Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-02-16

MACHINERY, MANY VALUABLE
MODELS, PLANS AND DRAW
INGS WE'RE BURNED.
New York, February 15.-Over a
million dollars worth of government
property was destroyed by fire, which
started in the large machine shop Ct
the Brooklyn navy yard known as
machine shop No %, tonight, and the
workings OF the navy yard have re-
ceived a serious setback. Many fire
models and patterns of battleships,
their parts and plans, have been de-
stroyed, and some of them cannot be
obtained again except by going over
the work mapped out in the beginning.
A great number OF the models were
simply copies of plan drawings and
of the department at Washington, and
these can be replaced at any time.
The steam engineering department Of
the Brooklyn yard is praCtlcally
wiped out, and the work done in that
building will have to be thrown tenn
porarily upon the department Of yards
and docks, and that of construction
and repair. There is considerable OBJ
structiOn to the work there and an
extra force will have to be put ON in
order to keep up with the work.
The fire was first discovered 1t $50
O'Clock tonight by the man on the
watch of the battleship Massachusetts.
He Immediately notified Lieut.. r. T.
Mulligan, in charge of the watch, and
a call to fire quarters was. made. The
men Of the Massachusetts hurried
down to the machine shop, about 800
yards away, and with the aid of a hose
reel, picked up in the yard, got a small
stream playing or the fire. The build
ing was about 100 feet in width and
325 feet long. II was four stories in
height and built of stone and brick.
The wooden inside vas thoroughly
saturated with oil, and the flames
rapidly gained Roadway. 1t was seen
that the Massachusetts men could do
but little against the blaze, and Col.
Huntington, in command @f the mar
ines, Joined in the work. About this
time an alarm was turned Yin and all
the engines in the neighborhood of the
navy ward responded. The 1ameS had
then completely enveloped the great
machine shop and attention had to be
paid to the foundry and other\ build
ings in the vicinity. Several times the
flames got a start on the foundry roof,
but the fremen quickly put them out.
A small corrugated iron building in the
rear of the machine shop was burned,
but the loss on these is Insignificant.
The fremen pumped huge streams of
water into the blazing machine shop,
but all efforts were fruitless.
The fire made such rapid progress in
the machine shop that by $50 o'clock
the officials of the navy yard pronOunc-
ed it an utter loss.
At about II o'clock the fire had spent
itself. Machine shop No. % was oc-
cupied by the coppersmiths, the boiler
makers, the carpenters and machinists.
About COS people were employed there,
but only two watchmen were in the
building at the time of the outbreak of
the fire. Aside from being filled with a
great mass of machinery, or less
used, the building was occupied as a
pattern and model shop. Here were
kept all the modal Is, plans, drawings
and specifications of work to be done on
any of the naval vessels that were to
be repaired at the yard. Many models
of battleships and war vessels built
from time to time were kept there.
These were mostly copies of models,
and their loss, while footing up con-
siderable from a pecuniary point, will
lot be ~irreparable. The steam engin-
eering department had a number of ell
aborate plans which were originated in
this yard and they cannot be replaced.
In the machine shop very little work
was on hand. A number of small or
ders were being filled for the torpedo
boats Mckee, Rogers, FoOte, Porter and
some engine fittings were being turned
out for the Newark, Scorpion and In
diana.
The records and models of the battle
ship Maine, which was blown up in Ha-
vana harbor on February Is, 1898, were
also destroyed.
The loss to the building is placed at
$3.50, 900; that on the machinery and
lathes in the building, $500, 900. The
cost Of the models and patterns is var
iously estimated. but officials in the
yard put the total loss at a little over a
million The cause of the fire is UNI
known as yet. The two watchmen
claim the fire started in the southeast
orne of the building. The cause of
the fire will be the subject OF an in
quiry within the next few days.