FLAMES OVERCOME

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 101, 23 January 1935, Page 9

FLAMES OVERCOME

Fire on British Tanker ENGINE-ROOM GUTTED (Received January 22, 7.40 p.m.) New York, January 21. The fire on the British oil tanker Valverda, which broke out when she was 1000 miles east of Florida, has been conquered. The engine-room was completely gutted. The French ship Petit Terre is standing by. In response to a wireless call for immediate help, six merchantmen of various nationalities were reported to be steaming with all speed to the scene, stated an earlier British official wireless message. Reports stated that two ships of the British Navy were also proceeding to the Valverda’s assistance, one of them being the cadet, training cruiser H.M.S. Frobisher, which,/it was stated, was expected to reach the Valverda about midnight, and the other was unidentified. The Admiralty had received no confirmation, but stated that the Frobisher, which left Sheerness for Trinidad on January 11, was probably in the vicinity. Other British cruisers at present iu the West Indies are the York and the Delhi. The owners received a telegram from the master of the Valverda this afternoon stating that the engine-room was gutted and the flames were subsiding. A Halifax cable States that the Valverda, which has 36 men aboard, called for help while the flames threatened to silence the wireless. “Please don’t expect electrical system to hold out much longer,” was the wording of one message. The Rangitiki turned oil her course to assist the Valverda, but resumed it when told that other vessels were nearer. VESSEL ABANDONED Rescue of Crew of Japanese Freighter San Francisco, January 21. The Globe wireless station intercepted the SOS of the ‘Japanese freighter Hokuman Maru, with 35 men aboard, bound from Vancouver, 8.C., to Osaka, Japan, reporting a starboard list of 17 degrees, with the ship taking in water. Her position was given as several hundred miles west of Cape Flattery. The Kasku Maru was proceeding to her aid, and also the United States coastguard cutter Chelan, from Port Angels, Washington. A later message states that the liner President Jackson wirelessed that she had rescued the crew of the Hokuman Maru, which was abandoned in a sinking condition. The President Jackson is proceeding to Victoria (8.C.)