out to Valparaiso or Callao, one 

 catches fire, although, of course, the flames are often got under control. They had en- 

 countered a terrific gale, and while burning had signalled a large American steamship, which 

 had contemptuously steamed away from them. When the men had all been transferred to 

 the yacht for it was found impossible to save the barque the poor fellows were almost 

 wild with joy and excitement. Soon after the fated vessel was blazing like a tar-barrel, 

 ;and the yacht steamed round her near enough for all on board to feel the heat. Fifteen 

 extra mouths to feed was a serious addition to the passengers and crew of the Sunbeam, and 

 the water ration had to be cut down, but otherwise they had all they could wish, and a week 

 later were transferred to the Pacific Company's mail steamer Illimani, then homeward bound. 

 The satisfaction which must have been felt by Mr. and Mrs. Brassey at having the ability 

 :as well as the will to save fifteen lives may well be imagined. 



One of woman's noblest attributes is her readiness to help in the hour of need, and its 

 exercise has been by no means confined to the land. Late in 1879 the British India Steam 

 Navigation Company's steamer Eldorado had a hairbreadth escape from destruction in the Bay 

 -of Biscay. The rascally Lascar crew abandoned their posts and gave themselves up to 

 despair, and the passengers "passed" coal to the stoke-hole and worked hard at baling; many 

 ladies even volunteered to assist, and two American ladies acted as stewardesses and dispensed 

 coffee and provisions to the rest. 



How often of late years have female swimmers saved life ? The case to be cited, and 



