SHIPYARD FIRE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26352, 6 January 1947, Page 5

SHIPYARD FIRE

THE NEW CORINTHIC BLAZE UNDER CONTROL SERIOUS DAMAGE CAUSED (Rec. 8.30 p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 4. Fire broke out in the liner Carinthic, which is nearing completed at the Cammel Laird Shipyard at Birkenhead, at 5 o’clock this morning. Fire engines were rushed to the shipyard and firemen concentrated on trying to confine the blaze to one hold and the refrigeration chamber. The owners, the Shaw, Savill and Albion Company, said that as far as it could be ascertained the fire broke out among some cork and material lying in the hold. The vessel developed a list of from 15 to 20 degrees to starboard, but it was reported at 1 p.m.. that the fire was under control and the ship was slowly righting herself. Fear of Vessel Capsizing Clouds of smoke and steam are still issuing from the open hatch but no flames are visible. The fire occurred in No 5 hold and the firemen’s efforts were mainly concentrated on preventing it from spreading to adjoining holds and the upper structure. Six hours after a watchman discovered the outbreak flames were shooting through the open hatch. Billowing smoke from the burning cork hampered the firemen. Reinforcements were rushed to Birkenhead until there were more than 30 appliances in action or standing by. The chief danger was that the ship might capsize. The Corinthic was lying with a starboard list alongside the west basin wall and it was feared that a sudden inrush of water into the hold might cause her to right herself too quickly and heel over to port. Two firemen were injured when a gang of 50 entered the smoke-filled No. 4 and No. 6 holds ■to strip the cork insulation and spray the whitehot walls of No. 5 , hold. More than 60 workmen employed by Cammel Laird’s volunteered to help the firefighters. They cut an opening, from the tunnel escape to the flooded hatchway to release water from the ship’s heavy side to try to counteract the list. Firemen’s Difficult Task The smoke was so dense that some of the men lost their way in the ship. For a time a gang got to work with oxy-acetylene jets to cut through the steel plates so that the firemen could get at the seat of the fire. One workman said “That four-hour shift in the vessel seemed a long time, but most of us will be back again tonight.” An official of Cammel Laird said that the contract for building the Corinthic was worth at least £1,000,000. He added that as a result of the fire there would be a considerable delay in completing her. It was later officially announced that the fire in the Corinthic is under control. Firemen, after they had fought their way into No. 5 hold, were quickly successful in beating out the flames, but teams are standing by damping down.

The Corinthic, which is being built for the New Zealand service of the Shaw Savill and Albion Company, will be the first of the company’s four new passenger vessels. It was expected that she would jbe ready by March of this year The new ship is named after one of the most popular vessels that ever served in the New Zealand trade, the old Corinthic—a twin-screw vessel of 12,343 tons and 500 feet in lengthhaving made 71 voyages between New Zealand and the United Kingdom. During World War I she carried many thousands of colonial troops. The original ship entered the trade in 1902, and on some trips she brought as many as 500 immigrants to the Dominion. •