ordered to take by Krantz,
who had gone down to superintend this important arrangement. Such had
been the vigilance of Philip, who had requested Captain Barentz to stand
over the spirit-room hatch, with pistols, until the smoke on the
main-deck rendered the precaution unnecessary, that not a single person
was intoxicated, and to this might be ascribed the order and regularity
which had prevailed during this trying scene. But before one-third of
the soldiers had descended by the stern ladder, the fire burst out of
the stern windows with a violence that nothing could withstand; spouts
of vivid flame extended several feet from the vessel, roaring with the
force of a blowpipe; at the same time the flames burst through all the
after-ports of the main-deck, and those remaining on board found
themselves encircled with fire, and suffocated with smoke and heat. The
stern ladders were consumed in a minute and dropped into the sea the
boats which had been receiving the men were obliged also to back astern
from the intense heat of the flames; even those on the raft shrieked as
they found themselves scorched by the ignited fragments which fell on
them as they were enveloped in an opaque cloud of smoke, which hid from
them those who still remained on the deck of the vessel. Philip
attempted to speak to those on board, but he was not heard. A scene of
confusion took place which ended in great loss of life. The only object
appeared to be who should first escape; though, except by jumping
overboard, there was no escape. Had they waited, and (as Philip would
have pointed out to them) have one by one thrown themselves into the
sea, the men in the boats were fully prepared to pick them up; or had
they climbed out to the end of the latteen mizen-yard which was lowered
down, they might have descended safely by a rope, but the scorching of
the flames which surrounded them, and the suffocation from the smoke was
overpowering, and most of the soldiers sprang over the taffrail at once,
or as nearly so as possible. The consequence was, that there were
thirty or forty in the water at the same time, and the scene was as
heart-rending as it was appalling; the sailors in the boats dragging
them in as fast as they could--the women on the raft, throwing to them
loose garments to haul them in; at one time a wife shrieking as she saw
her husband struggling and sinking into eternity; at another, curses and
execrations from the swimmer who was grapp