iSS2.] 



SHIP TAKES FIRE. 



273 



The boats, having been so long drying in a tropical sun, 

 were very leaky, and were now half full of water, and books, 

 coats, blankets, shoes, pork, and cheese, in a confused mass 

 were soaking in them. It was necessary to put two men in 

 each, to bale ; and everything necessary being now ready, the 

 rest of the crew were called off again to pour water into the 

 hatchways and cabin, from which rose volumes of thick yellow 

 smoke. Now, too, we could hear in the hold the balsam 

 bubbling, like some great boiling caldron, which told of such 

 intense heat, that we knew the flames must soon break out. 

 And so it was, for in less than half an hour the fire burst 

 through the cabin-floor into the berths, and consuming rapidly 

 the dry pine-wood, soon flamed up through the skylight. 

 There was now a scorching heat on the quarter-deck, and we 

 saw that all hope was over, and that we must in a few minutes 

 be driven by the terrible element to take refuge on the scarcely 

 less dangerous one, which heaved and swelled its mighty 

 billows a thousand miles on every side of us. The Captain 

 at length ordered all into the boats, and was himself the last 

 to leave the vessel. I had to get down over the stern by a 

 rope into the boat, rising and falling and swaying about with 

 the swell of the ocean ; and, being rather weak, rubbed the 

 skin considerably ofl" my fingers, and tumbled in among 

 the miscellaneous articles already soaking there in the greatest 

 confusion. One sailor was baling with a bucket, and another 

 with a mug ; but the water not seeming at all to diminish, but 

 rather the contrary, I set to work helping them, and soon 

 found the salt-water producing a most intense smarting and 

 burning on my scarified fingers. 



We now lay astern of the ship, to which we were moored, 

 watching the progress of the fire. The flames very soon 

 caught the shrouds and sails, making a most magnificent 

 conflagration up to the very peak, for the royals were set at 

 the time. Soon after, the fore rigging and sails also burnt, 

 and flames were seen issuing from the fore hatchway, showing 

 how rapidly the fire was spreading through the combustible 

 cargo. The vessel, having now no sails to steady her, rolled 

 heavfly, and the masts, no longer supported by the shrouds, 

 bent and creaked, threatening to go overboard every minute. 

 The main-mast went first, breaking off about twenty feet above 

 the deck ; but the foremast stood for a long time, exciting our 



