Fame Lost. Aglaonema nitidum, Penang Evergreen, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
On February 4, 1824, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, famed British public servant and governor-general of Bengkulu, Sumatra, writes from 'Bencoolen':
'We embarked on the 2d instant in the Fame, and sailed at day-light for England with a fair wind, and every prospect of a quick and comfortable passage.
The ship was every thing we could wish; and having closed my charge here much to my satisfaction, it was one of the happiest days of my life. We were, perhaps, too happy; for in the evening came a sad reverse. Sophia had just gone to bed, and I had thrown off half my clothes, when a cry of fire, fire! roused us from our calm content, and in five minutes the whole ship was in flames! I ran to examine whence the flames principally issued, and found that the fire had its origin immediately under our cabin. Down with the boats. Where is Sophia? -Here. The children? -Here. A rope to the side. Lower Lady Raffles. Give her to me, says one; I'll take her, says the Captain. Throw the gunpowder overboard. It cannot be got at; it is in the magazine close to the fire. Stand clear of the powder. Skuttle the water-casks. Water! water!. Where's Sir Stamford? Come into the boat, Nilson! Nilson, come into the boat. Push off, push off. Stand clear of the after part of the ship.'
A few minutes later the Fame exploded and sank some 50 miles from Bengkulu but miraculously no lives were lost; in another two months the Raffles family would sail to England on another ship. His account makes for fascinating and exciting reading.
But literally all their possesions were lost. All their clothes - Lady Sophia had only a light night gown - and all their jewelry. More seriously also 122 boxes of Raffles' papers and a large naturalist collection, among which the specimens found and described by recently deceased William Jack (1795-1822). One of these was his Calla nitida, later renamed Aglaonema nitidum, which he'd collected in 1819 on the island of Penang, Malaysia.
Fame Lost. Aglaonema nitidum, Penang Evergreen, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
On February 4, 1824, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, famed British public servant and governor-general of Bengkulu, Sumatra, writes from 'Bencoolen':
'We embarked on the 2d instant in the Fame, and sailed at day-light for England with a fair wind, and every prospect of a quick and comfortable passage.
The ship was every thing we could wish; and having closed my charge here much to my satisfaction, it was one of the happiest days of my life. We were, perhaps, too happy; for in the evening came a sad reverse. Sophia had just gone to bed, and I had thrown off half my clothes, when a cry of fire, fire! roused us from our calm content, and in five minutes the whole ship was in flames! I ran to examine whence the flames principally issued, and found that the fire had its origin immediately under our cabin. Down with the boats. Where is Sophia? -Here. The children? -Here. A rope to the side. Lower Lady Raffles. Give her to me, says one; I'll take her, says the Captain. Throw the gunpowder overboard. It cannot be got at; it is in the magazine close to the fire. Stand clear of the powder. Skuttle the water-casks. Water! water!. Where's Sir Stamford? Come into the boat, Nilson! Nilson, come into the boat. Push off, push off. Stand clear of the after part of the ship.'
A few minutes later the Fame exploded and sank some 50 miles from Bengkulu but miraculously no lives were lost; in another two months the Raffles family would sail to England on another ship. His account makes for fascinating and exciting reading.
But literally all their possesions were lost. All their clothes - Lady Sophia had only a light night gown - and all their jewelry. More seriously also 122 boxes of Raffles' papers and a large naturalist collection, among which the specimens found and described by recently deceased William Jack (1795-1822). One of these was his Calla nitida, later renamed Aglaonema nitidum, which he'd collected in 1819 on the island of Penang, Malaysia.