FIRE AT SEA.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17247, 10 September 1921, Page 10

FIRE AT SEA.

FOUR-MASTER SCHOONER ABANDONED. EXCITING EXPERIENCE JN HAtTEAKI GULP. (PBESS ASSOCIATION TELEGBAiI.) AUCKLAND, September 9. The four-masted schooner Cecilia Sudden has been abandoned by the crew. The vessel was on fire at ten o'clock' last night, between . Tiritiri Island and Watchman Island. ■ No lives were lost. The enptain, officers, and crew were brought to port this morning by the trawler James Cosgrove. The Cecilia Sudden rr'aa bound to Callao from Newcastle, and put in here a week ago to get medical aid for the bontswain, who fell from a mast. The members of the ship's .company are: Master—Captain E. \V. Jay. Chief officoi —H. G. We:dman. Second-mate and boatswain —A, B. Houston, who replaced 'Mr Lloyd, who died from injuries sustained a fall from aloft on the voyage from Sydney. Able Seamen —John Allocone, John Comprue, Alex. Yerrul, Desideria Dais, Joseph Durrand. Cook—J. Millard. Cabin bov—Lewis Forticalla.

Coal Cargo on Tire. The Cecilia Sudden was'loaded with coal and kerosene, and left here at 4.30 on Wednesday in calm weather. She was towed into the channel. Wlieu the vessel was between Cape Colville and the southernmost point of Great Barrier Island and four or five miles off the latter at 5.30 p.ni.i. Durrandj an able seaman, noticed smoke coming from the booby hatch and gavo the alarm. When the_ hatch was opened, volumes of smoke issued, and it was apparent that the coal cargo was on fire. The bucket brigade at- j tempted to suppress the flames, but soon realised that the vessel would •have to be abandoned. Two boats were launched, one, the captain's, sustaining severe damage through striking the hatchway. Within twenty minutes of the aJarmi everybody was off the doomed vessel, the captain having charge of one boat and the mate of the other. They managed to. save the ship's papers and some personal property before they left. . They noticed a vessel, six or seven miles distant, and displayed a sheet as a distress signal. The vessel proved .to be the trawler James Cosgrave, which immediately pulled up her trawling nets and steamed to the. assistance of the unfortunate mariners, who •returned aboard, also two metji from ..the trawler, to see if they could use the trawler's fire-fighting appliances,. but l a westerly breeze sprang up and "the . Cecilia Sudden began drifting towards the rocks; It appeared that the risk to the trawler was too great. The captain finally decided to abandon the vessel at 6.15 _ p.m. He was the last to leave the ship. The trawler left with the boats in tow for Auckland. The captain's boat opened up, leaking, badly,' and her occupants were transferred to the trawler.

All reaohed Auckland safely at three o'clock this morning. Hopeless Tight with the names. A blackened hulk. drifting between the Barrier and. Tiritiri is all that' is left- of - the four-masted American schooner Cecilia Sudden. The trip 'of the "schooner—which was a wooden boat, kuilt. at Faivhaven, North America, in 11)02—has been unfortunate from the time she left' Newcastle a month ago tvith 500 tons of coal aboard'. After meeting with bad weather off Cape Maria van Diemen she got a fair weather giant for some 500 miles. .Then her boatswain, a young man named Mervyn Lloyd, fell from aloft while bonding hoops on the mainsail. The nearest medical assistance was at Auckland, a week's sail to the, southward, and the skipper made for port. The young fellow; whose back was broken, died just before the doctor boarded the vessel off Tiritiri. The sohooi\er came into the harbour and stayed for six days repairing can* vas. When the man at the wheel reported that smoke -was coming from" the sail locker hatch aft at 6.30 p.m.. Captain Jay called all hands up, and the hatches were lifted. In the face of heavy volumes of smoke the firo was fought for a while with buckets, the only fire-fighting appliances on board. Down in the locker was a store' of kerosene, while on the "poop nearby there was a fifty-gallon tank of benzine , . i The chances of an explosion at any minute added to the alarm caused. by the rapid spread of the' fire. . As-soon as the hatches were lifted thick clouds of- black smoke swept into the rigging. Everything in sight was deluged with salt water without effect. As the. fire seemed "to be gaining very rapidly,- the hatches were battened -down to stop the draught which fed the flames.

I Abandoning the Ship. As it_ seemed hopeless to fight the fire, which appeared to. be extending below in the direction of the. benzine, the Doatswain went into the rigging and waved a white quilt to signal a trawler. Before the trawler sent help the hatches over, the fire were again taken off, and smoke burst out in an ever-growing volume. It was quickly, realised how hopeless it was to- deal with such , a blaze with c only buckets, and down went the'hatches again. , Tho crew, not knowing the moment at which' an explosion might come, hurriedly cast off the two ooats the schooner carried. The officers seized the ship's instruments and papers-, and put them in a small dinghy, while the" men, hastily getting together a few personal effects, put fbem into the lifeboat. Loaded as she was, the. dinghy would hold no more, than three, so the mate and two men. went in her, and the skipper and another six men in the lifeboat. Both boats were well loaded and the cjews had plenty to do bajpng, and pulling from the burning jflup. In' the meanwhile the tnnvler steamed over to the scene of the fire, and the schooner's papers and instruments and the personal goods of'the sailors were put aboard the trawler. The" crew again put off in their boats, as it had, been decided to see if any other attempt should be made to get the blaze.under. The master of the trawler (Captain Neilsen) worked his vessel closer to the schooner to see if there was any possibility of getting the steamer's powerful fire hose to work. Two lines ' were pas'sed.over the bow of the Cecili3 Sudden to' tow her into deeper water, ; but they parted.' Captain Jay made an attempt to let go the anclior, but waa unsuccessful Time was getting on, and the fire was obviously spreading. Added to this the burning craft had drifted so close' inshore that the" trawler, drawing ai good " deal more water than tho | schooner, could not stand by any' longer. The crew' of the schooner had been standing by in boats, and since, a little after sit o'clock the men , in th® lifeboat had had to bail all the I time. It was now after 10 p.m., and • it was decided to abandon the burning ship. • The crew on arrival at Auckland were received at tie Sailors' Tf<wm>