CRUISER DAMAGED

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 210, 6 September 1939, Page 7

CRUISER DAMAGED

OUTBREAK OF FIRE.

CAUSE WAS ACCIDENTAL

BLAZING PITCH AND OIL.

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

SYDXEY, August 31

There is no suggestion that sabotage the cause of a fire that damaged the cruiser Australia at the Garden Island lava I base yesterday.

According to an official Navy statement, the fire occurred when the cruiser had oil-hone* over the side, taking on 'moI, nnd pitch for caulking and other work was boiling in a cauldron on the wharf. It. is believed that a fine spray of oil escaping from a joint in a fuel hose ignited the pitch. Flame* scorched 30ft of the port side of the cruiser and, "weeping over the upper deck, badly burned a whale boat.

Four tugs and four fire floats rushed to tho base, and a brigade from firo henrlr|iiH rterH arrived in a lighter, but when these forces reached the scene they found that the (i aid en Island lire crew had already extinguished the blaze. A' navn| officer paid a tribute to the fine work of the fire crew. The burning pitch caused a. fierce blaze and the heat wus so intense that portholes in the officers' cabins below decks were smashed and the pitch cauldron twisted.

Ihe situation was full of serious possibilities nnd in the short time it lasted the lire did so much damage that •t took workmen three hours to clear *P the debris. Many dockyard workers li«d lucky escapes from injury as they ran for' ••over from the blazing pitch and! oil.