On the 20th a steam pump was rigged down the fore hatchway, and wetted sails were fastened over all scuttles and vents in the deck. But the fire continued to gain, and at 6 p.m. it burst through the port bow and waterways. The four remaining boats were at once provisioned and got over the side. Seeing that there was not room for everybody in the boats, Mr. Sargeant the chief officer, 4 A.B.’s and 13 apprentices agreed to stand by the ship—the remainder of the passengers and crew, to the number of 78, leaving in the boats under the captain.
As soon as the boats had left, Mr. Sargeant renewed every effort to subdue the fire, and at the same time altered his course to get into the track of other ships. Then for 21 days he and his gallant band fought the flames and the numerous gales of those regions. Finally on 11th May, when the foremast was almost burnt through and tottering, a ship called the _Dauntless_ hove in sight and took the mate and his worn-out crew off the doomed _Fiery Star_.
For their gallantry in remaining behind, Mr. Sargeant and his men were presented with £160 by the people of Auckland, New Zealand, and right well they deserved it, for in all the glorious history of our Mercantile Marine fewer brave acts have ever been recorded.
Many an old Black Baller ended her days as a coal hulk. Even the winter North Atlantic could not down the _Red Jacket_ and _Donald Mackay_, and eventually _Red Jacket_ went to Cape Verde and _Donald Mackay_ to Madeira as coal hulks. How many of the Union-Castle passengers knew, when they cast their eyes pityingly or perhaps disdainfully on the grimy looking hulk floating a cable’s length or so away from their spotless liner, that they were looking upon a crack passenger ship of their grandfather’s day.
_Light Brigade_ was a coal hulk at Gibraltar for many years, having as a companion the famous _Three Brothers_.
The _Golden South_, after lying in Kerosene Bay, Port Jackson, for about twenty years with her holds full of coal, was burnt through sparks from the old reformatory ship _Vernon_ falling upon her decks. The burning of the two ships lit up the hills for miles round, and many an old time Sydney-sider will remember the spectacle.