Ordeal of Fire

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 34, 10 February 1937, Page 5

Ordeal of Fire

SHIP’S CREW HALF ROASTED Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, Feb. 9. In the flame and smoke of tbe fire that caused £500,000 damage at the Victoria Dock, Melbourne, last month, 1 ! the Port Line steamer, Port Nicholson, which arrived at Auckland from Port Kemblg yesterday, narrowly eetaped destruction. Lying at tho wharf within a hundred yards of the Government cool stores which were ablaze, the Port Nicholson "as showered with flaming debris and th© mooring lines and wooden portions of her decks were smoking when the tugs arrived to remove her to safety. | What gave the officers most concern was a consignment of stud sheep and cattle housed in pens on the after deck. The heat was so intense that the straw; litter in tho pens kept catching alight.' Even while th© crew themselves were feeling half-roasted they were playing hoses on the animals to keen them alive. “While the wind rcflialned Dom tha north, as is was wheit the fire broke out, w« were dead to leeward of it/* 1 said an officer of the freighter thie morning. “The stores, which cost the Government £327,000, were all of wood, with shavings packed between the outer walls and linings for insulation, and you can imagine how that burned. The flames were like a crimson ceiling over-1 head. “Fortunately, th© fire was so terrifically hot that tbe flames went high and actually they didn’t touch us, or we wouldn’t be here now. But the heat was so intense that where the decks were covered with planking little tongues of fire like match flames continually flickered up from the wood. “We kept hoses playing continuously} on the livestock. Some of them col«j lapsed, but we lost none, though th« straw in the pens dried as fast as w«| could pour water on it and several) times it burst into flames.’* As the ship did not have steam up! they had no option but to remain where) she was and endur© the ordeal for the) greater part of the afternoon until tug was available to move her further! down the wharf. Tho officers paid tribute to the eca-i manship displayed by th© masters of) the tugs which in dense smoke shifted! their ship and the Port Wellington,! another vessdl of th® same line, to safety.