Overview

The first modern account of the most spectacular rescue in history. In 1825, the Kent. And East Indiaman, set sail for India with a crew and nearly 600 passengers, mostly men of the 31st Regiment and their families. Reaching the Bay of Biscay north of Spain, the ship was slammed by a ferocious gale, and while a sailor was inspecting the hold for damage, his lantern ignited a cask of spirits. A fire quickly erupted, and even with the desperate expedient of opening hatches and flooding the ship with seawater, the fire burned out of control. As night wore on the ship became an inferno, with the flames moving toward stores of gun-powder. At this point, everyone on board knew that they would perish, and they began preparing for their ghastly deaths. Despite the raging tempest a sailor climbed to the top of the mast one last time and - miraculously - a sail appeared on the horizon. It was the Cambria, a small brig carrying a crew and twenty Cornish miners on their way to Mexico where they planned to explore abandoned Spanish mines. The Cambria's captain spied the burning Kent and through determination and dogged seamanship, the little brig closed the doomed vessel. Launching their boats in towering seas, the Kent's and Cambria's crews were able to transfer nearly all of the children, women, and men to the brig before the Kent exploded.

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9781594160721

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Historian Tracy (History/Univ. of New Brunswick; Nelson's Battles, 2008, etc.) examines the maritime disaster of the Kent.Employed by the East India Company outbound in March of 1825, the large vessel was fully loaded not only with cargo but also roughly half of a military regiment posted for duty in India - some 700 people, including the ship's crew, soldiers, their wives and children. Its stores and supplies included vast amounts of beer and potable spirits, the latter highly flammable. Just several days out, the Kent was hit by a violent southwesterly gale in the Bay of Biscay; the ship rolled so badly that sailors had to be lashed on deck. Investigating the possibility of cargo breaking loose below, one mate dropped a lantern where rum or turpentine had spilled from a broken cask. The result was an uncontrollable fire that eventually reached the magazine where powder for the ship's guns was stored. By sheer coincidence, a much smaller ship, the brig Cambria, carrying Cornwall miners to a venture in Mexico, came upon the burning Kent. For all of a day and part of the next night, in a still-raging storm, the crew of the Cambria was able, through heroic seamanship, to transfer all but about 70 from the Kent, many of whom drowned or were crushed in the attempts. Some 14 more were retrieved later by another small vessel. The author notes that the episode had an effect on Britain similar to that of 9/11 on America - accounts were republished for years, often as evangelical testimonials. Tracy's satisfying narrative constitutes the first modern account.Finely detailed maritime history. (Kirkus Reviews)

Author Information

Nicholas Tracy is adjunct professor of history associate of the Milton Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society at the University of New Brunswick.

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