THE SHIP HYDRABAD BURNED.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue 51, 25 February 1881, Page 2

THE SHIP HYDRABAD BURNED.

« THE VESSEL COMPLETELY GUTTED. The people of Foxton received another surprise regarding the Hydrabad on Tuesday, upon arrfr al of some of the workmen in town, announcing that the ship was on fire, and was certain to be completely gutted. Mr John Ella, able seaman, who was in charge of the ship, has made the following statement to us, which contains a full report of the disaster : — I am an able seaman, ami was in charge of the Hydrabvl for the owner, Mr Kelty. There were five of us livine on board. Their names were Hutchison, Maine. Murray, Spruce, and myself. On Monday last, we had the Bteam engine at work. It worked the circular saw, and we were cutting firewood to be used as fuel for the engine. The engine was placed between decks, and there we cut the wood. The wo >d was the light driftwood from the beach. We cut up a heap of 7or 8 cords, and knocked off at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. I was driving the engine during the day, as Hutchison was sick, and after we finished work I saw the fire was extinguished. After tea I went down again and found everything safe, and again at 9 p.m., when there waa no sign of fire. I slept in a cabin just off the forecastle, two of the men slept in the forecastle, and the other two slopt aft. The ship was lyinij about N. and S., with her head to N., and the weather was south-easterly. About 2 o'clock on Tuesday morning the two men sleeping in the forecastle were awakened by the smoke. They rushed out and woke me. When I got out I saw the deck was enveloped in smokn. There was hardly any wind, and the smoke was running along the deck. I ran aft and woke the other two men, and as I passed saw a red glow coming up from the main hatch. We all set to work and got buckets to try ami extinguish the fire, but could do nothing with them. Then we got the force pump, but though we could reach the fire we could not make any impression. Finding all our efforts useless, w« gathered np our traps and got on shore. The water was about 1 ft. deep on the land s : de the ship, and about two feet outside. Just after we got ashore the decks took fire about the spot where we had been standing. We could only stand and look at it About 6 o'clock the mainmast went by the board, and an hour after the mixen mast followed. The cause of their going would no doubt be the intense heat softening the iron, and the weight of the masts would then cause them to topple over. The foremast was up when I came away, and the tiro wan still burning. At the time of the tire the tide was half-ebb. The ship is completely gutted, and the plates are warped like the waves of the sea with the intense heat. The wood wo had been using for fuel emitted a great number of large sparks. When we were working at night we could see where the sparks fell and put them out, but during the day time we could not see them. I believe the fire oritrinated through a soark falling among3t the firewood during Monday and smouldering until it burst out on Tuesday morning. The stuff we cut off the firewood would burn like tinder, it was so light The fire bmke out where we had been cutting the firewood. The stack of wood was about 12 feet from the engine. The flames broke out about haif-an-hour after we were woke up by the smoke.