LAUNCH GUTTED BY FIRE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23796, 1 May 1939, Page 13

LAUNCH GUTTED BY FIRE

FIFTY PASSENGERS IMPERILLED SPEEDBOATS TO THE RESCUE (From Our Own Correspondent) SYDNEY, Apl. 21. Bursting into flames on the Parramata River, during the University Rowing Club’s regatta, a 45ft launch crowded with passengers was gutted within half an hour. On board were about 50 supporters of the Sydney High School, who were cheering two of their school crews in a struggle for victory in the final of the maiden fours. As the flames spread from one end of the boat to the other, the passengers were rescued by speedboats which rushed to their assistance. A few minutes after they had been taken off. the launch was a mass of flames. The blazing launch was anchored near the finishing line, and the rescuing craft were able to get to them within a few seconds. The fire started in the engine room of the launch. The first indications came when smoke issued from the cowling above the engine. One of the deck hands seized a small fire extinguisher and rushed down the ladder from the pilot’s cabin into the engine room. Met by thickfumes, he was soon driven back. As the flames spread, the passengers were driven to the rear of the launch. Women on board, several carrying young children, were helped to the rear and lifted into the first speed boat as it raced alongside.

The owner and driver of the launch, Reginald William Agar, and the deckhand, Charles Ratcliffe, courageously stuck to their posts and endeavoured to extinguish the fire. Their task was hopeless. Agar, who was slightly burned and suffered from shock, told police who investigated the accident that it was probably due to the engine backfiring. He said that he went down to the engine room and found it on fire. The heat and fumes nrevented him from reaching two fire extinguishers, and so he raced to the upper deck, where he wrenched the petrol tank free, to avoid ,an explosion. and handed it to a nearby boat.

The launch was taken in tow and beached, where firemen extinguished the flames, but not before it had become a charred shell.