THE BURNING OF THE MONTMORENCY.

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 1, Issue 14, 8 April 1867, Page 81

THE BURNING OF THE MONTMORENCY.

A».• inquiry was held ia the Council Chamber, Napier, on Monday, Ist April, before J. Carling, Esq., K.M;, into the cause of the burning i of the Montmorency, when the following evidence wastaken:— ■ - .

Josiah Hudson Mackenzie deposed-I was the master of the late ship Montmorency; .. I was appointed master by the managing owner, Mr." John Brodie, of London.' There are three other part owners of'the ship. T lieffc England on the 11th of December.; I brought out 205 passengers, most' of whom were emigrants for Neiw Zealand. I do not know exactly, what the cargo of the' vessel was, as niy copy ofthe manifest was burnt./The cargo principally . consisted of salt, oil,' tar,- drapery, spirits, bepr' and - ale,. fencing wire, agricultural implemehts, turpentine, ana hardware. ' I' do not think there was any kerosine on board; /The.first inate.snperintendedthe la<Hng of the vessel. I believe the vessel was insured, but I never had the. policy.. I, ;believe it expired SO days after' aTrtval ih port. We ancho'red in Napier roads on the 24tk of'Ma'rch. I went on shore oh Monday with of emiI went to.the 'office' of the agents, Messrs. Stuart, and' 'Cp., : ? ani' reported arrival. The clerk t»M mb he could;hqt make Slit "thelnanifest that 'day, “and I told him to do hras spohab.possible//l, then' vr^/iuid'’i^9i^eil i; at the Custqin House, 1 and. afterwards superintended the landing/of the. immigrants. _ ;At about 5 f or' 5.30 p.in/1 retnrhed tq‘ the vessel/and kent all the pasup fiom the lower hold,'.;hut J as ho'boats Oh TuesdayT’cmMhn shbtfel's^jm^ahd’rmained <glLahput,6. nr ;6/p;m..//OnyyeahMday’dll[ihe i ;iugr 'shore./,^went/bhvhhpr,e;:about/11/h.m/'/“Trq;

