A VESSEL BLOWN UP.
EXPLOSION OF COAL GAS. ONE MAN KILLED AND SEVERAL INJURED. THE VESSEL TAKES FIRE. Pre** Association.—Electric Telegraph.— 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 coal, was on the point of sailing for Valparaiso. The captain was ashore concluding final arrangements, and the crew were getting things in readiness to depart, when a terrilic explosion occurred. The report was heard a considerable distance, and there was great speculation as to what had really happened. The explosion originated low down among the coals in the fore-hatch and extended right aft. The cabin poop was blown clean up and the whole deck hoisted bodily, and there is a gap of 20 feet in the deck. The port boat was blown half-way up the mainmast, where it 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 the report like the explosion of a powder magazine. The chief officer, Mr. Arfsten, was thrown with terrible force against some object, and killed outright. A passenger named Chamberlain was thrown overboard, but caught the wreckage of the starboard boat and floated till he was rescued. Mr. Kloplarch, the second officer, and a sailor, have been taken to the hospital with Chamberlain, who is in a critical condition. The men who were aft unfurling the sails were shaken off and 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 cause wa3 undoubtedly due to a large collection of gas which formed and was ignited near the galley. The vessel was insured in Hamburg, but the amount is unknown. The cargo is not insured.
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Bibliographic details
New Zealand Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9260, 24 July 1893, Page 5
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351A VESSEL BLOWN UP. New Zealand Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9260, 24 July 1893, Page 5
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