BURNING OF MORRO CASTLE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19933, 18 October 1934, Page 9

BURNING OF MORRO CASTLE

FINDING OF COURT OF INQUIRY OFFICERS FOUND GUILTY OF NEGLIGENCE United Press Association— By Electrle Telegraph— Copyright NEW YORK, October 16. The report of the United States Steamship Service Board whcih inquired into the Morro Castle disaster of September 8, was made public to-day. The report charged the ActingCaptain, Mr W. F. Warms, and four staff officers with negligence which resulted in the loss of 132 lives. No cause or responsibility for the fire is given. The officers are ordered to appear at a hearing on October 29, to show cause why their certificates should not be suspended or revoked. The report alleges that when the alarm of fire was sounded, the crew did not take their stations, nor did the officers do anything to organise them. It further alleges that the ship continued at full speed for some distance after the fire was reported. “It was not until the fire was out of control that the course was changed, and the vessel slowed down. The call for assistance was also delayed."

On September 9, after one of the worst tragedies in the history of the American mercantile marine, the liner Morro Castle was beached on the New Jersey coast, holding in her smouldering hull the incinerated bodies of many of her passengers, who, when the fire broke out, were dancing in her luxurious ballroom. The Morro Castle had been to Havana on a pleasure cruise and was due in port a few hours after the tragedy occurred. Captain Warms, who was first officer, took command of the Morro Castle following the death of Captain Wilmott the night before the fire.

The four ranking officers, who are charged with negligence, along with the acting-captain, Mr W. F. Warms, are: Chief Engineer E. S. Abbott, Second Officer Clarence Hackney, Third Officer Harold Hansen, and First Assistant Engineer Antonio Buijia. The Acting Chief Officer, Ivan Freeman, alone among the deck officers was not charged with negligence in the preliminary report of the inquiry.