OLD-TIME CLIPPER

Northern Advocate, 28 September 1926, Page 4

OLD-TIME CLIPPER

’ BLOWN UP AT SEA. FREMANTLE, This Day. With 'terrific force mountains of spray were sent 'high in the air when the old clipper Tamerlane took her final plunge 15 minutes after a charge of gelignite had blown holes in the hull. Constructed in 1861, the vessel was among the finest clippers trading to Australia, and dn recent years b»pdone service as a coal- hulk in Premantle Harbour. 1 ‘ The tug Uco took the Tamcrlane inr tow from North Quay; an d piercing: blasta of the tug’s siren sorved-*as a final salute to a once-famous greyhound of the ocean. Steaming at about T knots, the Uco toot a course through! the south passage, and arrived at a spot about 21 miles from Fremantle at--12.30 p.m. Three men who had beenfleft on the hulk let go the tawline, and a rowboat was launched from thetug. A rope ladder was suspended over the side of the Tamerlane, and' fuses attached to two charges of gelignite were lit. The last of three menf scrambled down the rope ladder and the rowboat moved to a place of safety. Ten minutes later two reports rang out, and the Tamerlane settled down! on an even keel. The deck was awasE 15 minutes later. The vessel heeled over slightly, and the final plunge wasr accompanied by a roar as the imprisoned air under the deck' smashed thetimber and farced columns of water mast high. f