FRANGISTAN DISASTER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18679, 8 April 1924, Page 7

FRANGISTAN DISASTER.

ADDITIONAL PARTICULARS. A. and N.Z. , LONDON. April 6. An Italian ship, ■while standing by - the British steamer Frangistao, which was abandoned on fire while en route from Bombay with a ' party of pilgrims for Jeddah, tamed its searchlights on to the blazing ship. They disclosed an eerie spectacle— smoking vessel surrounded by swarms of hungry sharks, led! by a pilot fish. . The crew remained aboard, and the wireless operator, despite oppressive heat and smoke, stayed in the cabin till just before the captain ordered . the crew to abandon the ship. The flames spread forward devouring first the saloon, and then the lounge under the bridge, where' on the captain was standing at his pout. The ship'listed heavily,; settling "by the head. So intense was the heat that the steel plates fell , off like scales, leaving the skeleton silhoutted against the roaring furnace. The Tangistan's lights were sighted at 10 o'clock in the evening. Than it was impossible for the captain, to remain.- As he departed. he paused on the gangway to light a cigarette and simultaneously the gangway caught fire. The proceedings throughout were orderly. None cf the passengers' effects were lost, and all were little the worse for their experience. ,