The first thing to do was to get the ship’s head before the wind, at the same time the fire engine was rigged, and soon the fore part of the ship was being deluged with water. But somehow or other the ship was allowed to come head to wind, which drove the smoke aft in suffocating clouds. From this moment all discipline seems to have been lost; flames began to burst forth in the ’tween decks and out through every scuttle and air vent, and they were soon roaring up the tarred shrouds, so that within an hour and a half of the discovery of the fire the flames had got such a hold that the ship was doomed.
The emigrants now took panic, and, shouting and screaming, made a rush for the boats. The starboard quarter boat was lowered down, but immediately she touched the water such a crowd of demented emigrants swarmed down the ship’s side into her that she was capsized. Whilst the longboat was being swung out of her chocks, her bow caught fire, and in the end only the port and starboard lifeboats got safely away from the ship’s side, the one with 42 and the other with 39 people.
“CRUSADER.”
[Larger image] (227 kB)
![[Larger image]](#6242537029064317809_i_p352a_1_large.jpg.id-5554894253040683729.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
“COSPATRICK.”
Photo by De Maus.
[Larger image] (219 kB)
![[Larger image]](#6242537029064317809_i_p352a_2_large.jpg.id-4627386311922529023.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
The two boats stayed by the ship until the afternoon of the 19th, when she sank beneath the waves, a blackened, charred and smoking hull. One can scarcely imagine the horror of the scene during this weary waiting for the end of the ship. The people in the boats watched the main and mizen mast fall, and heard shrieks from the crowded after part of the ship, as many luckless wretches were crushed in their fall. Then the stern with its old Blackwall quarter galleries was blown out by the flames and smoke. Lastly the captain was seen to throw his wife overboard and spring after her himself.