Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 5.djvu/113

 MURPHY V. SHIP BDLIOTB. 101 �extinguished. The Belle Darlington was first on the spot, and first played on the fire in the hold, and remained, with the aoquiescence of the master of the Suliote, to give further assistance, if necessary. She had five hands on board, in- cluding her master. The Maud Wilmot, after pumping a few minutes, was requested to leave, as her services were not required. The Protector, with 11 hands, including the mas- ter, was employed the whole of Friday and part of Saturday until the fire was extinguished. She belonged to the New Harbor Protection Company, and was constructed and fur- nished with powerful apparatus for extinguishing fires, and kept in readiness for that purpose. She employed not only water but carbonic acid gas, which, being forced into the hold with the hatches closed, extinguished the fire without injuring the cargo ; perhaps not so effectually as water in pen- etrating the interior of the baies of cotton. This was shown by the revival of the fire two or three times when exposed to the air by the removal of the hatches. The master of the Suliote had special confidence in the eiïiciency of the Pro- tector, which was the vessel for which he sent out messengers when the fire was discovered ; and after she had commenced operations his reliance was placed on her alone. None of the vessels employed were exposed to any danger whatever. The Suliote was at the wharf, in still water, and ail the operations were carried on without any risk to the vessels or the men except what was incurred by Higgins, who, after the removal of the hatches, descended into the hold, encased in armor, for the purpose of fastening the tackles to the baies required to be taken out of the ship. The fire had not made much progress; only 30 or 40 baies had caught, and only about 500 were taken out of the ship, although the whole cargo exposed to danger consisted of 4,100 baies. The fire had not proceeded so far as to render its extinguishment a matter of much difficuly with the appliances at hand, although this fact was not known until it was subdued. �The property in hazard was large in amount. The vessel was valued at $10,000, the cargo at $230,000, and the sum ����