The evening times., 1899-06-01
RACING WITH FLAMES.
Steamship Reaches Port with . Vol
canO in Her Hold.

Steamship Reaches Port With . Vol
-canO In Her Hold.
New York, June 1.-The steamer Knick-
erbocker of the Cromwell line came into
port on fire yesterday. and the captain
kept the fact concealed from. the public
General Manager Allen did not tell Of 1t
until it became necessary to summon the
fire department boats.
The Knickerbocker left New Orleans on
May "a with fifteen cabin and thirty steer
age passengers, and a cargo Of 2.c0o bales
of cotton, as well as rice. molasses. and
hides. Of Hatteras on Monday. the mess
room steward discovered smoke coming
from the port side of the saloon deck, be-
tween the messroom door and the door OIL
the chief engineers room.
Captain Post called all hands to quarters
and the fire was located in the second OF
the three holds Of the ship. the one be-
tween the fireroom bulkhead and the
bridge buIkhead. It was right under the
steerage passengers.
Captain Post ordered holes bored in the
saloon deck on the port side. through the
deck in the messroom and through the pan
try. Into these openings steam and wa
ter were forced through lines Of hose. The
engineers were ordered to send the ship
| ahead, full speed. The matches were bat
tened tight.
Monday and Tuesday the Knickerbocker
plunged through the waves with fire eating
toward the vitals Of the ship. gaining every
minute in spite Of the well directed and
| secret efforts. The three sections OF the
hold of the ship are divided by trans
verse bulkheads OF steel, but the smoke
and the gases generated by the fire en-
| tered the freroom forward of the engines.
Soon the atmosphere in the stokehole be-
| came such that the stokers could not live
| any length of time in the sitting vapors.
| Working in short shifts the dozen fire.
men on the ship would jump one at a time
| into the stoke hole. their mouths and nos
trils covered with dampened handkerchiefs
| AS quickly as he could every fireman, when
| it came his turn, would throw two or three
| shovelfuls of ccal into a furnace, and as
| quickly jump out OF the suffcating hole
1t was impossible to keep the knowledge
of the fire from the inquisitive passengers
but they were informed it was only as in
| significant affair and the travellers behav-
| ed we'll The fire meanwhile had spread
to hold No. /. the fore compartment
| When the almost exhausted firemen and
| engineers and deckhands had worked the
| ship as far as Quarantine and the port
doctor came on board yesterday morning
| Captain Post would say nsught Of the hre
| The Knickerbocker pier, near the foo;
of Rector Street. North River. was made
| at II a. m: still no report OF the trouble
II the ship could be quietly unloaded. the
fire conquered and traces of it removed
publicity might be saved.
Strangers were kept off the ship. The
first the police knew of the blaze wa:
| when three longshoremen were par
TALLY overcome with smoke while dis
charging cargo. A policeman obtained tbs
fact second hand. He called an ambulance
but the three men had all been sent tS
| their homes.
For two hours more the steamship peo
pie fought the enemy unaided, and theI
General Manager Allen consented to SEM
secretly for the fireboat Zophar Mills.
Together the Zophar Mills and the tug
Edwin Hawley and Baltic poured thei
combined streams into the blazing freight
but at 3 p. IN. Captain Allen and Captain
Post saw it was 70 use to stay longer a
the pier. The ship must be surrounded
with fire. fighting craft. AT this time Io
packages. including many blackened bale
of cotton. had been removed.
So they towed the knickerbocker TO In
Jersey flats north of Liberty Island. sanl
her in eighteen feet Of water and calie
the fireboat New Yorker. This morning
the firemen were still forcing water int
the stubborn cotton.