THe Burning of the s.s. Pretoria

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XX, Issue 2339, 31 January 1893, Page 3

THe Burning of the s.s. Pretoria

The Shire liner Pifeshire arrived at Ifelbonrne on the 9fch io»tant from London. Captain Gatbbert, 8.N.8., tells lbs following grim story of the burning of th* Pretoria :— " When the Fifesbire was skirting the Bay of Biscay, that Kill tumbled sullenly after a gale bad subsided, a vessel on fire was reported 16 miles off, and the Fifeshire's coarse was promptly altered in order that a closer inspection might be made. /The bnraiDß veßsel was a derelict, and the empty davits, with tbe tackles still hanging Irom them, showed that tbe crew had taken to the boatß. Tbe foremast, and still smouldering, bad fallen, juii lay acroßS tbe rail, while the other ipars, gaunt and black, with cordage gone, Stood nakedly against the grey sky. All to* woodwork visible was charred, bofc tbe ■am* on tbe bow showed plainly still. TboFiftibire steamed round and round the dtteiiet lost by any chance some living soul might be left upon her crumbling decks, bat no sign of life was visible, and tbe Angtralian-bonnd vessel was brought to her coarse again. She hauled off from the Pretoria, which plunged aimlessly ud heavily in tbe sea, sending op clouds of Bteam as each fresh wave rolled in Upon her rtJ hot plates. Afterwards tbe eftptata of tbe Fifeebire ascertained that i the burning steamer was bound to a ' Spanish pott, when a lamp in the lampxoorn npaet, and started flames that could , 6ot be quenched. So swift was. the - ; fire in its progress that the haplfcss chief Officer, wm suffocated as be lay in his bunk, ■ad the «tptain and crew with difficulty fetched the boats. After tbey bad left tbe Vessel, two ■teamen, attracted by the glare in the night, bore down upon her and tried in vain to tow her into port. O| tbe two boats, one was picked up by the Breßt "^boftt and tbe other drifted ashore at Uibant. Tbe Pretoria herself, with masts •ntt riggings gone, tbe fire still seething in the hold, and the dead man lying alone in his cabin, lurched through atorm and darknets towards tbe land, and foundered at last on tbe rocks off Usbant."