The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-03-19
PHOENIX PIER BURNS
a DESTRUCTIVE FIRE AMONG
SHIPS AT HOBOkEN.
LIVES MAY HAVE BEEN LOST.
Loss TO PROPERTY ROUGHLY Es-
TIMATED AT 81 100000.

steamer Heafhburn Damaged and
Several Lighters Destroyed 4
Chief Engineer Missing and Sew
craI Injured Persons in Hospitals.
New York March 1S.-A swift. and
in many of it's details, picturesque. fire
tonight destroyed the pier of the Phoe-
! NIX Steamship Line on Hoboken, N
j., river front, with many bales of
cotton and hay; burned that company's
vessel, the British Queen, to a hulk.
consumed several lighters and their
cargoes; damaged a dock belonging
to the Barber Steamship Line, and for
time threatened the property of the
Iiolland-American Line and the huge
Campbell stores. The loss, according to
estimates tonight, will approximate
s.. OOO. 900.
Lives May Have Been Lost
Whether any lives were lost is most
difficult to learn. While the confiagra-
ton was at its hight and after il had
been reduced by the firemen and fire
boats, rumors were rife that several
men persisted. 1t was tolerably GER
tain at midnight that Chief Engineer
Scott of the British Queen was burned
to death on her and that a sailor
named Jansen met the same fate. One
OF the men who escaped saw several
men leap into the water when the
steamer became enveloped in fire and
he saw few if any of these res
cued. The quarternlaster of the
ruined ship said that the crew were
in her forecastIe and he surmised that
If all escaped they did so with diff
Guilty. Nevertheless, some of the
British Queens officers said tonight
they were quite assured that all were
safe save Engines Scott, who they
simply said was missing. 1t is not
unlikely that some of the longshore-
men and stevedores who swarmed
about the vessel may still have to be
accounted for.
Loss Nearly a Million Dollars
The estimated losses in detail are:
Piers, 100000; British Queen, 100000
! Thought to be too high; cotton and
i lighters. $250,0OO.
Seven lighters are more or less dam
aged.
The scene of the fire was Seventh
and River streets. Hoboken. Together
there are the docks and basins of the
Phoenix Line. the Holland-American
Line and the Barber Line The Phoenix
Line pier was a wooden structure, 500
feet long, covered with a frame shed.
On this were many bales of hay and
cotton, which burned with the utmost
rapidly.
How the fire started is not known.
Some statements are that it started in
the British Queen, which lay in the
basin between the Phoenix Line dock
and the Holland-American dock; Others
that 1t had its origin at the end of the
pier.
Flames Burst Out Suddenly.
| AT all events, with but the bareest
| warning, the flames burst out, quick
! ly licking up the pier and the cotton
upon it and driving the stevedores and
sailors to the street, for the vessel
was being unloaded, having arrived
| here Friday from Antwerp, cotton
laden. The fire fiared up from the
steamer with as great suddenness as
| upon the pier and since the vessel was
made fast to the pier and could not be
! backed out lighters and other water
| craft which lay alongside of her,
some of them holding such infam-
nable stuff as oil cake, quickly caught
fire, too
Bale of Cotton IA Life Raft
| The captain of the lighter Tona-
wanda saved himself, his wife and his
child by pushing cotton bale into the
water placing his family and himself
upon it and padding his strange life
raft into the river. The stiff wind
! which had blown all day gave impetus
to the fire, whose glare Redeemed the
North river for long distance. Cattle
pens upon the upper decks of the Brit
ish Queen were the first part of her
consumed, but presently her hull was
afiame.
From the Phoenix Line pier the
| flames spread to the pier of the Barber
Line and then to the steamer Heath
burn of the company, newly arrived
from Hong Kong, China, with a cargo
of tea.
Chinese Crew Went Ashore
Among the crew of the steamer
Heathburn were thirty-two Cinnamon.
When the flames began to run over the
vessel they all scampered to the pier
for safety and began to make their
way to the streets of Hoboken There
was a large force of customs officials
on hand guarding property. As soon
as these officials saw the frightened
Cinnamon they became alarmed that
the aliens would make an illegal entry
into the country, so with drawn pistols
they ordered the Chinese to halt The
command was needed and then, sur
rounded by guards, the foreigners were
marched to a pier some distance away
and there locked up, under surveil-
lance, for the night.
The captain of the Heathburn was
not aboard. His wife and children
We're, but was rescued by the mate.
HOIIand-American Line Escaped.
The Holland-America Line docks are
below those of the Barber Line They
caught fire, but were only slightly DAM
aged. The company's big steamer, the
Maasdam, was towed out into the river
as soon as the danger became apparent
The fire started about S:35 O'clock
and by 1870 O'Clock it was well under
control The British Queen, still ablaze.
was towed out in the river Three
lighters, all afire. were directed down
the river by tugs. but owing to the
wind and current. they onve or twice
came near setting fire to property on
the New York side. Two Of them An
ally drifted to the east short of Cow