Amid this gloomy scene, many beautiful examples occurred of filial and
parental affection, and of disinterested friendship; and many sorrowful
instances of individual loss and suffering. At length, when all had been
removed from the burning vessel, but a few, who were so overcome by
fear as to refuse to make the attempt to reach the brig, the captain
quitted his ill-fated ship.
The flames which had spread along her upper deck, now mounted rapidly to
the mast and rigging, forming one general conflagration and lighting up
the heavens to an immense distance round. One by one her stately masts
fell over her sides. By half-past one in the morning the fire reached
the powder magazine; the looked-for explosion took place, and the
burning fragments of the vessel were blown high into the air, like so
many rockets.
The Cambria, with her crowd of sufferers, made all speed to the nearest
port, and reached Portsmouth in safety, shortly after midnight, on the
3d of March, 1825, the accident having taken place on the 28th of
February. Wonderful to tell, fourteen of the poor creatures, left on the
Kent, were rescued by another ship, the Caroline, on her passage from
Alexandria to Liverpool.
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