Return of the Mariposa.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 363, 27 April 1889, Page 4

Return of the Mariposa.

Auckland, April 24. ' Thu R.M.s. Maviposa, which left here for ; San Francisco on Monday last, returned to < port at half-past three o'clock this morning, ' and drew into the Queen-street Wharf, j It was ascertained that the cause of her re- . turn was the outbreak of fire among a quantity of flax that had been stowed in the forehold. Immediately the the was discovered measuies were taken to extinguish it. The hatches were kepi) close shut, whilesteam was turned onintothehold. After working for six hours the fke was extinguished, bufcifcwas thought inadvisable to proceed with the voyage until the ex. tent of the damage had been ascertained. The greatest good order was observed throughout the occurrence. CAPTAIN HAYWARDS STATEMENT. Captain Hayward, commander of the Mariposa, kindly supplied a Stak repre sentative with the following report of the occurrence : — The Mariposa left Auckland, bound for San Francisco, ab 4 o'clock on Monday afternoon. Fine weather was experienced, and a fresh southerly wind prevailed, until 6.30 on Tuesday morning, when the steamer was 220 miles distant. An alarm of fire was then given, and as the dense volumes of smoke were issuing from the mail-room, the outbreak was at first supposed to be there. The smoke was coming through the ventilators, and was very thick, showing that a fire had obtained good hold somewhere in the lower part of the ship. The hose was promptly brought to bear on that part of the ship, and it was soon found that the fire was not there. FIRE IX THE FORE HOLD. By this time the smoke was so dense in the foiward part of the ship that it was difficult to locate the fire. Attention was, however, directed to the fore hold, and when the hatches were lifted volumes of thick smoke burst forth. Captain Hayward gave directions to break out cargo to get at the lower fore hold, where a large quantity of flax was stowed, and the scat of the fire was then easily fixed. The order was then given to put the engines " half-speed," and in this way the di aught down the hatch was reduced to a minimum. The hose was kept playing upon the burning material with a good force of water, and about thirty bales of flax were got out, all hands belonging to the ship, and also the captain and crew of the wrecked vessel Red Cross, who were on board, working splendidly. The smoke and heat experienced became so severe that one man was carried on deck insensible, and it took two hours' nursing to bring him round. SMOTHERING THE FIRE. Itthen became apparent thatthe fire could nob be extinguished in this manner, men being unable to live down the hold, and Captain Hayward resolved to make an attempt to smother the fire. He theiefore had the hatches put ou the hold again and closely battened down and then gave the order to turn on the steam pipp. This having been done, holes were cutin the deck, and the hose brought into play again, and at midnight of yesterday all danger was at an end, and the smoke ceased to come up from the hold. In the meantime Captain Hayward had decided to RETURN TO AUCKLAND. and the steamer's head was put about between 7 and 8 o'clock "yesterday morning, five hours before the fire was extinguished. It was then impossible to ascertain the extent of the damage sustained by either the vessel or cargo, and it being considered imprudent to push forward into tropical latitudes, where the great heat prevailing might cau&e a recurrence of the disaster, Captain Hayward decided to continue the voyage to Auckland. This port was reached about 4 a.m. to-day, when the Mariposa berthed at the Queen-street Wharf, and commenced to discharge flax from the fore hold in order to ascertain the extent of the damage done. Captain Hayward says that both PASSENGERS AND CREW behaved admirably. There was never anything approaching a panic on board. Many of the passengers volunteered their services, but they were nob required. The crew laboured most enei-getically in the midst of intense heat and smoke, and some were so persistent in their efforts, that they were almost suffocated. A German seaman who volunteered to go down the hatchway to put out the fire when the hatches were first removed was almost suffocated, and after he was brought on deck was two hours in coming round. The officers also worked arduously and ably seconded the efforts of the captain, chief officer Hart being ab one ! time almost overcome by the denso volumes of smoke in which he worked. Captain Hayward makes special mention of Captain Mclnbyre and the crew of the wrecked ship Red Cross, who were passengers, homeward bound. They worked splendidly, and being seamen, materially assisted the Mariposa's crew. The passengers unite in commendation of the able manner in which Captain Hayward and his officers behaved throughout the emergency, and attribute their safety and the safety of the ship to the wise and seamanlike measures adopted. One of the passengers who supplied us with an account of the occurrence stated that the ship's hose was not in a good state and broke asunder at one joint. Captain Hayward says that this assertion is incorrect. The hose was kept playing water for sixteen consecutive hours, " and only a slight delay occurred, at the expiry of that time, when a coupling carried away, and about five minutes were occupied in replacing it. The hose was shown to our reporter, and had every appearance of being in thoroughly good condition. Other passengers who saw the hose at work state it was in splendid condition or it could not have stood the greab pressure. THE ORIGIN OF THE FIRE. Captain Hay ward's oheory of bhe origin of the fire on board is spontaneous combustion of the bales of flax. The steamer's depar-

