The First Modern History of the Greatest Rescue in the Age of Sail


In 1825, the Kent, an East Indiaman, set sail for India with a crew and nearly 600 passengers, mostly men of the 31st Regiment of Foot and their families. Reaching the Bay of Biscay north of Spain, the fullyladen ship was slammed by a ferocious gale, and while a sailor was inspecting the hold for damage, his lantern ignited a cask of spirits that had come loose. A fire quickly erupted, and despite the dangerous 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 and certain explosion. At this point, everyone on board knew that they would perish; they began preparing for their ghastly deaths. Despite the raging tempest a sailor climbed to the top of the mast and--miraculously--a sail was sighted on the horizon. It was the Cambria, a small brig carrying a crew and Cornish miners on their way to Mexico where they planned to explore abandoned Spanish silver mines. The Cambria's captain spied the burning Kent and through determination and dogged seamanship, the little brig closed the doomed vessel. Launching its six small boats, and in "funeral order," the Kent and its crew were able to transfer most of the children, women, and men to the Cambria before the ship exploded and sank. Dangerously overloaded, the Cambria made landfall three days later. Hailed as heroes--a medal was struck in their honor--the miners and the rescue quickly became a sensation around the world, with the event being described as proof of divine intervention.


In The Miracle of the Kent: A Tale of Courage, Faith, and Fire, historian Nicholas Tracy has consulted regional and national archives to provide the first modern history of one of the most enthralling sea adventures of all time.