EXPLOSION ON BOARD A GERMAN VESSEL.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 9757, 24 July 1893, Page 2

EXPLOSION ON BOARD A GERMAN VESSEL.

■ ♦ CHIEF OFFICER KILLED. (VKB PRESS ASSOCIATION. | Sydney, July 22. — An explosion occurred on board the German tarque Argo of 985 tons. She bad discharged her inward cargo, and having taken in some 1450 tons of coal, was on the point of sailing for Valparaiso. The captain was ashore concluding final arrangements and the crew were getting everything in readiness to depart when a terrific explosion occurred . Something ignited down among the coals in tbeforehold, and the effects of the explosion extended right aft. The cabin soop5 oop was blown dean up and the whole eos hoisted bodily, and there ib a gap of 20 feet in tbe deck. Tbe port boat was blown half way up the main mast, where it was caught. The starboard boat was thrown into the water. j As the oxplOßion occurred a dense volume of smoke and flame aro.se with a report like the explosion of a powder magazine. The chief officer (Mr Ar&ten) was thrown with terrible force against pome object and killed outright. A passenger named Chamberlain wa.s thrown overboard, but caught the wreckage of the starboard boat and floated until rescued, j Mr Kloplarcb, the necond officer, and | Pfeifer, a sailor, have been taken to tbe j hospital, together with Chamberlain, who lies in a critical condition. The men who were aloft unfurling the sails were shaken off tho yards; many of them jumped over, board and were rescued. Tbe fire department wore quickly on the scene, but their extinguishing apparatus was not required. A detachment fiom the British gunboat Lizaid did splendid work on board tbo wrecked vessel. Tho cause wan undoubtedly due to a largo collection of gas, which found vent and wub ignited near the galley. Tha report was heard a considerable distance, and there was great ((peculation an to what had really happoned. The cook of tho Argo wan blown twenty feet away and badly hurt. There, wero two explosions ; flamen and smoke shot a hundred feet in the air. It is extraordinary that the crew escaped so well. Experts declare the vessel is practically wrecked, and will never leave Sydney. She is insured in Hamburg for £5,600.