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En Route to Smyrna

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 25, 1908

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 85, No. 26.

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En Route to Smyrna

By Robert S. Greaves

We arrived safely at Liverpool, and spent a few days there before being booked to Smyrna by the steamship "Orchis," which sailed April 11.
The ship was advertised to call at Malta for the first stopping place, but the owners wished it to go to Antwerp first, to take on a cargo. We were delayed at that place for nearly a week, and after leaving we had very bad weather. One night especially it seemed that everything that was movable was constantly tumbling about. The next morning some smoke was seen coming from the hold in the forepart of the vessel. It seemed to be very little, and the captain thought some acid had leaked out of a drum in the cargo, and this perhaps caused the smoke; for when a thermometer was lowered, and allowed to stay down for some time, it showed no rise in temperature. They were anxious to keep the hatches down, however, in case anything was wrong. About dinner-time, as the smoke still came out, the captain had a rope tied around him, and climbed below, to investigate. The smoke kept getting worse, and different ones, with cloths tied around their mouths, descended. Finally, one of the officers discovered that the cargo was on fire. The fire hose was gotten out, but little could be done; so the hatches were again put on, and the ship steered for land. Fortunately, we were not far out, and that evening we got into the harbor at Vigo, Spain. We had signals flying that the cargo was burning, and the captain was in hopes that there would bea man-of-war in the harbor, that would help us put out the fire. Several small boats soon came alongside; but they had no facilities to render us immediate help, so the engineer opened one of the sea-cocks, and the forepart of the ship was flooded. We did not land, but everything was ready to run the vessel ashore, if anything went wrong. The forward hold being separate from the other part of the ship, it was necessary to flood only this part. Much damage is done to the cargo; but the ship is a strong iron one, and so far as can be seen now, is almost unhurt. The fire is now out, and the ship pumped dry, but it may take some days to arrange the cargo again and start once more.
ROBERT S. GREAVES.