LINER ABLAZE AT LIVERPOOL

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21961, 4 March 1946, Page 3

LINER ABLAZE AT LIVERPOOL

FIFTH IN 24 HOURS SHIP ANJNFERNO SABOTAGE SUSPECTED PRECAUTIONS AT PORTS ( in a.m.) LONDON. March 3. The luxury liner Empire Waveney, formerly the German prize ship Mil waukee. which caught fire at Liverpool docks, is .-.till ablaze to-day and has develoled a dangerous list There is a possibility that she mav overturn.

A few minutes after the outbreak of fire in Ihe after end of the shm the flames shot, mast high and _ quickly spread until the vessel was blazing from end to end. The ship listed heavilv to port as firemen mobilised from the whole of the Merseyside area fought the blaze from fireboats and gained a measure of control, when they were able to board the forward part of the ship.

The Empire Waveney’s list to port increased yesterday morning. Pumping operations were started through the lower portholes after midday to remove some of the tremendous quantity of water poured into her. New Fire On Afterdeck

Meanwhile, a new outbreak of fire occurred on the afterdeck. The damage to the vessel is unofficially estimated to exceed £200,000.

The belief is gaining ground that the fire, in addition to that, on the Swedish liner Drottingholm, was due to sabotage. says the Press Association. _ The Empire Waveney is the fifth ship to

catch fire at Liverpool in 24 hours and the eighth in a fortnight. Some of the other fires are believed to have originated in the cargo in the ships’ holds and might have been due to accidental causes, including spontaneous combustion, but as the Empire Wavenrv had no cargo, police and fire experts are closely investigating the cause of pie outbreak. It is feared that the Ire in the Empire Waveney will last, another two days until the liner is completely burnt out. An extraordinary feature of the five was that flames swept through Ihe ship from aft to bows, though the wind was in the opposite direction. Urgent precautions are being taken in London, Southampton and other big ports following the growing susnic'on that sabotage is responsible for the Liverpool outbreaks. Oil Furl Tanks Explode Muffled explosions were heard early to-day when the fire reached some of the oil storage tanks deep in the heart of the vessel. The flames, fed by the fuel, shot upward with a tremendous roar and the ship became an inferno, lighting up the whole of the dock area. The. fire-fighters, after the order to abandon the doomed vessel for fear of the oil tanks blowing up and the vessel capsizing, concentrated on preventing the flames spreading to the dockside buildings. From the quay and from two firefioats hovering as near to the Empire Waveney ns possible, they played water constantly on the mooring ropes to prevent them burning through, which would have allowed the ship to drift and menace other shinning. It_ had been feared that the vessel might heel over and block the entrance to the whole series of docks, but soon after daybreak she went over to nort and rested against the dockside.