the billows of flame and smoke , the burning chunks of wood and coal spilling everywhere , scalding-hot steam bursting free , clouds of white death enveloping the boat , the walls blowing out and burning , bodies flying through the air afire or half-cooked , the chimneys cracking , collapsing , the screams , the steamer listing and sinking into the river , sizzling and hissing and smoking , charred corpses floating face down amid the debris , the great side-wheeler coming apart until nothing was left but burnt wood and a chimney sticking up crookedly from the water .