The Miracle of the Kent : A Tale of Courage, Faith, and Fire

An Extraordinary Rescue and One of the Greatest Human Interest Stories of All Time "A naturally gripping adventure tale."— Publishers Weekly "Powerful and intensely focused."— Booklist "Tracy's satisfying narrative constitutes the first modern account. A finely detailed maritime history."— Kirkus Reviews In 1825, the Kent , an East Indiaman, set sail from England for India with a crew and nearly 600 men, women, and children on board. 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, the fire burned out of control. As night wore on, the ship became an inferno, with the flames moving toward stores of gunpowder. 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 one last time to the top of the Kent 's mainmast and—miraculously—a sail was sighted on the horizon. It was the Cambria , a small brig on its way to Mexico. The Cambria spied the burning Kent and through determination and dogged seamanship in towering seas, the little brig closed the doomed vessel. Launching their boats, the Kent 's and Cambria 's crews were able to transfer nearly all of the children, women, and men to the brig and pull away before the Kent exploded. Dangerously overloaded, the Cambria made the Cornish coast three days later. In The Miracle of the Kent: A Tale of Courage, Faith, and Fire , award-winning historian Nicholas Tracy reconstructs this extraordinary tale through records left by the participants, revealing how those aboard the Kent faced their deaths, and their reactions to being offered a second chance. The story of the Kent is both a page-turning adventure and an inspirational homage to the capacity of the human spirit. "The first modern account of the most spectacular rescue in history. In 1825, the Kent, an 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 gunpowder. 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 the Cambria's crews were able to transfer nearly all of the children, women, and men to the brig before the Kent exploded. Dangerously overloaded, the Cambria made landfall three days later. The daring rescue quickly became a sensation around the world, with the event being hailed as proof of divine intervention."--Dust jacket On 19th February, 1825, the Kent, an East Indiaman, set sail for India and China with 641 people on board - including more than 100 women and children. On the evening of the 28th, whilst in the Bay of Biscay, the Kent was struck by an almighty storm.