A HEAVY LOSS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 May 1938, Page 7

A HEAVY LOSS

DESTRUCTION OF THE LINER LAFAYETTE TOWN OF LE HAVRE LIT UP BY FLAMES RESCUE OF FIRE FIGHTERS By Telegraph.—Press Association. Copyright. LE HAVRE, May 5. The town is lit up by flames from the French luxury liner Lafayette (25,178 tons), the destruction of which was reported yesterday, which is still burning furiously. A series of explosions kept residents awake until the early hours. The lives of 50 firemen and the crew were endangered at one stage when flames swept the deck, cutting off the means of escape. The men were finally rescued by means of a rope ladder.

The Lafayette was a large motorliner of 25,178 tons gross and 14,484 tons net register, built at St Nazaire in 1929 for the trans-Atlantic service of the French line (Campagnie Generale Transatlantique). The largest motor-ship under the French flag, the Lafayette measured 585 ft in length and 77ft in breadth, and was propelled by quadruple screws driven by four sixcylinder oil engines. Named after the Marquis of Lafayette, a hero of the American War of Independence, and an ardent patriot of France, the Lafayette was a superblyappointed passenger ship, and her destruction by fire spells a heavy loss to her owners and the insurance underwriters. HOW THE FIRE BEGAN. ESTIMATED LOSS OF TWO MILLIONS, (Recd This Day, 9.55 a.m.) LE HARVE, May 5. The fire on the La Fayette was caused by a fireman lighting an oil jet which came in contact with a patch of oil. It is estimated that the loss amounts to £2,000,000.