The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-02-16
A S1,O0O,0OO BLAZE
Part of Brooklyn Navy Yard
Destroyed.
A SERIOUS SET BACK
STEAM ENGINEERING DEPART
MENT WIPED OUT.
ANUYBER OF tLAB0RAIF PLANS BURNED
Many Models Of War ships We're Destroyed in
the Flames but These Can be Re-
paced. The Cause of The
Fire Unknown.

New York, Feb. 15.-Over million
dollars worth of government property
was destroyed by fire which started in
the large machine shop of the Brooklyn
Navy Yard, known as Machine Shop
No. %, tonight, and the workings of
the Navy Yard have received a serious
setback. Many fine models and pat
terms of battleships, their parts and
plans, have been destroyed 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 plans,
drawings and specifications now in the
store rooms of the Department at Wash
ington, and these can be replaced at
any time. The steam engineering de-
partment of the Brooklyn Navy Yard
is practically wiped out, and the work
done in that building will have to be
thrown temporarily upon the department
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 at 6:30
o'clock tonight by the man on the watch
of the battleship Massachusetts. He
Immediately notified Lieutenant Il. I.
Mulligan, in cnarge of the watch, and
Il call to fire quarters was made. The
men Of the Mas.& husetts scurried
down to the machine shop, about 800
yards away, and with the aid of hose
reel picked up in the yard, got small
90. ,,In on fhn firaE fEhn hr1itI
ing was about 100 feet in width and
325 feet long. 1t was four stories in
heigth and built of stone and brick. The
wooden in side was thoroughly satur-
ated with oil and the flames rapidly
gained ,headway. 1T was seen that the
Massachusetts men could do but little
against the blaze and Colonel Hunting
ton, in command of the marines, joined
in the work About this time four
alarm was turned in and all the engines
in the neighborhood of the Navy Yard
responded. The flames had then com
pletely enveloped the great machine shop,
and attention had to he paid to the
foundry and other buildings in the vi
cinity. Several times the flames got a
start on the foundry roof, but the fire
men quickly put them out. A small
corrugated iron building in the rear of
the machine shop took fire and was
burned, but the loss ON this is insight
ficant.
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 3 O'Clock the
officials of the Navy Yard pronounced
it an utter loss.
About IL O'Clock the fire had spent
itself.
Machine shop No 2S was occupied
by the coppersmiths, the boiler-makers.
the carpenters and machinists. About
six hundred people were employed i'll
them, but only two watchmen were III
the building at the time of the out
break of the fire The last workman had
left the place at > o'clock. Aside from
being filled with a great mass of ma
chinery. more or less used, the building
was occupied as Il pattern and model
shop. Here were kept the models, 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 consider
able from a pecuniary point, will not be
irreparable
The steam engineering department had
a number of elaborate plans which We're
originated in this yard and they cannot
be replaced In the machine shop very
little work was on hand. A number of
small orders were being filled for the
torpedo boats Mckee, Rogers, Foote,
Porter and some engine fittings We're
being turned out for the Newark, Scor-
pion and Indiana.
The records and models of the battle
shin Maine, which was blown up III
Havana harbor on February 18th, 1898.
were also destroyed. The loss to the
building is placed at $35o.0o0: that to
the machinery and lathes in the build
ing, 100000.
The cost of the models and patterns
is variously estimated, but officials in
the yard put the total loss at a little over
a million. The cause of the fire is un-
known. The cause of the fire will be
the subject of an inquiry within in next
few days.