BURNING OF THE CANADIAN SHIP HABITANT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2105, 28 June 1894, Page 36

BURNING OF THE CANADIAN SHIP HABITANT.

EXCITING SCENES ON MELBOURNE WHARVES NARROW ESCAPE OF CAPTAIN AND FAMILY. The last mail from Melbourne has brought further particulars of tbe fire on board the Canadian three-masted vessel Habitant, at the Melbourne wharves, during the small hours of Friday morning last. The narrative iB of quite a sensational character, on account of the narrow escape of the captain and his family and also because a number of vessels moored near the Habitant were for a time in great jeopardy. It is reported that there was no finer vessel in port than this full-rigged ship of 1618 tons register, from Windsor, Nova Scotia, and now lying by the wharf side on the south bank of the Yarra, charred and smoking, and with all her entrails torn out by the fierce fingers of flame. She was built nine years ago. The vessel had been in the port of Melbourne several times, and her skipper, Captain W. R. Potter (who is her owner also), is well known. She came on her last voyage three weeks ago, from New York, with a cargo of oil and general merchandise, and was to have left again for Newcastle in ballast at 11 o'clock on Friday morning. Fortunately, the whole of the cargo was cleared when the fire broke out. On Thursday night there was a party on board. Captain Potter's wife, his son (who was one of the crow), and his little daughter, Verdie Potter, aged about five years, were voyaging with him. To celebrate their departure they had a few friends to meet them that night. They were up with their guests till about 1 o'clock. Before they were able to retire to rest the captain had some trouble with some drunken members of his erew — a mixed lot, comprising several Scandinavians, a Mexican, a Lascar, and others of various nationalities. One of the men became so riotous that the police had to be called in, and the bibulous mariner was taken away to the lock-up. The captain then went to bed. At this time there was no suspicion of any danger on board. The skipper took his - übual walk round, found everything as it should be, and turned in for the night. Ho had been asleep rather more than four hours, when, shortly before 5 in the morning, he smelt smoke. 'Rousing himself in his bunk, ' and rubbing bis eyes, the truth, fearful as it was, flashed across his brain in an instant. He leaped out of b?d, pulled on his trousers, and opened the cabin door. One glance sufficed to confirm his suspicion. Indeed, just as he opened tho cabin door an immense tongue of fire burst through the mizzen hatch, leaping high into the darknes3, and throwing a red light upon the ripples of the river. Mrs Potter was only half awake, but her husband > eizad her in hid strong arms, and bore her in her nightdress to the wharf, where he placed her, shivering with cold and trembling with fright, in safety. "Savo the child," she shrieked. "All right ; don't you mind ; I'll save her," was the cool reply of her husband. He dashed back again through the smoke, took the little girl in his arms, wrapped a blanket round her, and kissiDg her and telling hor not to be afraid, bore her to her mother. It was an exciting time for the captain, who saw his beautiful ship burning before his eyes. But it was certainly not a time for any re> pinings. Delays were_ only adjuncts of destruction. Used to decisive action in moments of danger, accubtomed to command, and with nerves tried by many a conflict with tempest and angry ocean, Captain Potter roused the crow, raised the cry ot fire, and, bearing his child with him, boarded the American ship Jenny Harkness, which was lyinc just under the stern of hia own vessel. The Jenny Harkness is commanded by Captain Arnsbury, and is loaded with a cargo of no less than 34,000 gal of kerosene. If she had caught fire nothing could have saved her, and wharves, sheds, and shipping, must soon have been blazing, and it is now said that Melbourne has only narrowly escaped a terrible disaster. Having placed his family in safety, Captain Potter proceeded to do all that he could to check the flames, which, with tnuch-femoke, were rising from the mizzen hatch. The great tongues of fire shot upwards into tho air and threw a red radiance, glorious but terrible, upon the face of the leaden sky, and crackling timber bore audible testimony to the grip the element had obtained.

