SCHOONER ABLAZE.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 September 1921, Page 5

SCHOONER ABLAZE.

ABANDONED BY CREW.

TRAWLER TO RESCUE.

NO LIVES LOST.

By Telegraph.—Press Association. Auckland, Sept. 9. The four-masted schooner Cecilia Sudden has been abandoned by her crew. The vessel was on fire at 10 o’clock last night between Tiritiri and Watchman. No lives were lost. The captain, officers and crew were brought to port this morning by the trawler James Cosgrove. The Cecilia Sudden was bound for Callab, from Newcastle, and put in here a week ago to get medical aid for her boatswain, who fell from aloft. THE VESSEL’S CREW. The officers and crew of the Cecilia Sudden are: Captain, E. W. Jay; chief .officer, H. G. Weidman; second mate and boatswain, A. B. Houston, who replaced Lloyd, who died from injuries sustained by a fall from aloft on the voyage from Sydney; able seamen, John Allocone, John Comprne, Alex. Verrul, Desideria Dais, Joseph Durrand; cook, J. Millard; cabin boy, Lewis Forticilla. STORY OF THE OUTBREAK. The Cecilia Sudden was loaded with coal and kerosene and left here at 4.30 p.m. on Wednesday in calm weather and was towed into the channel. When the vessel was between Cape Colville and the southernmost point of the Great Bartier Island, four or five miles off the latter at 5.30 p.m., Durrand, an able seaman, noticed smoke coming from the booby hatch. He gave the alarm, and when the hatch was opened volumes of smoke issued, and it was apparent that the coal cargo was on fire. A bucket brigade attempted to suppress the flames, but it was soon realised that the vessel would have to be abandoned. Two boats were launched, one (the captain’s) sustaining some damage through striking the hatchway, and within 20 minutes of the alarm everybody was off the doomed vessel, the captain having charge of one boat and the mate of the other. They managed to save the ship’s papers and some personal property. Before they left they noticed a vessel six or seven miles distant and displayed a sheet as a distress signal. The vessel proved to be the trawler James Cosgrove, which immediately pulled up the trawls, steamed to the assistance of the shipwrecked mariners, and picked up both the boats and towed them alongside the burning vessel. The captain returned on board, also two men from the trawler, to see if they could use the trawler’s fire-fighting appliances, but a westerly breeze sprang up. As the Cecilia Sudden was drifting towards the rocks the risk to the trawler appeared to be too great, and the captain finally decided to abandon the vessel at 6.15 pan. He was the last to leave the ship. The trawler left with the boats in tow for Auckland. The captain’s boat opened up and was leaking badly, so her occupants were transferred ,to the trawler. All reached port safely at 3 o’clock this iporning.

WARNING AS TO WRECKAGE. Wellington, Sept. 9. The secretary of the General Post Office has received the following message from the Customs boarding inspector at Auckland: “Schooner Cecilia Sudden reported burnt outside Great Barrier. Ships are warned to keep clear of the wreckage; the crew are safe.”

THE SHELL DRIFTS ASHORE.

A RAGING FURNACE.

Auckland, Last Night. The harbor tug Teawhina, which was sent out to search for the Cecilia Sudden end, if possible, to salvage her, returned to-night having found the burning vessel ashore one mile south-east of Trykhena, on the Great Barrier Island, and about six miles from the locality where the vessel was when the fire on board was noticed. The harbormaster, who went with the tug, reports that the Cecilia Sudden’s masts and boom have disappeared and there is only the shell of the vessel left.

With the inside a raging furnace fore and aft, it was estimated that ehe would fall to pieces and sink at any time.

THE FIRE DISCOVERED. The captain of the Cecilia Sudden, interviewed, described how the fire was discovered at 5.45 p.m. on Thursday, but the smoke increased rapidly in spite of the efforts of the crew to quench the flames with buckets of water. When the trawler was noticed in the distance a bed sheet was hoisted as a distress signal. This was noticed on the trAwler, which came to the ship’s assistance. THE PROBABLE CAUSE. * His theory wa«3 that the fire was due to the spontaneous combustion of the coal. He could not signal with flags or rockets, as both were cut off by the fire. He indicated that if anything possible could have been done about the schooner he was determined to do it. NO HOPE OF TOWING. The captain was quite certain, however, that there would have been no hope of towing the schooner anywhere before the fire had sunk her. It was a slow progress getting away from the ship without rowlocks, and they felt the heat of the fire before they were away.