GIANT LINER BURNED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20244, 2 May 1929, Page 10

GIANT LINER BURNED.

GERMAN 46,000-TGN SHil^

ILL-LUCK OF THE EUROPE

BLOW TO ATLANTIC PLANS.

HEAVY INSURANCES IN LONDON

The great ocear. Bteamer Europa, witij which the Germans hoped to inaugurate a new era for their shipping, became on March 26 not much better than & blackened shell in the mud off the Blohm and Yoss shipyard at Hamburg. She was in the final stage of construction when fire broke out on her, Firemen fought for hours to save her, but she was nearly burned out and sank. Sho was one of two vessels of 46,000 tons being built for the Atlantic service, and was to have made her first trip ii} August. About £2,250,000 had already been built into the vessel, and by far th» greater portion of this perished. The loss was covered by insurance, 60 per cent, of which was said to have been in England. Tht» chief sufferers are the 4000 workmen who were rendered idle by the catastrophe. The fire was first noticed ?.t half-pas'f three in the morning, in a forward poi> tion of the vessel. Perhaps it had already been burning for some time, for only 10 men were at that hour scattered about over the vast area of the vessel'* various decks. Nothing definite seemed to ba known of its origin. Theories as to the Cause. Naturally the suspicion of arson arosa. More than one instance of sabotage was said to have occurred during the construction, and it was recalled by thft Monarchist Press that some of the. workmen hissea as the vessel left the ways last August. . Some accounts mention the possibilities that a boiler in the heating-room "ran dry and burned out, - and that s lighted cigarette was dropped on to the freshlylaid rubber of the companion stairs. The theory of simultaneous short circuits in several different compartments was also put forward to explain the rapidity with which the flames spread. However, the fitting of panelling was in progress in that part of the ship, and enormous quantities of the necessary material seemed to have been lying about. Moreover, a good deal of the woodwork which had already been fitted was varnished.

It -was soon realised that the yard fir® brigade was unable to cope with the ouU break, and Hamburg was alarmed by tha shrieking of the works' sirens. Before iong 20 jets were playing on the vessel from the quays, and as many from fire-boats from the waterside. But all their efforts were without visible effect. Owing to tha dense clouds of smoke carried aft by tha wind it was impossible to approach, tha seat of the conflagration through the ship itself. At one time firemen were let down on the forward deck in iron buckets by means of a big construction crane. Danger of a Capsize. By nine o'clock the fire was burning furiously amidships. An hour later, in consequence of the immense quantities of water poured on board the vessel, she suddenly listed heavily, and threatened to capsize. Indeed, she is said to hav« been prevented from doing so only by the huge hawsers by which she was moored to the quay. The danger of a capsize caused a temporary suspension of the work of the firemen. All those on board were hurriedly called ashore, and the extinguisher boats sheered off so as to get well clear of tha burning liner. At mid-day, however, with the fall oil the tide, the vessel settled down firmly on the bottom of tha harbour, and the fire-boats were onca more able to approach her. By thattima three-quarters of the Euro pa was burning. As a result of the disaster the shares of the Norddeutscher Lloyd dropped on the Berlin Bourse from 118 to 115, though they subsequently steadied up somewhat. It seems to be feared that if run by herself the sister-ship Bremen may prove unprofitable. The destruction of the Europa is likely; to be reflected in rivalry between the Lloyd and the Hamburg-America line, Ihe refusal of the former company to include the two new 46,000-tonners in tha proposed pooling arrangements led to % state of war" between Hamburg and Bremen. Underwriters' Losses. The commitments of the British insurance markets in the Luropa were very heavy, for London shared, with Hamburg the bulk of the insurances placed by the builders, amounting to about ;£2,000,000. Ihe liabilities of the various eompaniV* and underwriting syndicates variied widely, but, in many cases, the amounts are comparable with those involved in the sinking of the Titanic, which inflicted the heaviest individual loss on the London market which;has so far been suffered. The ultimate loss will be widely spread* Although large lines were originally written, considerable reinsurances were, in some instances, effected and they were being placed in the market as : recently as a 1 few days before the fire. Some of these reinsurances were known to have been in respect of amounts originally written in Germany, while others were . placed by London companies and underwriters. It is not uncommon when vessels have been long under construction for underwriters to effect reinsurances on account of tha closing period and the trials, for they ai*e thus able to assure themselves of a pro fib for the insurance covering the greater part, of the term. Some underwriters do nob regard building risks with favour and did not consider that the premium in this instance, which represented about 12s 6d per £IOO for 21 months, was particularly attractive. ,