BURNING OF GOVERNMENT S.S. PILOT AT POUTU POINT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7222, 10 January 1885, Page 5

BURNING OF GOVERNMENT S.S. PILOT AT POUTU POINT.

[ FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] Yesterday morning the Government s.s. Pilot was discovered to be on fire about halfpast four by the assistant pilot, Mr. Curel, dense smoke issuing from all quarters of the vessel. He immediately rushed down to the beach giving the alarm to the engineer and boatmen. No time was lost in reaching the vessel, and the greatest exertions were made to extinguish the fire. About the same time the watchman on board the brig&ntine Look Out. anchored some distance away, had also observed the smoke, and he at once acquainted Captain Harwood, who cfUcd his crew together, and they launched a boat and pulled ovtr to the pilot station. All worked with a will, but as little headway was made the moorings were slipped and the vessel, by means of ropes, was stranded on the beach. After some hours of hard labour, drawing buckets of water, cutting through the deck, and the like, the fire was at last got under subjection, but not before a large amount of damage was done. Indeed the hull is almost destroyed. From stern to stem the fire has done its work. The engine room is completely burnt out and gutted. The engines are not so serioußiy damaged as one would suppose, but much money will have to be spent ere they again resume work. The boiler remains uninjured, so far as can be ascertained. The cabin is clean burnt out and gutted ; not a stick of the fittings remains, and several articles belonging to the pilot crew, engineer, and captain are destroyed. The whole of the deck, lining, and a large part of tho framework is burnt, and perfectly reduced to ashes, and on the whole, the vessel presents a most hopeless appearance, so much so that it is questionable if she can ever be used again. Tho pilot was absent at the time, taking a vessel up the Wairoa, but everything was done that could possibly be done, and there is no doubt that had not the captain from tho brigantine Look Out arrived with his crew the vessel would have been burnt to the water's edge. One of his men, an A.8., by name Macintosh, deserves the greatest credit for the manner in which he worked. At risk of his life he descended below, there to combat the furious flames. But he was not alone. All worked most manfully. Various theories are afloat as to the origin of the fire, but the general opinion appears to be that the coal bunkers, being constructed of wood, and there being only some three inches of space between the wooden sides and the boiler, the great heat caused the wood to take fire. By some the spontaneous combustion of the coal is suggested as the cause. But as yet the mishap is shrouded in mystery, and until a proper survey has been made, nothing can bo decided. The steamer was left secure and safe at eight o'clock the previous night after having been out all day. and the engineer is quite positive that his department was free from all danger at the time of his leaving to* go ashore. The damage is estimated at over £1000.