FIRE BREAKS OUT IN SHIP CARRYING DANGEROUS CARGO
SYDNEY, March 10.
Facing the danger of an explosion which would have wrecked the ship, watersiders and seamen worked feverishly today to unload sodium nitrate from the steadier" Rhodesia Star, which caught fire at Glebe Island, in Sydney harbour today. The fire began in straw packing and waste near the propeller shaft in the stern hold, and spread to timber. The hold also contained drums of sodium nitrate and wood alcohol.
Eight watersiders tried to reach the seat of the fire with hand extinguishers, but were driven back. They then cleared all the drums of wood alcohol from the hold, while seamen and other watersiders fought the fire with land hoses.
Firemen wearing respirators completed the unloading of the more dangerous cargo, and three fire floats poured thousands of gallons of water against the side of the vessel to keep the nitrate drums cool. They put out the fire before it caused much damaS'e - „ • , “We didn’t have time to run, said one of the eight watersiders who discovered the fire. “If we had left the hold nobody else could have got to the drums in time—so we just turned to and got those drums out.”
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Greymouth Evening Star, 11 March 1949, Page 8
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203FIRE BREAKS OUT IN SHIP CARRYING DANGEROUS CARGO Greymouth Evening Star, 11 March 1949, Page 8
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