The fire brigade, under the command of Captain. Stein, was soon on the spot, and within a very short time five steam fire-engines were pouring water down the hatches under the direction of the chief officer and his principal lieutenant, M'Dowell It was a difficult piece of work. The densenees of the smoke, the darkness of the morning, the situation of the ship, and the lack of knowledge of the precise locality of the fire made it extremely hard for the chief officer and his gallant corps to know how to apply their energies. It did not take them very long to fiud out that the fire was at present almoat entirely confined to the aft part of the ship and that, at any rate, they had to keep it from getting forward. Volumes of water were poured down the hatches from the powerful engines. Mr Stein resolved to try and find whether there was any fire in the hold, so he had (one of the men clad in diving

dress and lowered into the hold. The denseness of the smoke prevented a view of what was going on below there, but the information obtained was valuable, for it enabled the commandant of the brigade to know that the heart of the fire was between decks in the after part of the ship, close under the captain a cabin All the -appearances pointed to incendiarism. It was supposed that oil had been freely u'ed upon the woodwork between decks, and that fire had beea applied by some malevolent person. The fire brigade worked with a will, and their efforts soon began to be apparent, although the fire raged fiercely. Not until evening was all outward sign of flame suppressed. At one time a name came out of the main hatch. This could not ba understood, as there seemed no body of fire immediately below. The immense volumes of water poured into the ship had the effect of listing the ship over on to her starboard side, where she now lies, with her mast hanging over the quay at an angle of 30deg. Captain Potter's son states that he got out of the vessel as much of his personal property as he could in the hurry, but there was a bureau from which, significantly enough, one of the drawers was missing. This drawer contained jewellery and money. It had all gone. He found upon tho floor several sovereigns, which had evidently been dropped. This discovery led him to the conclusion that the drawer had been taken out by a thief, and that the money was dropped by the thief in his hurry. Ihis is the only way he could explain the absence of the drawer from the bureau. Mrs Pottor, the captain's wife, is a bright, interesting lady. She states that to the best of her knowledge it was at about a quarter to 5 in the morning when her husband, who was sleeping by her sido, roused her with the cry that the ship was on fire. During the morning some ladies called upon her and offered her any assistance she might desire, as most of her clothing had been destroyed by the fire. The fire on the ship Habitant was not completely quenched until after midnight, when the water was flush with the cabin floor. The ship is now resting on the bed of- the river, and on Saturday was being pumped out.

During the week ending June 24 six vessels, with a total of 2713 tons register, arrived at the Dunedin wharves ; while nine vessels, representing 5364 tons, left them. The new steamer under construction for the Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company is to be called the Altea. Her gross cargo carrying capacity will be 8000 tons, and she will be capable of carrying 80,000 carcases of meat. Our London correspondent writes, under date May ll:—Messrs9 :— Messrs Turnbull, Martin-and Cp.'s new s.s. Perthshire is now in the Albert Dock discharging her cargo of New Zealand meat. I hear that the installations of the Linde system of refrigerating machinery and Ellis and Eaves' s induced draught for the boilers have proved a distinct success. The Bißter ship, the Buteshire, now in Australia loading, and a third ship building at Newcastle, are fitted with the same arrangement. During the month ending April 39, 35 sailing and 13 steam vessels were reported to the Board of Trade as lost. Their total tonnage amounted to 11,181 tons, and the lives of 135 seamen were lost in them.

The Admiralty have riven orders to have H.M S. Benbow sold out of the service, she being unfit for further employment. " The Benbow was built about 60 years ago, and was one of the battle ships which took part in the siege of St. Jean de Acre. She has for the last 30 years acted as a floating coal depot at Sheerness. Another large inland canal is about to be constructed in England. The Sheffield and Yorkshire Navigation Company signed agreements in April with the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway Company for tbe purchase of their waterways. It is stated that immediate steps will be taken to construct a canal from Sheffield to the sea, which has long been desired in the trading interests of the district. The master of the Lake Erie, which arrived in London on April 30 from Lyttelton, reported that on February 15 he sighted a large iceberg 10 miles south of the Island of Diego Ramirez. The master considered it very dangerous to shipping, and should be widely reported. Altogether there are at present under construction on the Clyde 14 Government vessels, a battleship of 14,900 tons, a cruiser of 14,200 tons, four cruisers each of 5600 ton?, and eight torpedo boats of the Havoc type.