As a little yeast leavens much flour so does the presence of a few
stout-hearted men give strength and courage to a multitude. Although
the rumor soon went the rounds that the giant wave which pooped the
ship had carried away two of her six boats, there were no visible signs
of flurry in the measures taken to equip the remaining boats for use.
The men had confidence in their officers; every one worked smoothly and
well.
All told, there were eighty persons on board when the Kansas left
Valparaiso. Of these, seventeen, including the officers, were of
European birth or lineage. The remaining sixty-three were men of mixed
nationalities, ranging from Spanish-speaking Chileans to negroes.
There were eight under-stewards, a cook and his assistants, and nearly
fifty sailors and firemen. Unfortunately, the explosion in the
stokehold had killed the chief engineer and one of his juniors, while
six stokers were dead and several injured.
It was discovered that, before he died, the chief had shut off steam,
and thus prevented the accident from assuming far more serious
proportions. The second engineer, a Newcastle man named Walker, who
rushed to the engine-room at the first indication of a mishap, found
his chief lying in collapse on the lever platform. Walker promptly
opened certain levers which allowed the steam to escape freely; then he
carried his comrade out of the spume to the deck. It was too late.
Partial suffocation had placed too great a strain on a diseased heart;
by the time Dr. Christobal was summoned, a brave man was dead.
Courtenay, who had left instructions that he was to be called when the
Evangelistas light was sighted, was sound asleep. In the elevated
quarters assigned to the captain, the noise of the explosion differed
little from the thunderous blows of the sea. But the stopping of the
engines awoke him instantly. He felt the ship lurch away from her
course, and saw the quick swerve of the compass indicator over his
head. As he ran down the gangway leading from the bridge he heard the
officer of the watch say: "Something given way in the engine-room, sir."
Several minutes elapsed before he, or Walker, aided by willing
volunteers, could penetrate the depths of the stoke-hold. The place
was a charnel-house, a stifling pit, filled with the charred contents
of the furnaces, which gave off the most noisome fumes owing to the
rapid condensation of steam and water escaping from the damaged pipes.
But the gale raging without served one good purpose in driving plenty
of air down the ventilating cowls. Gradually, the choking atmosphere
cleared. Courtenay was the first to reach the lowermost rung of the
iron ladder, whence he looked with the eyes of despair on a scene of
death and ruin.
The electric light was uninjured. It revealed the bodies of several
men, either dead or insensible, lying amidst the scattered coal.
Shovels, stoking-rods, and pieces of iron plate had been hurled about
in wild confusion. The door of one furnace was blown clean out of its
bolts; furnace bars and fire-bricks strewed the iron deck, while, each
time the ship rolled, the heavy clank of loose metal somewhere in the
engine-room proved that the damage was not confined solely to the
stoke-hold.