FIRE ON THE AOTEA.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 10673, 24 January 1911, Page 4

FIRE ON THE AOTEA.

By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.]

(Per Press Association.) Received January 24, at 0.35 a.m. Capetown, January 23. Reuter states that the Aotea's cargo included three hundred tons of dynar mite, which was removed at the weekfend to a hulk in the bay.

A fire broke out on the Aotea at ten minutes past eleven on Sunday night abaft the funnel, and spread to the galley deck-house, but tugs from the docks extinguished it after it had been burning ninety minutesReceived January 24, at-9.5 a.m.

Capetown, January 23. In all 350 tons of dynamite were removed from the : Aotea.

The fire was extinguished at midnight. .";

THE NEW ZEALAND CARGO, r (Per Pbess Association.)... - ■y '' -~. ■■.-, -.Dnnedin, January 23. ..Captain Oliver, late chief officer."of. the Arawa, was making his first trip as captain of the Aotea. . _.The.Aotea had the following "cargo.:— For Auckland, 2400 tons.; for Wellington, 2200 tons; for Lyttelton, 1500 tons; for Duhedin, 1500 tons. Particulars of the cargo have not yet been received bv the agents, but as. a rule boats from .West of England ports bring . heavy material.,,; including all iron.;, ....- ; - 2- : -" vThis 'is the second "mishap to the Aotea within tho last six months. In August she ran aground in the St. Lawrence river, when bound for Montreal to load for Australia and New Zealand, under charter to the N.Z. Shipping Co.

The loss of two large steamers, both fullv laden with, .valuable general corgoes for! Australia and New Zealand, is a disastrous opening for the New Year. Last year was an exceptionally bad one for the underwriters, as it included the total loss of the Waratah. representing £300,000, and the Pericles £750,000, and the stranding with serious damage, of the Papanui and the Kaipara. " .'. . , The burning of the Pansinna and tier cargo will represent a loss of something over £250,000, and the stranding and probable total loss of the Aotea. and much of her valuable cargo wilt probablv run close to £200,000. The Aotea, which is owned by the Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company, is o*rie of the;best known cargo steamers in-the London-New Zealand trade, inwhich she has been constantly employed for sixteen years. With the exception of the Tokomaru, the Aotea is the oldest steamer in the fleet of the Shaw, -Savill, and Albion Company. She \yas-:iatihche'd in January, 1895, from the yards of Messrs C. S. Swan and Hunter, at Newcastle-on-Tyne. She is. a steel single screw steamer of 6364 tons, gross register. . Mouille Point, the scene of the wreck of the Aotea, lies midway between and almost" in a straight line with the breakwater at Capetown docks and Green Point, which.is the turning point for steamers leaving Capetown to goround the Cape of Good Hope. Mouille Point is very close to the entrance or the harbor. * The whole of the coast from Cape Green round the South African coast, as far as Cape Agulhas, is an exceedingly dangerous and rockstudded one. There have been numerous wrecks along this stretch of coast, where strong winds, thick weather, swift currents, and strong "sets" prevail. About eighteen months ago the Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company's steamer Maori was totally wrecked an hour after leaving Capetown, at Dwy; ker Point, which is about ten miles below the scene of the wreck of the Aotea. . Robben Island, mentioned in the cable message, lies about a- mile or two directly to the northward of Mouille Point, and vessels making for Table Bay pass close to it when steering for the harbor entrance.