The following letter, which appeared in the "Times," tells of the
strength given in time of need:--
"_May_ 14, 1878.
"Captain Grills, of the Liverpool Mercantile Marine Service
Association, going to Derry upon a pleasure trip, was upon the bridge
of the 'Sardinian' when the accident occurred, and speaks in high
terms of the discipline of officers and crew under the trying
circumstances. He says:--'I was on the bridge with Captain Dutton,
looking for the approach of the tender, when in a moment an explosion
occurred down in the fore-hold, where a quantity of coal was stored,
and blew into the air thousands of fragments of wood. Immediately
afterwards people came shrieking up the companion ways, many, of them
cut, bruised, and blackened. The scene was indescribable. A great
deal of confusion was caused by the separation of children from
parents and husbands from wives. One poor woman begged me to go and
find her baby, which was torn from her arms. The Captain, on hearing
the explosion and seeing the smoke, sprang from the bridge, ordered
the hose to be instantly applied, and by dint of extraordinary
exertions on the part of himself, the officers, and crew, succeeded
in saving several people who were in the midst of the debris.
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