The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1883-12-22
A BURNING SHIP.
Fire i'm the C. @. Chapman's Cargo of Goa,
Snbdued-The Lower Deck BADLY
Burned.

f5nOuACu-4Mb hloWtI DeCA RadAY
Burned.
The American ship G. G. Chapman which arrived
at San Francisco recently, with smouldering fire
in her cargo of COAL was run upon the mud fats.
After the forward hatch opened the fire broke
out on the port side just aft the chains. Four
streams from the fire boat Governor Irwin were re-
inforced by streams from lighter, and until IL
O'Clock the work of deluging the fire continued
when there were twenty-th feet of water aft in
the hold and fifteen forward.
DESCRIPTION OF THE VESSEL.
The G. c. Chapman is a fine specimen of Amer
lean Iava architecture. She is wooden vessel
built in Bath, Maine, six years ago, at a cost Of
$4,000. She is consigned to Alphonse Carpenter
in this city, and owned by parties in Portland.
Her cargo consists of 900 tons of coal, $4,000
bricks, go tons and 304 pieces of iron, of
liquor one case of victuals, 200 cases of mineral
water, quarters. 100 octayes and 20 cases of
GIN cases of furniture 16 cases of household
goods, 400 cases of olive oil, 80 cases of plate
glass, 14o cases of pitchers, 0 cases of zinc and
1898 packages of merchandise.
THE CAPTAINS ACCOUNT OF THE FIRE.
Captain Pearces story of the fire is as follows;
"On the morning OF the 10Th of October when in
latitude 245l SOUTH and longitude 90 west, one of
the officers came to my bunk where 1 lying
and told me that there fire in the forward part
of the ship, and at once surmised that it had
started 10 the coal, of which there was about nine
hundred tons between decks. This coal was black
smith coal very fine stuff. L got up and found
smoke issuing from the forehatch and sent some Of
the men down to see if they could discover the seat
of the fire, but they unable to lind anything
as the smoke,was so dense that it was impossible
for them to remain below. / then gave orders to
hiatt the hatCleS to cAlk
seam and close every aperture by which draft
could reach the fire, knowing that If the fire could
be kept smoldering it could be controlled. All
hands, including the cook and steward were set to
work closing up the seams. The next Gay sent
the second and third mates below TO discover II
possible, what was burning but their venture
waa an exceedingly dangerous one, for they
almost suAocated, and had to be taken from below
to the upper deck They we're insensibe, and it re-
quired vigorous measures and long time to bring
PROBING FOR THE FIRE.
'.The next thing that was done was to probe the
coal with long iron rod to look for heat hoping by
that to locate the fire. 1t was long and tedi
Gus work, as the men who went below could remain
but two or three minutes at time. At last we
struck heat in the forward part of the cargo OF COAL
and all hands, except one man at the wheel and one
on the lookout, were set to work at the pumps, and
streams were turned on in the direction of the heat
the streams being directed through holes cut in the
deck only large enough to admit the hose and these
were covered in such a manner that no air could
reach the fire. The worked with will, but
human beings can't last always, and the men,
though all wiling, gave way unuer the UNUSUAL
strain and it became necessary to organize watches
to stand turn and turn about. In that way we got
along well enough the men taking rest and food as
best they could. After the third day the force
pump broke down and became useless, as also did
the hose and then we had to draw water from over
the side of the ship in buckets We had a line of
eight buckets working day and night, slow
| process but the best that could be de-
| vsed. Smoke found its way through every part of
the vessel and at times the cabin was so full of
smoke that it was impossible TO see. The heat was
| at times terrific. To ascertain how hot it was,
| lowered the thermometers into the hold, but the
| heat was so intense that 1t broke them both. 1t
melted the tar in the seams of the deck The fresh
| water in the tanks amidship became heated, and
has been so ever since the fifth or sixth day after
| the fire broke out.
'Our cargo consists of coal, brick scrap iron, sui
phur and other merchandise. There also some
| coal oil and as possible had that removed
| TO a safe place aft. This vessel" continued the
Captain s'hss three decks, that is the lower deck
| has only the beams, and is not foored and am of
| the opinion that some of these beams have burned
| away and caused the upper deck to sink"
FIRE EXTINGUIsnED.
| The fire was extnguished about three O'Clock this
morning the vessel being aground With water in her
hold to the depth of flu ly twenty feet The fre ght
| consisting of some nine hundred tons If assorted
cargo is generally Insured, and largely in our local
comp tnies. The damage is very considerable be-
tween the fcremast and mainmast. At the present
writing it is impossible to estimate the losslsan
Francisco Call,