New Hampshire Statesman

Affecting Account.

THE KENT EAST INDIAMAN.

We stated, in a part of our last week's impression, the gratifying fact, that the Caroline, Captain Bibby, from Alexandria, Egypt, has passed up to the Quarantine ground, having on board fourteen soldiers saved from the wreck of the above unfortunate vessel. Having on Monday had an opportunity of conversing with some of the poor fellows who were so providentially snatched from the very jaws of death, we have collected from them several interesting particulars of the melancholy catastrophe of which they were the spectators and the only survivors.

It appears, that the men left on the wreck never, for a moment, imagined that they should be abandoned by their comrades to perish either by fire or water. The flames broke out, they state, about seven o'clock in the evening, at or near the main-mast, and instantly ran, with great rapidity, from stem to stern, scorching and burning dreadfully many persons who could not escape from the fury of the destructive element. The fire still continuing to increase, about nine o'clock the flames caught the rigging. At this awful crisis, as near as the poor fellows could guess, the Cambria appeared to be getting under way. All the officers and men had got on board the brig, except two serjeants, two corporals, about fifty privates, and seven helpless children, all of whom were abandoned to their fate. The Cambria, they state, was not at this time, more than a quarter to a half a mile from the Kent. As soon as they perceived her making sail; they instinctively raised a shout of despair, calling upon their more fortunate comrades not to abandon them to that death which, to all human appearances, was inevitable, if they were left on the burning wreck. The soldiers are quite confident, that their cries for help, which derived strength from despair, must have been heard on board the Cambria. No notice, however, was taken of them, and the vessel soon disappeared from their sight.

The sensations of the multitude, at this awful juncture, may be more easily imagined than described. The whole range of the Kent was rapidly enveloping in flames. with the exception of a part of the quarter deck, which was the last to fall a prey to the furious element. The unfortunate wretches were successively driven from place to place on the decks by the too rapid progress of the flames.

Many affecting incidents occurred, during the dreadful interval between the departure of the Cambria and the time when the survivors were compelled by the ravages of the flames, to commit themselves, as the only remaining chance of escape, to the fragments of floating wreck. Two brothers named Burton, privates in the 31st regiment, despairing of all hopes of escape from the fiery element, affectionately embraced each other and joining hands, precipitated themselves into the sea. They both perished. A father whose wife and one child had got on board the Cambria, was left with a second child on the wreck. When the progress of the fire had rendered longer stay on board the Kent impossible, he threw himself and his helpless offspring into the sea, in the hope of being able to swim with it to some of the floating wreck. Unfortunately, the poor fellow could not keep his hold of his child, and it sunk from his paternal grasp to rise no more. This man is one of the fourteen saved by the Caroline. Another father had lashed his child to his back, and committed himself to the ocean with a similar object. The child perished, from the severity of the weather and the effect of the sea; and the father was reluctantly compelled to suffer its lifeless body to sink. Poor fellow! he soon afterwards shared the fate of his child. Many who escaped the fury of one element. in despair precipitated themselves into the other, and perished.

