CAPTAIN'S HEROIC DEATH.

Motueka Star, Volume IV, Issue 159, 27 February 1903, Page 4

CAPTAIN'S HEROIC DEATH.

The Singapore Free Press to hand by mail gives the following graphic account of the destruction of the British "'steamer Get»effe at Palembaug, and the loss of four live* :-The vessel was alongside the oil company's wharf, a little below the town of Palembaug, discharging a cargo of benzine from Singapore, when the delivery hose burst and the benzine-, driven by a powerful pump, flowed all over the deck and into the galley, where it caught alight from the galley fire. The whole ship was immediately enveloped in a mass of roaring flames. The crew leaped overboard, but Captain Walkerstuck to the ship, and a hawser was made fast from a tug, which commenced to tow the burning vessel into the mid-stream. Captain Walker made his way to the bows with tho intention of letting go the anchor, but a rush of flame drove him over the bows, where he took refuge on the anchor.

Then came an appalling explosion, which shook the whole town of Palembaug, and completely blew up the deck of the Geneffe. The burning benzine escaped from the tanks and blazed away on the water all round the doomed ship, burning Captain Walker to death. The Geneffe, a mass of flame which rose some 200 ft high into the air, then foundered. After all was over an iron plate 12ft by 24st and 3-Bin thick was found in the oil company's premises, where it had been thrown by the force of the explosion. Other parts of the vessel were also iounu strewn about some distance from the spot where the explosion occurred. Four lives were lost.