FIRE on A STEAMER.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 9001, 11 December 1907, Page 5

FIRE on A STEAMER.

OUTBREAK ON THE LORD STANLEY.

The steamer Lord Stanley, from New York via. Australia, now berthed at Taranaki Street wharf Wellington, is on fire in the No. 1 hold, although the outbreak is not believed to be of a serious character. Captain Cunningham, master of the vessel, was called at 4 o'clock yesterday morning, and told that the vessel was on fire. Orders were given to close the ventilators, batten down the hatchts, and inject steam, and these orders were immediately carried out, as it was found impossible to descend into the hold on accQunt of the density of the smoke. From external appearances it is difficult to believe that any fire exists, as no smoke is issuing from any part of the hatch or ventilators, and the iron decks near the No. 1 hold are of a temperature even with the rest of the decks. General cargo is stored in the hold, but in the lower hold a large cuuitity of case kerosene and lubricating oils is stowed. Kerosene, resin, and other inflammables are being discharged from the after part of the ship. Captain Cunningham does not attach much importance to the fire, and is confident that so far as present indications go the ship's company will be quite equal to deal with it. The Lord Stanley is a steamer of 4,700 tons, and was built in 1900. She is a ship with a history. Originally named the Pinewood, she became the Mariposa, and as such was beached when on fire in South Africa—East London it is believed. Then with twisted beams and buckled plates she was taken home under her own steam, and was placed in the shipbuilders' hands again at Passage West, Queenstown Island, and made practically a new ship. It was during the Boer war that the Lord Stanley caught fire, although she was not engaged in carryingmunitions of war. FIRE EXTINGUISHED. i;Y TKIiKHKAWI • I'JIKSS ASSOCIATION'. WELLINGTON, December 10. When the hatches were lifted on | the steamer Lord Stanley, late this I afternoon, the remains of the fire | were soon extinguished. The damI age is well within a £IOO, and is confined to kerosene and machinery for Wellington.

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