Skipper Severely Hurt in Launch Explosion

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 530, 6 December 1928, Page 1

Skipper Severely Hurt in Launch Explosion

INJURIES SEVERE JUMPED OVERBOARD The fishing launch Huana, from which two men were lost off Tiri about 12 months ago, caught fire last evening and a man lies seriously injured in hospital as a result. The launch arrived early this morning with a load of fish at the Nelson Street Wharf. Jack Sanderson, aged about 40, who worked the boat (Ak. 1838) for the owner, Mrs. Jones, went to sleep on a bunk in the engine room, a hurricane lamp being left burning. Shortly after 5.30 a.m. an explosion like a gun going off occurred and flames shot from the cabin of the launch. Sanderson rushed out of the cabin, his clothing afire and jumped overboard. Fishermen who were awakened by the noise immediately tackled the fire with wet sacks,. and the fire brigade arrived later with two extinguishers. By the time the flames were subdued Sanderson, who had climbed back again and/ helped, had collapsed and he was taken, to hospital immediately on a fish wagon. Both legs, an arm and his face were badly burnt and his immersion in salt water had not improved his injuries. He is now seriously ill at the Auckland Hospital. It is thought that benzine fumes were ignited by the hurricane lamp. The boat was not badly damaged, and the outside of her hull and cabin show few marks of the fire.