The Moa Disaster

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 186, 5 February 1914, Page 4

The Moa Disaster

Till: VESSEL DISAPPEARS. 'mi; hlotVoimxion. By Telegraph~l' I( , 3 Association. Wiuigamii, I'.hruary i, IMI . <' M """ I,l,l ' ni "" "■"' l »" 1 dr.«'d about a couple of miles seaward I'wt fvi.mii» at 7.SH. wi,,,, ,|,ere w,.» ""^'" r ""■"•«• 1 "-""' The flame continued 0 burn, b.it . mn , . (J sub*,,,, and dud out, and by thismor,. •«8 there v.a, ~„ trace of her. Jbe pilot, Captain Mclnlvre, U of '•!•»'«'» ij'-t «l'-- sunk abot,; two mile, south-east ei the harbor entrance and a similar . 1,..,.,„., oir*l:oro. in « locality where the chart t hows between 00 and - led ..t water. He thinks that if Mill «««*l ;•='«• v 0.,1,1 st.ll be in si ght of tl.« pilot station, and if the surmise i s cor . reel and the steamer hi s C „„ e to the bottom, she c.,11 Ilo t he any danger tu navigation.

•sin; ,h;st ui.ew up,--V l.KM'llll A(l(ll Slim -pu il ("iii-poudent of the S, ,v A ill nd I mi-, <n , lm f„ll u „ lns )Hll uciniiu or -n, birniiy 0 1 the s.s \| Ull u me \\ iiVJliui Iliads on Tui-dav nioi 11 ng l.w ninri ,in,ifoii.il bippming* 1h.,11 tint mlii.li hj.„ lo bo molded in ioun.ttion will. lb. Jo,, of the steam 1 loi todaj 111 the \\ ang.inm ioad,lcal hn. mi mud m the history of Niw A ilmd -hipping n 0 f, u M (Mll] be gilli.i.d 110 m tin nit igie information piocuribh horn tho-e who «<r» aboari lln ,ti innr, tin ic tan hi no doubt that it is hth shoit of inanelloii, that any ire left alive, .lust what caused the «w. plosion mun bo left to conjectures pre- *>- sent, but what is known is that shortly after nine o'clock, as the Moa, which' liad slowed down to a dead stop, was waiting for the signals to take the bar, a noise akin to the report of a big gun was heard aboard, and the vessel was shaken m an alarming fashion. Startled by the explosion, those on board had not long to wait before they realised I '•'» i die cargo of benzine and kerose-i.-was in llames, ami that it would nelucky if any of them got ashore alive. ENVELOPED IX FIIIK.

Almost simultaneous with the report, ilame-, darted fu,m the afterhold, and shot along like lightning to '.he engineroom ami to the fore-hold, and belched forth with a roar from the porthoh* and the funnel. Captain Sawyer* a-keJ a sailor to run below and 'procure a couple of Hags so as to signal for assistance. The man dashed below andup again i n i he- twinkling of an eye, having grabbed some Hags, but he bad had no time to ascertain if they were the right ones, as sheets of tlamVs were leaping into the chart-room, and the man was badly burned in his effort to secure tli* Hags. In any ea-e there was no tint* to hoist the signals, as with startling rapidity the llaiucs were bursting out in all directions. "SAIVE Ql'l PI-XT." An attempt was made to launch th* boats, but although only two or three minutes had elapsed since the Urst explosion the ittle boat;; were already in llames. There wan, therefore, nothing for it but for those on board to jump into tlie sea. Tim captain ordered the men to secure lifebuoys, bcltn, or anything they could get which would float, and to throw them overboard and then jump into the sea themselves. The skipper himself, seeing a man in the. water without a lifebelt, threw him his, though he him-vlf could not swim. He thc» smashed' up a'i empty case, and grabbing two pieces put one under each arm ae.d jumped into the sea. He man? aged, by trending water, to keep afloal until the Aiv.pawa's boat picked him up half-ap-hour or so later.

BLOWS OCT OK HIS BUSK. One of the firemen, named Higgini, had u sen-i.tiona] experience. He was aslee|. in hi., berth aft when the explosion occurred, and it blew his bunk to pieces, and he was tumbled out o« to the floor. He went on deck, trhef* lie saw the body of the man Kennedy lying on tic after hatch. He went up and shook Kennedy liy the shoulders, hut saw that In' was dead, having been shockingly hurt r.bout the top of the head.

| liy Uiis lime lliggins found that a wall of llauie had formed between where he was end the brid<;e, and he was cut off from the rest of Ids mates. Thinking he might as well be blown up r» drowned, Ili|,' K ins wont below and got ft. lifebuoy from bis cabin. While down there a second small explosion occurred. He ru-hed on deck again and 'jumped over. "SHE ,ICST BT.EV UP." . The captf.in, when asVrd how th« disaster happened, said: "Well, she jiwt blew up. At about ten o'clock this morning, when coming n;> to the Wanganui entrance and about fix miles off it, the after-hatch sui'dcrlv blew up, «ml in a minute or two half the ship was in Haines." Nelson, the fireman wlu w«.- injured, appeared to be taking his hurts very. t philosophically, but when asked to give v nn account of the affair, said the Viol* matter happened so suddenly that thern was very little to oi'.y. "Something hit mo and nearly stunned n:e, but I was able to climb up on deck and jump overboard. The tire opr.ail like' lightning, and the heat vvaa terrific. We wer« afraid it would spread to the forchatcli, and all had to jump for it."