The steamboat Bulletin No. 2, Capt. C. B. Church, was burned on the Mississippi river, near Islands No. 96 and 97, March 24th, 1835. A large quantity of cotton was among the freight, and this highly combustible article caused the flames to spread rapidly. The boat was run ashore as quickly as possible; but as soon as she struck the bank, she bounded back again, and floated down the river until consumed to the level of the water. The surface of the river was covered with floating bales of ignited cotton; and many persous who had leaped overboard, while attempting to save themselves by clinging to these fiery masses, were severely burned. One of the cabin passengers stated that ho was sitting on the hurricane deck when the fire first appeared, and before he could get a bucket of water to throw on it, the whole boat seemed to be in a blaze. If the force pumps had been in good order, (which was not the case,) the flames could easily have been suppressed. An eye-witness thinks that the boat and the lives of many passengers could have been saved, if gum elastic hose had been provided for such an emergency. Certainly it shows shameful and criminal neglect on the part of the Captain or owners, when a steamer is without such apparatus. While the boat was burning, the passengers were greatly excited and dismayed; but we have one instance of surprising coolness, whether it proceeded from courage or stupidity, we will not pretend to say. A gentleman was standing in the cabin with perfect composure and apparent unconcern while the fire was making rapid progress in every direction. Capt. Church advised this stoical person to take off the door of a state room and endeavor to save himself thereon. “Make yourself easy, Captain,” was the calm response, “I am safe enough !” And, sure enough, he was saved. This anecdote reminds us of one which is told of a celebrated gambler, who leaped from a burning boat into the Mississippi, exclaiming, “Now, gallows, save your own !”
Some of the passengers of the Bulletin succeeded in leaping on shore from the forecastle at the moment the steamer struck the land; but a large majority, who were in the after-part of the boat, were cut off from this means of escape. Capt. Church and all the other officers of the boat faithfully used every effort to save the passengers, and the Captain remained so long on board for this purpose, that his own life nearly became the sacrifice of his fidelity. When driven by the flames from the last refuge on the wreck, he threw himself in the water. The boat had drifted out to such a distance from the shore, that he would infallibly have been drowned, had not a skiff, which happened to be near, come to his assistance.
LIST OF THOSE WHO PERISHED.-Mr. Swick, Boston; C. Denny, deck hand; J. B. Williamson, New York; Jesper Brown, Friar’s Point, Miss.; Orville Hill, Nashville; B. Handwerkt, Memphis, Tenn. John McConican, North Carolina; Evans Gwynn, Columbus, Ohio; a negro girl belonging to J. M. Craig, Arkansas; Nathaniel Carter, barber; Stephen Tareter, cabin-boy; four negro firemen, belonging to Capt. Church; several do. belonging to W. L. Porter, New Orleans; one negro fireman belonging to Mrs. Reinhart, Memphis, Tenu.; one do. belonging to J. R. Upsham, of same place, and an assistant engineer.