FIRE ON A BARQUE.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4512, 13 November 1901, Page 7

FIRE ON A BARQUE.

Special to the “Times.” AUCKLAND November 12. The barque Criffel, which had about completed her loading for Dunedin and Wellington at New York, and was to have sailed about the 12th ult., caught fire at her loading berth, and was sunk. The vessel is not seriously damaged, but the cargo will prove almost a total loss- It has not been decided whether another ves sel will be put on the berth to take her place. The “Star’s” London correspondent states:—“The British barque Crfffel was. according to New York advices, on the point of leaving 3iast river for New Zealand with a choice cargo of gunpowder, dynamite, cartridges, gasoline and case oil, when a fire broke out on board. Nor. withstanding the terrible risk, several fire, men went on board and succeeded in throwing overboard a considerable portion of the most dangerous explosives. The vessel was finally filled with water and sank in the muddy basin. A man wno takes a moderate risk of getting shot bv rescuing a wonnded comrade on a South African battlefield gets the Victoria Cross and becomes a man of mark for life. Sura, ly such acts as those of the firemen who boarded the Criffel, and by their courage saved dozens of lives, ought to receive something akin to the, cross ‘for valour, so dearly prized by the soldiers.