YACHTS BURNED.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 113, 16 May 1927, Page 10

YACHTS BURNED.

LYTTELTON BOAT SHEDS.

FIRE OK BTJWDAY MORIfIHG.

LARGE SLIP DESTROYED. ■ (By Telegraph.—Preis Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, Sunday. The biggest fire which has occurred at Lyttelton since the New Zealand Shipping Company's wool shed was destroyed fourteen years ago broke out in the early hours of this morning, when a block of boat sheds on the waterfront adjoining the dock, and owned by Messrs. J. Miller, Limited, and G. A. a Whitford, both shipwrights, was completely destroyed. A large boat slip owned by the Harbour Board was also destroyed. The block was a rambling structure of wooden sheds, all dry as tinder, and, with shavings, timber, paint and boats: containe'd in them, had all the requisites for a large fire. Several boats which were housed in the sheds were destroyed by fire. The Takapuna sailing punts, Kai Iwi and Sea Pearl, owned by Messrs. Elliott, Sinclair and Hubert Norris, respectively, were lost. Both took part in the' Cornwall Cup contest in February. Mr. P. Sinclair's Linnet, a number of. dinghies on the slip, and a large keel yacht of. about 2J tons, which Miller and Company had nearly completed for Mr. B. Scarvell, were destroyed. Fire broke out in the motor boat Eunice, but was extinguished. The fishing launch Bessie, which launched herself in the early stages of the fire through the holding ropes being burned through, was damaged to the extent of about £230. No estimates of fhe damage are available, but the losses must run into several thousands of pounds.

HABBOUR MT BT BLAZE.

VALUABLE TIMBER SAVED.

(By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent)

CHRISTCHURCH, this day. The alarm of the fire was given in the town about 1.40, when it had a very strong hold. The slip in front of the sheds was burnt down to the water's edge. The trawler Bessie, which was on the slip, would no doubt have been destroyed had the cable holding the cradle not given way and the craft slipped into the water. She was badly scorched around her bow and was finally tied up teethe Yacht Club's shed with her bow ablaze.

The flames, fanned by a : tiff southerly wind, leaped high into the air and lit the whole of the harbour. The heat of the burning hardwood decking, paint and oils stored in Messrs. Millers' shed was intense. Around the outskirts of the sheds were to be seen small craft such as dock punts and pontoons on fire. The lower structure of the dock crane was partly destroyed but as the wind was from a favourable quarter a timber rack containing a lot of valuable timber was saved.