BRITISH SHIP ON FIRE

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25160, 16 April 1947, Page 7

BRITISH SHIP ON FIRE

SOMERSET ABANDONED OFF WEST INDIES LONDON, April 14. Lloyd's has received a report that the British steamer Somerset (9940 tons) bound for Dunedin from Avonmouth, sent a message to Barbadoes to-day stating: “Engineroom on fire five miles off Aruba (West Indies). Crew abandoned ship. Understand Panamanian tanker Misoa and tug are proceeding to the position.” The original programme for the Somerset was that she should load for New Zealand at Glasgow, Liverpool, and Newport (Monmouthshire), but this was amended last month when the steamer Tower Hill took consignments from the two northern ports and left Liverpool for Auckland on April 5, three days after the Somerset sailed from Newport, says a Press Association message from Auckland. The Tower Hill will arrive via Panama on May 18. Although no details of the Somerset’s cargo have been received, it is expected that the shipment of tinplate, galvanised iron, and salt will be heavy by weight, as is normal for west coast of England loadings. Her general cargo is likely to be small. The Somerset was to have discharged at Auckland and Wellington, and to have transhipped cargo for Lyttelton and Dunedin at Wellington. It is not considered likely that the Somerset is carrying hydro-electrical equipment, which is now arriving in large quantities from Metropolitan Vickers through Liverpool.