the .flood tide, and as I had a bad cold I staid on shore.- I went to bed about 10 o’clohk, at the Commercial Hotel, and was awakened by hearing a horse galloping down-the Spit at about 10 minutes past 12 o’clock. I heard, people-rushing up the stairs, who told'me my ship was on fifei I went down {5 the harbor, where boats were pulll ingoff..., The;pilot boat had‘jost ,started, so the master of 'the Star of the South, got me-his boat, in which-we pulled to the ship.. When we arrived there ,'I suppose, it was about 10 minutes'past 1: All .the creyr,; with the exception of the .firat iand second officers and the boatswain;-who were leaving the ship, were in the boats, with as miieh lnggage.as they could save.- The chief officer told me that nothing further could be done to save the vessel. I asked if. the harbor-master had been on board, and was toU that lie had not., I then went on. board to see if it was possible to unshackle the cable, but the ship was in a perfect blaze fore and affc, aud it was quite impossible to get to it. My object in trying to unshackle the chain was to let the ship drive on the beach, as I thought that there,might then be some chance of saving her and her cargo. I came down from the vessel and told the erew to lie by the vessel and assist the pilot, if required, to unshackle the chain from the Government buoy. This was accomplished about 3 ;a.m;. We bung by the ship till about 5.30, when we left with the pilot boat. She was by this time a complete wreck, and completely burnt to the water’s edge. I went off again at 7.30 a.m. and remained for two hours. The harbour-master was then trying to cut the cable, but he did not succeed while I was there. On shore I heard that the Deputy-Superintendent had engaged the Star of the South to tow the vessel oh shore, clear of her moorings. The steamer went off about 11.30, but got entangled with the rigging of the ship and came back. On Thursday morning she towea her off, but did not succeed in getting her on the beach. The next morning she towed her on the beach.. She was then burning. I had never any suspicion of fire on board. The fire had originated in the fore-hold. My seamen are still on the articles, and not paid off. The crew were in the lower hold on Monday, when the luggage was taken out. It' was not put hack, but remained in tee ’tween-decks till it was taken away. The officers and crew had gone into the hold, hut never reported anything dangerous or suspicious. No one had been in .the lower hold since Monday except the first and second mate, who went there to search for a missing box. Joshua Lewis Eawkes deposed:—l am first mate of the late ship Montmorency. I was in charge of the vessel on Wednesday evening, the 27th. I set the usual anchor watch from 8 o’clock till & the next morning. Each man takes an hour. The last time I came on the poop was about 10.30 p.m. I came up to see who had the watch, and did not see .anything unusual. . I told the man who had the watch to keep the lamp well trimmed, and to call me at 5.20 a.m. I then went to bed. I was aroused from sleep by the repeated cry of fire. I arose, and found it was about 10 minutes before 12. I was met on the poop by some of the crew, who told me the fire was in the fore hold. I went forward and found dense volumes of black smoke rising from the fore hatchway. I ordered the pumps to he rigged, and the hose to be passed down the fora hatchway. I went down the hatchway with the sailmakcr and Boatswain, and lifted part of the lower' fore hatch off, for the, purpose of passing the water down; As soon as it was. raised the flames hurst forth with violence, and the deck became quite hot. The smoke was so suffocating that we had to get on deck as quickly as possible. I ordered the hatch to be closed again, to prevent the air getting down, and ordered one part of the crew to clear away the boats, and the other part to get the hose passed down the main hatch. I then fired off signal rockets and burnt blue lights, to get assistance from the shore, but we got no answer, although we fired three sets. "We made another attempt with the hose down the main hatchway, but found the smoke so suffocating that we could not stand, and were obliged to give up the attempt. By this time nearly the whole fore part of the vessel was in flames, the spare spars on deck having taken fire, and* I ordered the main hatch to be put on again, and got the boats off the skids. By the time the boats were out the fire was aft the mainmast, and the main rigging was on fire. I fired off another set of rockets, but without any answer from the shore. This might have been about 1 o’clock. I ordered part of the crew into the boats, aud the other part to save what personal luggage they could. I ordered the carpenter to scuttle the ship if possible, for the purpose of saving what remained of the ship and cargo. The fire had caught aft the poop by this time. I ordered all the crew into the boats, and fired another set of rockets, without any answer. I then threw the powder magazine overboard. The fire had by this.time reached as far as the captain’s cabin. I then left the ship myself. The carpenter attempted to scuttle the ship forward, under the bows, but found he could not do so, owing to the swell. At this time I became aware of the harbor master being alongside. I then climbed over the .bows with the second mate to see if we could get a purchase for lifting the chain at the buoy, and just at that moment the captain came aboard to see if there was any chance of unshackling the chain, but nothing could be done, the ship being on fire from stem to stern. I superintended the lading of the vessel in England, and know where and how the cargo was stowed. In the fore hold, where the fire originated, there were casks of Stockholm tar, coal tar, oil, turpentine, pitch, resin, 200 or 300 boxes of caudle's, 10 or 12 casks of cook’s slush, and about fifty boxes of pipes. Nearly all the cargo there was inflammable. The spirits were not kept in the fore hold. The fore hatch was on when I went to bed. I do not think any one was then on the deck but the watch and the Custom-house officer. There was no communication with the fore. hold, except by the hatchway. I know of nothing below that could have originated the fire by spontaneous combustion, and' if a' match had been dropped it would have fallen on iron tanks and gone out. I have no suspicion that.the fire was the act of anybody, either carelessly or wilfully. : Glgirles Broberg, second mate, said that he had nothing to add to the previous statements. “William Henry Fordham deposedl am tidewaiter.: I was on board , the Montmorency on Wednesday night, having.gone on board on Monday. morning, At 11 o’clock I went to bed. There was then no person on deck but the man on watch. I turned in, and remained reading a short time;- I blew out the light, and was nearly asleep when T heard a man at the companion-way shout “Alr. Fawkes, the ship is on fire! ” I called out to him to rjg the pumps, and went to Mr. Fawkes’s cabin, a and; roused him. .1 went on deck, and fouud all the officers and men - there. We went to the fore hatch and lifted it; The chief mate, boatswain, ahd' sailmaker went balow and lifted the lower,' hatch;: which I knovv-was padlocked. The smoke ithen ■, came out'm wolumes. I have notliihg' to t) add to the evidence of the/ captain aid ma%V. 1;l/.///'/ /'/ ';/ I',; deeded The lower ftrawmonung; Bukopdhed 1 itrinthe ’afternoon

to look for a missing ;!'do not think I locked it after. The second mate was with me at the time, and we saw no signs of fire. We did not smoke. • • ** : i •

James Parker, third mate,; Charles Prince, boatswain, James Anderson, carpenter* Timothy Ryan and William Beaumont, able seamen, corroborated the previous:evidenc. ; ~ The Court came ,to the conclusion that there was no evidence to show, how, or in what manner, the fire originated.