Page:True and correct narrative of the dreadful burning of the steam-ship Amazon.pdf/5

THE AMAZON the northward ; sea confused, but decreasing ; put the boat before the sea. At five o’clock the ship's magazine exploded, and about half-an-hour afterwards the funnels went over the sides and sha sunk. At noon we were picked up by the Marsden, of London, Captain Evans, by whom we were treated in the kindest manner possible. We were picked up in lat. 48. 5 N., long 5 30 W.; wind north to north east. The captain stood into the coast of France, but the wind shifting to the southward he bore up for Plymouth, where we arrived at 10. 15 p.m on the 5th, and were most hospitably and kindly received by the landlord of the Globe Hotel.

Mr R. Neilson, one of the only two passengers saved, reports as follows :—

"At 12.40, fire broke out. In less than ten minutes it was bursting up the fore and maim hatchways. Out of 156 people on board, only twenty-one are. I believe, saved for I was in the last boat that left the ship, and one of the two last men who got in after lowering her, by springing from the ship’s side and sliding down the tackle fall. The fire caught the other man and burned the hair of his face before he sprang off."

The following descriptive and more detailed accounts have been collected from day to day :—

"The boats of the Amazon were fitted with iron cranes (or crutches) on which their keels rested; these-fittings obstructed their clearance from the ship, and but for this fatal arrangement the serious loss of life would have been lessened. Captain Symons ordered that no one should get into the boats. This order was obeyed (until the people saw the flames overpowering the ship). He was last seen with the man at the wheel, ordering the helm to be put up, so'as to keep the ship before the wind. His last words were—‘It is all over with her.’ The officer of the watch, Mr Treweeke (second officer), was walking the bridge when the accident was discovered. Mr Henry Roberts, chief officer, (in his shirt only,) was actively assisting the captain : he was last seen going through the companion down to the main deck, and is supposed to have perished there. Mr Lewis (third officer), Mr Goodridge (fourth officer), and two midshipmen, some of whose berths were forward on the port side of the m