Great Fire.

Manawatu Standard, Volume 3, Issue 38, 20 March 1883, Page 2

Great Fire.

A 'WHARF DESTROYED. 7

BLAZING SHIPS FLOATING ABOUT.

A BURN ING FLEET.;

A correspondent writes to the Auek- | land Evening Star : — " New York, i February 1.--Th6 Inman. pier \ m : this city took fire about 2.15 o'clock this morning. The steamer Egypt, of the National Line, which arrived yesterday with the cargo of < .the sunken steamer City of Brussels, was at the pier, and had discharged most of the cargo, which had not been removed from the dock. Guns and rockets were fired for tugs to come to the assistance of the Egypt. The warehouses, which were built of pitch pine, arid the Egypt's freight were totally consumed. -Trie -fire is supposed to have caught from a laborer's pipe. Although smoking is prohibited, the men break the rule clandestinely, and conceal their pipes m any convenient place on the pier. The Guion Line pier, just nerth, was threatened, as the wind was blowing the flames m that direction. The heat was so great that effective work from the land or river was nearly impossible. At 3 o'clock the steamship Egypt, lying at the dock was towed into the stream, all ablaze from stem to stern, and through her : rigging and spars bore the flames to the rigging of numerous other-vessels lying: at anchor. Nearly the entire Fire Department of the city was i oh Hand, and many were utilised. At 3.30 o'clock the' spectacle was grand m the extreme. The river front for many hundred feet was ablaze. All attempts to save property on the Inman dock were abandoned, and the work of the fireman was concentrated on the Guion Line dock adjoining; The famous ship of that line, the Alaska, was m the ; greatest danger. The tugsboats and ferryboats made the greatest efforts to save her by haulinar her into the stream."