THE FIRE ON THE GOTHIC

Evening Star, Issue 12873, 24 July 1906, Page 7

THE FIRE ON THE GOTHIC

" GLOB.Y, DIET, AND BSUISES." I [From Oxrn Spxcsax. Cubhespowdekt.j LONDON, June 15. Th» RJiLS. Gothic reached the Royal Albert Docks last Sunday, fresh from her perilous encounter with the fire which had threatened her destruction at Plymouth. It bad been a desperate struggle while it lasted, and the wonder is that no serious accidents occurred on board during the fight with the flamea. "My «yes were out of action for some time from the effects of, the smoke," said one of the officers whom I saw soon after the vessel's arrival. "Two more of the officers suffered in the same way, but htckily we had no accidents. The navy covered itself with glory, dirt, and bruises in helping us. The poor old ship is in an awful mess down below, and will take soma time to I clean up and repair." A glance below was Hiffioient to show how fiercely the fire had raged in the No. 3 hold. Tallow kegs, ironwork, and charred and blackened woodwork bay about in aid cenfusion. A large hole had been burned thrr-ngh the starboard alleyway, the debris blocking the passage to the main saloon, and s«m« of the plates in the ship's side had' been bent outwards at this point. The saloon haa a large hole burned right tirough the floor; the carpet was burned, the piano badly scorched, and of tho fine oak and walnut panelling could be seen only charred mains. The stair carpets, mats, and bannisters had been burnt to cinders, and the chamber underneath the Baloon had been practically gutted by iha flames. The' 'tween-decka, where the first class passengers' cabins were situated, had been flooded with water 2ft deep during the fight with the flames, and some of the woodwork of the cabin partitions was charred and mined. The captain, officers, and crew had been at their posts amidst the dense smoke from mid-day on Thursday, when the hatches of No. 3 hold were first opened, till shortly after 2 a.m. on Friday, when the conflagra- [ tion was declared to be extinguished. During the work one or two of the men became ; i exhausted, and had to go off duty for a I spell, but each returned as goon as he ■nas able, without waiting for the order. A squad of forty men from the Barbican, another forty bluejackets from H.M.S. Niobe, and tho men of the Naval Dockyard tug-boats all rendered yeoman service in fighting the fire, moving cargo, and cutting out the debris. Every care had been taken that the large and valuable cargo of frozen meat should not suffer, and the 1,538 crates of fruit were safely discharged into barges and sent off to London. It wa3 nearly three o'clock on Friday morning when Captain Bartlott, himself thoroughly exhausted by this time, gave the order to pump the water out of the ship.. There was by then 26ft of water in the hold. Throughout the day the work of pumping the water out of the ship waa continued, and' at three o'clock in the afternoon there only remained about 4ft of water in the hold. Captain BarUett was anxious to leave as soon as possible on account of the quantity of frozen meat on board, and by the evening tide tho vessel was floated, and was towed into the Sound and anchored. She then still had a decided list to port, but not so severe as when she was towed into tho Cattewater on Thursday evening. The Government tugs and others continued their pumping, in. order iha.t she could get away as quickly as possible, and at daylight on Saturday morning the Gothic resumed her voyage to Jjomkra. It has been estimated that the salvage acd other services rendered by local vessels will cost the company hundreds of pounds. Captain BarUett and bis officers are extremely thankful for the timely and ready aid that was given by the naval authorities at Devonport during her stay there. "We bad a fine time of it here for the last twenty-four hours, I can tell you,'' said a face-blackened seaman to the 'V/enem Morning News'. reporter, " and are all elad she is out. We have not had any sleep since Wednesday night, as you" can imagine, and we are all dead-beat. For my part, I have been working in the smoke at the pumps with several others, not only during the fne, but since she was declared out. It was as hot as a furnace in every part rf the ship bar right aft, and with her list you can hardly walk. One of the chaps neviv hurt himself daring last night. We were' cVwn in the lower deck with the hoses. She was pretty straight then; but somehow he slipped, and a mass of burning woodwork that had formed part of a partition of one of the cabins fell on him. He was not burned, but his face was scorched." A CONTRAST. The New Zealand Shipping Company's steamer Waimate, also bound • from New Zealand to London, arrived at Plymouth on Friday morning, and reported that she had been on fire on and off for ten days in ;Nb. 4 hold, where bales of wool were stowed. Three days previously the fire broke out afresh, but had been kept in check by patent fire extingajshers, which pump sulphur fumes into the hold. Commenting on these outbreaks, 'The Times's' marine correspondent says:—"There could hardly be a more strongly-marked contrast than the results of the fires in the White Star steamer Gothic and in the New Zealand Steamship Company's Waimate. Both vessels were from New Zealand for Home, and their cargoes were of a similar nature. In both cases fire broke out in the wool cargoes; but here the similarity ends. The Gothic, after burning for several days, has had to bo beached at Plymouth with enormous loss to her valuable carsro. a )oss which may quite possibly exceed £200,000. The Waimate. in this respect, unlike the Gothic, was equipped with the Clayton sulphur di-ozide nre-extinsuishing machine, and has, by its use, been "able to keep the fire under for about ten days. When she arrived at Plymouth the temperature in the holds was normal, and after taking on board 6cwt of sulphur for the machine, she was able to leave this afternoon for London. It is hardly possible to imagine a better lesson in the advantages arising out of the equip--ment and use of a scientific fire-extinguishing system; the saving in money alone may in this case be reckoned in hundreds of thousands of pounds."