CARNEGIE EXPLOSION

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 853, 23 December 1929, Page 9

CARNEGIE EXPLOSION

ORIGIN OF DISASTER STILL A MYSTERY DANGER FROM BURNING OIL Ten days after the yacht Carnegie was wrecked by an. explosion and lire in Apia, Samoa, her hull was still burning. The authorities feared to dynamite her because of the danger from burning oil, which would . have scattered over the harbour and probably damaged other vessels. The Carnegie, the American scientific yacht from the Carnegie Institute, was destroyed, with loss of life, at noon on November 30. Later an inquiry was held to find out the cause, but as the officers were either seriously ill or dead the origin of the explosion is still a mystery. Passengers who arrived from the islands last evening by the Tofua gave some interesting information about the disaster, which at the time caused a sensation in Samoa. Mr. A. McCarthy, Crown Prosecutor of Samoa, said that the noise of the explosion was heard three miles away at Government House. Flames from the burning vessel licked over the water almost to the shore and sent the natives flying in terror in all directions. A three-masted schooner, the Rahra, had to be moved twice because of the danger of fire. It the yacht had been dynamited to hasto'n the explosion the burning oil would have endangered three copra boats which were loading in the harbour. At night when the wind fanned the hull and the embers glowed, the hull made a lovely sight. Mr. A. Cameron, of the staff of the Bank of New Zealand at Apia, was sitting on the verandah of the bank, near the waterfront, when the explosion occurred. The whole town was more or less asleep, he said but the shattering explosion and further loud reports soon brought everyone to the waterfront to see what was the matter. Mr. Cameron said that as far as he could see the stern of the yacht was tossed out of the water. He corroborated the cabled accounts of Captain J. P. Ault's death. “Mr. Carl Sturk. the chief engineer, is the only one who could give any explanation or reason for the explosion,” said Mr. Cameron,” but he was so seriously injured that he was unable to give any evidence at the inquiry.”