He then pointed out to the
men the danger of their situation, what were the measures which he
and Krantz had decided upon taking, and how necessary it was that all
should be cool and collected. He also reminded them that they had but
little powder in the magazine, which was far from the site of the
fire, and could easily be removed and thrown overboard; and that, if
the fire could not be extinguished, they had a quantity of spars on
deck to form a raft, which, with the boats, would receive all on
board, and that they were but a short distance from land. Philip's address had the most beneficial effects; the men rose up when
he ordered them; one portion went down to the magazine, and handed up
the powder, which was passed along and thrown overboard; another went
to the pumps; and Krantz, coming up, reported the hole to have been
cut in the planking of the deck above the main-hold: the hoses were
fixed, and a quantity of water soon poured down, but it was impossible
that the danger could be kept secret. The troops were sleeping on
the deck, and the very employment of the seamen pointed out what had
occurred, even if the smoke, which now increased very much, and filled
the lower deck, had not betrayed it. In a few minutes the alarm of
_Fire_! was heard throughout the vessel, and men, women, and children
were seen, some hurrying on their clothes, some running frightened
about the decks, some shrieking, some praying, and the confusion and
terror were hardly to be described. The judicious conduct of Philip was then made evident: had the sailors
been awakened by the appalling cry, they would have been equally
incapable of acting, as were the troops and passengers. All
subordination would have ceased: some would have seized the boats,
and left the majority to perish: others would have hastened to the
spirit-room, and, by their drunkenness, added to the confusion and
horror of the scene: nothing would have been effected, and almost all
would, in all probability, have perished miserably. But this had been
prevented by the presence of mind shown by Philip and the second mate,
for the captain was a cypher:--not wanting in courage certainly, but
without conduct or a knowledge of his profession. The seamen continued
steady to their duty, pushing the soldiers out of the way as they
performed their allotted tasks: and Philip perceiving this, went
down below, leaving Krantz in charge; and by reasoning with the most
collected, by degrees he brought the majority of the troops to a state
of comparative coolness. The powder had been thrown overboard, and another hole having been cut
in the deck on the other side, the other pump was rigged, and double
the quantity of water poured into the hold; but it was evident to
Philip that the combustion increased. The smoke and steam now burst
through the interstices of the hatchways and the holes cut in the
deck, with a violence that proved the extent of the fire which raged
below, and Philip thought it advisable to remove all the women and
children to the poop and quarter-deck of the ship, desiring the
husbands of the women to stay with them. It was a melancholy sight,
and the tears stood in Philip's eyes as he looked upon the group of
females--some weeping and straining their children to their bosoms;
some more quiet and more collected than the men: the elder children
mute or crying because their mothers cried, and the younger ones,
unconscious of danger, playing with the first object which attracted
their attention, or smiling at their parents. The officers commanding
the troops were two ensigns newly entered, and very young men,
ignorant of their duty and without any authority--for men in cases
of extreme danger will not obey those who are more ignorant than
themselves--and, at Philip's request, they remained with and
superintended the women and children. So soon as Philip had given his orders that the women and children
should be properly clothed (which many of them were not), he went
again forward to superintend the labour of the seamen, who already
began to show symptoms of fatigue, from the excess of their exertions;
but many of the soldiers now offered to work at the pumps, and their
services were willingly accepted. Their efforts were in vain. In about
half an hour more the hatches were blown up with a loud noise, and a
column of intense and searching flame darted up perpendicularly from
the hold, high as the lower mast-head. Then was heard the loud shriek
of the women, who pressed their children in agony to their breasts,
as the seamen and soldiers who had been working the pumps, in their
precipitate retreat from the scorching flames, rushed aft, and fell
among the huddled crowd. "Be steady, my lads--steady, my good fellows," exclaimed Philip;
"there is no danger yet. Recollect, we have our boats and raft, and
although we cannot subdue the fire, and save the vessel, still we
may, if you are cool and collected, not only save ourselves, but
everyone--even the poor infants, who now appeal to you as men to
exert yourselves in their behalf. Come, come, my lads, let us do our
duty--we have the means of escape in our power if we lose no time. Carpenter, get your axes, and cut away the boom-lashings. Now, my men,
let us get our boats out, and make a raft for these poor women and
children; we are not ten miles from the land. Krantz, see to the boats
with the starboard watch; larboard watch with me, to launch over the
booms. Gunners, take any of the cordage you can, ready for lashing. Come, my lads, there is no want of light--we can work without
lanterns." The men obeyed, as Philip, to encourage them, had almost jocularly
remarked (for a joke is often well-timed, when apparently on the
threshold of eternity), there was no want of light. The column of fire
now ascended above the main-top--licking with its forky tongue the
top-mast rigging--and embracing the mainmast in its folds: and the
loud roar with which it ascended proved the violence and rapidity of
the combustion below, and how little time there was to be lost. The
lower and main decks were now so filled with smoke that no one could
remain there: some few poor fellows, sick in their cots, had long been
smothered, for they had been forgotten. The swell had much subsided,
and there was not a breath of wind: the smoke which rose from the
hatchways ascended straight up in the air, which, as the vessel had
lost all steerage way, was fortunate. The boats were soon in the
water, and trusty men placed in them: the spars were launched over,
arranged by the men in the boats, and lashed together. All the
gratings were then collected and firmly fixed upon the spars for the
people to sit upon; and Philip's heart was glad at the prospect which
he now had of saving the numbers which were embarked.