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The Roraima was nearly sunk, and caught fire at once. "I can never forget the horrid, fiery, choking whirlwind which enveloped me," said Mr. Evans. "Mr. Morris and I rushed below. We are not very badly burned, not so bad as most of them. When we came up we found the ship afire aft, and fought it forward until 3 o'clock, when the Suchet came to our rescue. We were then building a raft."
Returning to the stories told by officers of the Roraima, of which a number have been given, it seems desirable to add here the narrative of Ellery S. Scott, the mate of the ruined ship, since it gives a vivid and striking account of his personal experience of the frightful disaster, with many details of interest not related by others. "We got to St. Pierre in the Roraima," began Mr.
He yelled to get up the anchor, but, before two fathoms were heaved in the Roraima was almost upset by the boiling whirlpool, and the fire wave had thrown her down on her beam ends to starboard. Captain Muggah was overcome by the flames. He fell unconscious from the bridge and toppled overboard. "The blast of fire from the volcano lasted only a few minutes.
Feasting and dancing, kept up by the natives thus dressed, lasted the whole night; and the constantly-repeated burden of their song was "Roraima of the red rock, wrapped in clouds, the ever-fertile source of streams." Eastward of the Berbice, and greatly inferior in size to the Essequibo, is the Corentyn, which has its source near the equator, and forms the boundary of the British colony.
"Wherever the mass of fire struck the sea the water boiled and sent up vast clouds of steam. The sea was torn into huge whirlpools that careened toward the open sea. "One of these horrible hot whirlpools swung under the Roraima and pulled her down on her beam ends with the suction.
From the various accounts given of the terrible explosion by officers of the Roraima, we select as a first example the following description by Assistant Purser Thompson: A TALE OF SUDDEN RUIN "I saw St. Pierre destroyed. It was blotted out by one great flash of fire. Nearly 40,000 persons were all killed at once.
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