The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-02-16

NEW YORK, Feb. 15.-Over a milliofl
dollars worth of Government property
was destroyed by fire which started to-
night in the large machine shop of the
Brooklyn navy yard, known as machine
shop No. %, and the workings OF tho
navy yard have received a serious set
back. Many fine models and patterns
of battleships, their parts and plans
have been destroyed, and some of them
cannot be obtained again except by GO
ing over the work mapped OUT in the
beginning.
The steam engineering department OF
the Brooklyn yard is practically wiped
out, and the work done in that building
will have to be thrown temporarily
upon the Department of Yards and
Docks and that of Construction and
Repair.
The fire was discovered and the alarm
given at $50 o'clock tonight by the
man on watch of the battleship Massa-
chusetts. The men of the Massacnu-
sets scurried down to the machine
shop, about 300 yards away. and with
the aid of a hose reel, picked up in the
yard, got a small stream playing on
the fire. The building was about 100
four stories in hight, and built of stone
and brick The wood of the inside was
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 Colonel Huntington, in command
of the Massachusetts, Joined in the
work
AN the engines in thel neighborhood of
the navy yard responded to the alarm,
but the firemen found the great ma
chine shop completely enveloped in
flames, and attention had to be paid to
the foundry and other buildings in the
vicinity. Several times the flames got
start on the foundry roof, but the
firemen quickly putt them out. A small
corrugated iron building in the rear
OF the machine shop was burned, but
the loss on this is insignificant.
The fire made such rapid progress in
the machine shop that by 800 o'clock
the officials of the navy yard pro-
nounced it an utter loss.
All about IL O'Clock the fire had spent
its fury.
Machine shop No. % was occupied by
the coppersmiths. the boilermakers, the
carpenters and machinists. About 600
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, more or less used.
the building was occupied as pattern
and model shop. Here were kept all
the models, plans, drawings and speci-
,fications of work to be done on any one
of the naval vessels that were to he
repaired at the yard. Many models of
battleships and warships built from
time to time were kept there. These
were mostly copies of models, and their
loss. while footing up considerable from
a pecuniary point, will not be irrepar-
able. The steam engineering Depart
ment had number of elaborate plans
which We're originated in this yard, and
they cannot be replaced.
In the machine shop very little 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, Scorpion and Indiana
The records and models of the battle
ship Maine which was blown up in
Havana harbor on February 10, 1898,
were also destroyed.
The loss to the building is placed at
S35O000; that on the machinery and
models and patterns at $500 600. The
cost of the models and patterns is va
riously estimated, but officials put the
total loss at a little over one million.
The cause of the fire is unknown as
yet.