We were now near enough to the barque to make out her name through a
glass--the 'Monkshaven,' of Whitby--and we observed a puff of smoke
issue from her deck simultaneously with the arrival of our boat
alongside. In the course of a few minutes, the boat returned, bringing
the mate of the 'Monkshaven,' a fine-looking Norwegian, who spoke
English perfectly, and who reported his ship to be sixty-eight days
out from Swansea, bound for Valparaiso, with a cargo of smelting coal.
The fire had first been discovered on the previous Sunday, and by 6
a.m. on Monday the crew had got up their clothes and provisions on
deck, thrown overboard all articles of a combustible character, such
as tar, oil, paint, spare spars and sails, planks, and rope, and
battened down the hatches. Ever since then they had all been living on
deck, with no protection from the wind and sea but a canvas screen.
Tom and Captain Brown proceeded on board at once. They found the deck
more than a foot deep in water, and all a-wash; when the hatches were
opened for a moment dense clouds of hot suffocating yellow smoke
immediately poured forth, driving back all who stood near. From the
captain's cabin came volumes of poisonous gas, which had found its way
in through the crevices, and one man, who tried to enter, was rendered
insensible.
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