FIRE AT SEA

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 298, 10 September 1921, Page 8

FIRE AT SEA

SCHOONER CECILIA SUDDEN ABANDONED FLAMES FORCE CREW TO TAKE TO BOATS NO LIVES LOST / Th* four-masted schoori© Caeilla Sudden, which left Auckland on Wednesday (( for Callao, .) Peru, was discovered on Thursday evening to be on fire. All efforts to extinguish the flames proved unavailing, and Captain Jay gave the order to abandon the The captain and crew were conveyed to Auckland by a trawler, which stood by the schooner for a while, but was unable to save her. A blackened hulk ashore on Great Barrier Is- . land Is all that is left of tje schooner. Fortunately no lives wore lost. t By Telegraph — Press Association. Auckland, September 9. The four-masted schooner Cecilia Sudden has been abandoned by the crew The vessel was on fire last night, between Tiritiri and Watchman Island. No lives were lost. The captain and the crow wore brought to. z Auckland this morning by the trawler Janies Cosgrove. The CeciliaAgudden was loaded with coal and kerosene. She left here at 4.30 on Wednesday in calm weather, and was towed into the channel. Whan the vessel was between Cape Colville an<l the southernmost point of the Great Barrier Island, four or five miles off the latter, at ( 6.30- p.m., Durrand, an able seaman, noticed smoke coming froni the booby hatch. Ho gave an alarm. FEARS OF EXPLOSION. Captain Jay called all hands up on deck. The hatches were lifted in face of heavy volumes of emoke, and the fire was fought for a while with buckets, the only fire-fighting appliances . aboard. Down in the locker was a store of kerosene, while on the poop nearby there was a fifty-gallon tank of benzine. Tho chances of an explosion at any minute added to the alarm caused by the rapid spread of the fire. f - Everything in sight was deluged with salt, water,„ without effect. As the fire seemed to be gaining very rapidly, tho hatches were battened down to stop the draught, which fed the flames. DISTRESS SIGNAL SHOWN. As it seemed hopeless to fight the fire, which appeared to bo extending below in the direction of the benzine, the boatswain Went into the rigging to wave a white quilt to signal a vessel which was noticed six or seven miles away.- The <5 vessel proved to be tho trawler James Cosgrove, which immediately pulled up her trawls and steamed to the assistance of the shipwrecked mariners. Before the trawler got near enough to ' help), thehatehes over the fire were again taken off, and smoke buret out in evergrowing volume. It' was quickly realised that it was hopeless to try to deal with such a blaze with only buckets. Down went the hatches again. CREW TAKE TO BOATS. The crow, not knowing the moment an explosion might come, -hurriedly cast off ♦be two boats the schooner carried. The .officers seized the ship's instruments and papers and put them in tho small dinghy, while ths men, hastily getting together tlieir . few personal effects, put them into the life-boat. One of tho boats sustained severe damage through striking the hatchway. Within twenty minutes of the alarm everybody was off tho doomed vessel,' tho captain having charge of one boat and the mate of the other. ..Loaded as she was, the dinghy would hold no more than three, so the mate z and two men went in her, and the skipK .per and another six men went in tho life-boat. Both boats were loaded, and the crews had plenty to do baling nnt , nnd frilling from Jhe burning ship. Meanwhile tho trawler steamed over to tho acene of the casualty, and ths schooner’s papers, instruments, and the personal goods of the sailors were put aboard the trawler. The crew again put off in their boats. ABANDONED. As it had been decided to sec if any other attempt should be made to get the blaze under, the master of the trawler (Captain Nielsen) 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 passed over the bow of the Cecilia . Sudden'to tow her into deeper water, but they parted. Captain Jay made an attempt to let go the anchor, but was unsuccessful. Timo was getting on, nnd the fire was obviously spreading. Added to this, the burning craft had drifted so close inshore that, the trawlor, drawing a good deal more water than tho schooner, could not stand by any longer. It appeared that the risk to the trawler was too great, and the captain finally decided to abandon the vessel at 10 p.m. He was the last id-leave the ship. The crew of tho schooner had been standing by in thq boats since a little after 6 o’clock. Tho mon in tho lifeboat had to bail all the time. Tim trawler left with the boats in tow for Auckland. The captain’s boat opened up, and began leaking badly. Her occupants were transferred to the trawler, and all reached port safely at 3 o’clock thia morning. THE SHIP'S COMPANY. / The crew on arrival were received at ( the Sailors’ Homo. \ The crow consisted of the following—• Captain, Mr. E. W. Jay. Chief Officer, Mr. H. G. Weidman. Second mate and boatswain, A. H Houston, who replaced Lloyd, who died from injuries sustained by a fall from aloft on the voyage from Sydney. Able seamen John Allocone, 'John Comprue, Alex. Verrui, Desideria Dais, and Joseph Durrand. Cook, J. Millard. Cabin boy, Lewis Forticilla. UNFORTUNATE VOYAGE. The schooner has been unfortunate from the time she left Newcastle a month ago with 500 tons of coal aboard. After meeting bad weather off Cape Maria Van Diemen, she got a fair weather slant for some 500 miles. Then her boatswain, a young man named Morvyn Lloyd, fell from aloft while bending hoops on tho mainsail. The nearest medical assistance was Auckland, a week's sail to the Bouthward. The skipper made for port, but the young fellow, whose back was broken, died just before a doctor boarded the vessel off Tiritiri. The schooner earns into harbour and stayed six days Tcpairing canvas. BLAZING HULKDRIFTS ASHORE THE CAPTAIN’S'THEORY. The harbour tug Te Awhina, which was B ent out to search for the Cecilia Sudden, and."!’ possible, to salvage her, returned to-night, having found the 'burning vestashoro one ,mile , south-east of Tryiifiena. Great Barrier Island,- and about from the locality where the vessel was when the fire on board wns noticed. Tho harbourmaster, who went ■with the tug, reports that the Cecilia Sudden's masts and boom have disappeared. There is only the shell of tho vessel left with the inside a raging fur-

nace, fore and aft. It was estimated that she would fall to pieces and sink at any time. The captain of tho Cecilia Suddeii, when interviewed, described how the firo was discovered at 5.45 p.m. on Thursday. He said that tho smoke increased rapidly in spite of ths efforts of the crew to quench the flames with buckets of water. His theory was that the fire was due to spontaneous combustion of tho coal. lie could not signal with flags or rockets, as both were cut off by the fire. He indicated that if anything could have been done about the schooner he was determined to do it. Ho was quite certain, however, that there would have been no hope of towing the schooner anywhere before the fire had sunk her. It was slow progress getting away from the ship without rowlocks, and they felt the heat of the fire before they were away.

The Cecilia Sudden was formerly an American vessel, nnd was sold to Peruvian owners. At ■■ Newcastle she loaded a cargo of coal,' and afterwards sailed for Callao under her new flag. On March 9 she put into Auckland in a leaky condition. Her cargo of coni was dischargeff, ami she was repaired. After, two months’ delay she left for Australia, and loaded another cargo of coal. She then made her second attempt to reach Peru, but put into Auckland lost, week, as already mentioned.