TERRIFIC EXPLOSION.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXX, Issue 10097, 24 July 1893, Page 5

TERRIFIC EXPLOSION.

LOSS OF LIFE. [SraoiAi to Pbebb association.] SYDNEY, July 22. A great sensation was caused to-day by an explosion on board the German barque Argo, of 985 tons, which recently arrived from Hamburg. The Argo had discharged her inward cargo, and having taken in some 1450 tons of coal, was on the point of sailing for Valparaiso. The captain was ashore concluding final arrangements, and the crew were getting everything in readiness to depart, when a terrific explosion occurred. The report was heard at a considerable distance, and there was great speculation as to what had really happened. The explosion originated low down among the coals in the forehatch and extended aft. The cabin poop was blown clean up, and the whole deck hoisted bodily, and there is a gap of twenty feet in the deck. The port boat was blown half-way up the mainmast, where it was caught. The starboard boat was thrown into the water. The vessel appears to have been damaged below the water-line, as she is making water. As the explosion occurred a dense volume of smoke and flame arose with a report like the explosion of a powder magazine. The chief officer, Mr Arfaten, was thrown with terriffic force against some object and killed outright. A passenger named Chamberlain was thrown overboard, but caught the wreckage of the starboard boat and floated until he was rescued. Mr Kloplarch, the second mate, and Pfeifer, a sailor, have been taken to the hospital, together with Chamberlain, who lies in a critical conditioa. The men who were aloft unfurling the sails were shaken off the yards. Many of them jumped overboard and were rescued. The Fire Department were quickly on the scene, but their extinguishing apparatus was not required. A detachment from the British gunboat Lizard did splendid work on board the wrecked vessel.

The explosion was undoubtedly due to a large collection of gas, which found vent and was ignited near the galley. The vessel is insured in Hamburg, but the amount is unknown. The cargo is not insured.