XEROTINE SICCATIVE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IX, Issue 469, 7 April 1882, Page 21

XEROTINE SICCATIVE.

There is •very reason to believe that the recent explosion on board her Majesty's ship Triumph baa brought to light the true cause of the lamentable disaster by which the Doterel was destroyed, and the ' lives of 145 officers and men sacrificed on April 26th last. Tbe couit- | martial which inquired into the sad catastrophe came t« the conclus- \ ion that it was occasioned by the accidental ignition of the coal gas i liberated in the bunkers, and special methods of ventilation were at i once adopted on board some of the largest ships in the navy to avoid the recurrence of a similar calamity. By the accident to the Triumph, however, a new and startling light has been thrown on the whole matter. That explosion was traced beyond question to the accidental ignition of a " patent drier " known as " Xerotine siccative," and this fact has educed new evidence with regard to the Doterel, making it in tbe highest degree probable that her destruction was attributable to the same cause. It would seem that in the year which has ju6t"closed there were three.very similar explosions on board ships of the'navy. Tbe first of these', occurring without fatal results, called the attention of the Admiralty to tbe dangerous character of the patent driers, and in June last— a considerable time after the warning — " my lords " issm d a general circular not nearly speci'.c enough as to the peril to be guarded against — urging caution in the storage of this material. Meanwhile the awful disaster to the Doterel bad happened, but had been set down to other causes. Then before the year closed came the leakage on board the Triumph, the diffusion of the vapour in the ship's compartment, its accidental ignition and explosion, causing the deaths of three men and serious injuries to seven others. It now transpires that the Doterel also carries a quantity of xerotine siccative in her paint room, and this was next the powder magazines. Further, it is known that immediately preceding the explosion some of tbe hands were employed in moving a vessel Containing this very substance, and from which, it was leaking and giving off a large amouDt of vapour. This they were doing, employing

lights in the room, ignorant of the fact that the vapour ignites at a low temperature, and when mixed with the atmosphere detonates with a violence scarcely less than that of dynamite. These data would entirely agree with and explain the fact that in the case of the Doterel there were three distinct reports — the first probably being that of the drier, and the other two of the separate chambers of tbe magazine Since the explanations of the Triumph disaster one of tbe carpenters on board the Doterel has came forward to describe the storage of the xerotine siccative. It is stated that tie room in which it was contained was separated from the magazine only by a thitx sheet of steel. A barrel containing the drier had been burst by some mean 9, and the exuding liquid gave off a disagreeable vapour. Hands were set down to" mop up " liquid and to remove the vessel, and this was being done when the ship blew up. The carpenter hat no doubt that the siccative became ignited, and that it fired the gunpowder. This was only to be expected, because the steel plate partition did not actually cut off the magazine from the paint storeroom, not fitting ti»ht at the bottom, and, as a matter of fact, • portion of the fluid flowed through into the magazine under the metal plate. This matter will be at once referred to the committee now investigating coal gas explosions in the navy, sitting under the presidency of Vice-Admiral Luard, C. B. Tho Government, itU understood, have also determined to re-open tbe Doterel court* 1 martial to inquire into the facts above stated. — Exchange.