FIRE ON MAURETANIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17889, 17 September 1921, Page 2 (Supplement)

FIRE ON MAURETANIA.

SERIOUS OUTBREAK IN DOCK.

A serious fire broke out in the Canard liner Mauretania, 30,704 tons, while lying at Southampton Docks. ° For more than eight hours the fire brigrades and crew were fighting the flames, which had gained a strong bold in one of the decks. Two other decks were damaged. Damage has been done to public rooms, including the lounge, smoking room, reading room, library, and main dining saloons, as well as to sleeping berths. About 2 p.m. smoke was noticed hi the first-class berthing accommodation on "E" deck amidships. The ship's pumps were started and the docks and town fire brigades were summoned. When the fire broke out with a Budden blaze, long red flames shot up the stairway so high that some of the lifeboats were scorched. In the saloon the flames rose ceiling high, devouring the elaborately decorated walk, with their rich wood, for which the ship, was famous. Dense columns of smoke belched upwards through the stairway. Later, the ship took a list to starboard, and work ceased on the port side until the water could be pumped cut of the ship. After half an bourns pumping the ship was righted and more progress was made. ~~

At midnight the ship, by dint f cf-ase-leas efforts, had been saved from complete disaster. With their heads bandaged with white towels the ship and shore firemen fought for the boat's life in the midst of blinding smoke. A number of the firemen wore gas masks,,