HOBOKEN WATERFRONT INFERNO

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 241, 31 December 1927, Page 1

HOBOKEN WATERFRONT INFERNO

£1,000,000 DAMAGE DONE

STEAMER GUTTED BY FIRE

GREAT SPECTACLE OF ADVANCING FLAMES

A SPECTACULAR fire, sweeping the Hoboken waterfront, opposite New York, gutted a steamer, and caused damage estimated at close on £1,000.000. By Cable. —Press Association. — Copyright.

Reed. 11.30 a.m. NEW YORK, Friday rpHE Clyde Company’s steamer ■*" Seneca was burned, probably beyond salvage, and two piers were destroyed when a spectacular fire swept the Hoboken waterfront. Many other vessels were barely pulled from the flames by tugs. Some, however, were badly scorched and crippled. The fire is believed to have started when a spark from an acetylene torch fed upon the oil-covered water. One fireman was severely burned.—A. and N.Z. Reed. 11.3 a.m. NEW YORK, Friday A great blaze on the Hoboken waterfront caused a total damage of close on £1,000,000.

Roaring flames devastated two blocks on the waterfront and transformed the Clyde liner Seneca into an inferno. She is a total loss. The captain and the mate were the last to leave the ship. They escaped down a rope.—A. and N.Z.-Sun. Hoboken is on the west bank of the Hudson River, opposite New York city, with which it is connected by ferry, and immediately north of Jersey City. Several lines of European steamships start from this port, which has an extensive trade in coal.

The Seneca was a steamer of 2,963 tons. She has had various names—Cuba, Powhatan, Rawlins, Resolute, and Yorktown. She was built in 1894 by the Delaware River Company, and belonged to the Clyde Steam Ship Company. She was 299 ft long, 40ft wide, and 18ft deep.