A Ship Blown Up

Feilding Star, Volume XIV, Issue 64, 17 November 1892, Page 4

A Ship Blown Up

'■,•>.:■;' ) Li / ■•'■; Great excitement was caused on the Cl yde on '3rd September "by £hft destruetidn of the' u new ship 1 Auch mountain, ;throu«h. the; etplbsion of 20 tons of' gunpowder, ' ignited by a fire which had broken out on the vessel, : and which the ■: crew were powerless: to ■, suppress. The vessel was just aioucto 1 start on her first voyage to Sydney. She had already loaded a valuable cacg;o. of, steel rails, iron pipes, ", whisky, , vl and:, general merchandise, vessel cargo being- wortjb, Httl^sliprt $k '' and being 4nsurM for spmething^lijke that amqunt. JSow and' where ;the fire originated is unknown, but smoke wais seen' cominj* tip from the ■fore hatch at ab6ut 10 o'clock on the night l of the 2rd J Septieniber. The captain and crew fought the flames bravely, but ineffectually, for two hours, and then the dFea4 of an explosion made mpst«£;the crew pat off in the lifeboat. The captain and officers, with ,som« of .the .cr,ew, attemped to. jettison tne 'powder^ bnti showers dfsparks i Vbnjpeijied, them %o j desist from their h^arobtis'liask, and | they left the sbi> anff took refuge; on the Clyde gtrardship; ."The ■ fire| burned for several thonrf ,ab\ib • -about ! 5 o'clock a terrific explosion ocournltf, and the vessel .a.anjk. 00 was heard for a distance, ,ojfj3o miles, < and created great^atm, J in^ >^f]a^g9w! " and Qreenqck and- the [surrpnndinfi:; villages, where hundre^fj of '-, windows; , we?e. smashed. Th^^t^ia , at .s«} Auchmountain,, ift,,[biajn^4,|fw ::?9® having, BcuttUdthe^hes|iipjWh|?n. he found it was inpippssiUle to jettison the gunpowder^ and , the , commanders ofthe two mt!n-6f-t^ar 'in the Clyde are also ceneured "I>y public opinion for not having taken measures to sink • theship, eypn bya ehbt, rather than ensure W dfestr^^ sion of so lar^e a quantity of p6^(ier • onboard^" •'■ '''"'"' '•' V:l< ■ " ;;. ' , .