The survivors, whose numbers had by this time been greatly diminished, had got on different parts of the wreck, in the hope of thereby prolonging (for they had abandoned all hope of escape) a miserable existence. Between eleven and twelve o'clock, the main and mizen mast, all the rigging not being entirely consumed, was fortunately prevented, by a rope or ropes, from immediately leaving the hull, and it remained rolling about under or near to the stern. When the mizen mast fell overboard, there were about sixteen unhappy men on the spanker boom, which giving way at the same time, the whole of them were precipitated into the sea. Of these, only one succeeded in reaching the wreck of the main mast. Several, however, from other parts of the vessel, reached and clung to it. At this dreadful crisis, the Kent was one mass of fire, and presented an awful spectacle to the poor wretches doomed to behold the awful spectacle. Many unfortunate men had perished in attempting to reach the main mast. Others, who had clung to different pieces of floating wreck, becoming benumbed, were unable to retain their hold, and sunk to rise no more; whilst others were drifted to leeward and perished in the ocean. One or two of the yards of the main mast were fortunately left standing, and afforded a holding for those who got near it. From ten to twelve of them clung to the round top, whilst others fastened themselves along the mast or on the yards. Their bodies were nearly wholly immersed in the ocean, which was violently agitated, the waves making a complete breach over them, and the rolling of the mast adding to the difficulty of holding on. The cold and the water benumbed the bodies and limbs of the poor men, and made them almost insensible to feelings; they were, too nearly naked, the suddenness of the accident not allowing them time to clothe themselves. Meanwhile, the mast to which they clung was rolling about under the stern of the ship, frequently within five yards of the wreck. The heat from the hull was sensibly, and even gratefully felt by the unfortunate men, warming them after the sea had washed over them, and preserved their bodies from total insensibility. About two o'clock the Kent blew up, with an explosion not remarkably loud, in consequence of most of the powder having been destroyed by the water which inundated the magazine. Several fragments of the ship fell on the survivors on the mast, but they were fortunately too small to injure them. One of the men thinks that a few dead bodies fell into the sea, having been blown up with the decks. The hull of the Kent still continued to burn on, the flames illuminating, by their dreadful glare, the surrounding scene of desolation. By half past two, the fire had reached nearly to the water's edge; and the wretched survivors began to be apprehensive that they would be drawn into the vortex which her sinking would cause, and perish in the yawning abyss. But relief was near at hand. By three o'clock, they descried, with sensations of joy which we cannot attempt to describe, a vessel rounding, at a short distance, the burning hull of the Kent. They instantly and simultaneously set up as loud a shout as their enfeebled state would permit, in order to attract the attention of the crew. The vessel proved to be the Caroline, Capt. Bibby, of this port. A boat from her was soon alongside the wreck, and the survivors of the dreadful catastrophe were rescued from the very grasp of death, and successively and safely conveyed on board the ship which so providentially and miraculously came to their rescue, after they had been upwards of three hours in the water, and all hope of deliverance had for ever fled. Captain Bibby states, that it was about midnight when a fire was observed on the lee beam of the Caroline. She was then in latitude 40. N. and longitude 10, 50, W. He had no doubt, that it proceeded from a ship on fire; and, with characteristic humanity, immediately bore down towards the conflagration. After running about twenty miles, he came very near to the wreck, but prudently kept aloof, his ship having bales of cotton on deck. This was at three o'clock in the morning, the moon shining brightly. He very judiciously and skilfully ran to leeward of the ship, to allow any person who might be in boats or on pieces of the wreck an opportunity of more easily and safely getting on board the Caroline. The moment his vessel was a little clear of the hull of the Kent, he and his crew heard a loud cry, as if from the deep. Continuing his course in the direction of the cry, he saw, by the glare of the conflagration, a number of poor fellows clinging to the mast, which was violently rolling about, owing to the force of the gale. Perceiving that there was not a boat near them, he sent his jolly boat, which is only fourteen feet long, manned by his mate and three seamen, to take off the sufferers, directing the mate to bring only as many at a time as the boat would carry with safety, the sea then running very high. When the boat came alongside the mast, the poor fellows were so benumbed that they could not help themselves, and the seamen were obliged to lift the helpless creatures out of the sea. Six were conveyed to the Caroline on the first trip, and six on the second. When the boat was returning a third time to the wreck, the hull of the Kent suddenly disappeared, and the crew had only the light of the moon to guide them to the spot. They found only two survivors, two men having died in the meantime, their lifeless hands still grasping the mast as firmly as though they had been alive! The poor fellows were lifted by the seamen onto the boat into the Caroline as they arrived, and carried, like helpless children, to the fire. Captain Bibby had them immediately stripped, and dry clothing put on their enfeebled and worn out bodies. He ordered the cook to make some coffee, which he gave them to drink. This beverage revived their exhausted and languid frames. They were afterwards put into the best place that could be prepared for them, and soon fell into a sound sleep, from which they awoke greatly revived. Substantial food was then given to them and they gradually recovered their wonted health and vigor. The Caroline, as we have stated above arrived here on Wednesday afternoon. On Sunday she was relieved from quarantine; and the fourteen survivors were landed on the Prince's Pier, amidst a crowd of sympathising spectators. Liverpool pap.