fcure for San Francisco has been delayed by i the work of discharging the flax, and she is not expected to get away before 8 p.m. THE HAIL. The first inquiry set on foot on arm al of the steamer was made w ith the object of ascertaining the condition of the mail. Tho whole mail was discharged and spread out on tho wharf. It was found that tho New Zealand mail was quite uninjured and almost as dry as whon shipped. Tho Sydney mail included two bags which had been saturated with water, but fortunately these contained empty mail bags only. ACCOUNT BY A PASSENGER, The Mariposa left Aucldaucl for San Francisco on Monday, 22nd April, at 4 p.m., with a full complement of both saloon and steerage passengers. There was a fiosh S. \V. breeze, and she made splendid headway, doing at times about 16 miles per hour. Tho passengers wore- all in hiyh spirits, and weie ccnveising merrily in little groups about tho deck, tho chief ionic of conveisation being tho piobability of a smart run to 'Frisco. As the noble ship dashed gracefully over tho waves at/ racing pace, a feeling of contentment and 1 , security seemed to possess all hand?. As tho evening wore on one by one tho tired passengers letircd, and by 11 o'clock, when the electric lights were extinguished, nearly all had left the deck. The ship was remarkably steady, and most of the little marine community that she contained were sound asleep. Little were the sleepers dreaming; of the insidious foe that was steadily capping at their safety below. But the tire fiend was at work. Silently and steadily was he entrenching himself in the midst of the three hundred tons of ilax that was stored below. The first suspicion that the passengers had of danger was when the engines of the ship were stopped just after daylight in the morning. No one seemed to know the cause, yet all were apprehensive that all was not right. Numberless weie the surmises as to what had happened. Some said the bearings of the engines were hot and they had been stopped lo cool, others declared" that a crank pin had gone. None seemed to guess the real cause of the stoppage. The officers were pledged to aconspiracy of silence and the ciew weie equally reticent. But it was not long before the real cause was made manifest. The starboard and port hoses were soon run along the deck and pointed down the tore - hold, whence a cloud of smoke was issuing. Tons upon tons of water were poured down upon the flax bales, but the s-eat of the lire seemed to be ungetatable. Volumes of smoke and steam were rising, and amongst this the biave sailors went down and worked with a will to get at the seat of the fire. Bale after bale of fl.ix was sent up, some of which showed tho evidence of contaot with me. The brave men who went below were all more or less prostrated with the dense smoke surrounding them, and several of them nearly paid the potvilty of their noble performance of duty with their lives. One poor fellow gave the doctors all they knew to bring him round. An effort was made to conceal the real cause of danger from the female passengers, but they were soon made aware of it by theii friends, nor did they show any signs of unnecessary fear or panic. On the contraiy, all hands seemed to be instilled with the confidence which was born of the coolness and levelheadedness of the officers and crew. About breakfast time the captain gave orders to put the ship about and run for Auckland. When the noble ship turned her face to the wind and sea she seemed to strain every nerve to make headway as if conscious of the precious nature of the living cargo she carried. She forged steadily ahead, cleaving the seas as they met her and dashed their harmless spray over hei already drenched decks. The passengers, for the most part, had left the decks by this time, and the women and children had taken up their quarters in the large social hall. A few of the more daring and curious of the male passengers from time to time made their way to the hatchway of the forehold, in the hope of being able to ascertain the locality and extent of the conflagration, but they were soon turned to the right - about by the officers, who were detei mined to keep the deck clear for the operations of the flap s fire brigade. The heavy saturated bales of flax that were lifted from time to time from the hold were dumped along the deck, much to the discomfort of the passengers. The dumping of these bales caused such vibration that many of the shades of the electric lights were broken in the cabin below, and the heavy thud which the bales caused in falling considerably alarmed the lady passengers, who were unacquainted with the cause of the extraordinary noise. As the day wore on a feeling of security gained giound. The fire, if not conquered, was at least checked, and it was felt that the efficient appliances at the command of the ship's fire brigade were quite equal to meet any fresh movement on 1 the part of the imprisoned fire fiend, and when the sun sot on the evening on the 23rd of April there was not a man, woman or child on the ship that doubted that the morning would break and reveal us .safely steaming up the placid waters of the Waitemata.