The sun., 1904-11-27
STEAMSHIP FINANCE BURNED.
TOOK FIRE LAST NIGHT AS SHE
LAY IN ERIE BASIN.


waters and Been Tewed Up the Coast
for Repairs-QuaFtermaste Endt
Gets q Cold Bath In His Rapid Flight.
The Panama Railroad Companys Iron
steamer Finance, which was found adrit
with q storm smashed rudder Oft the coast
Of Florida ten days ago by the Morgan
Line steamer El Paso and towed into
Tybee, was partly burned last night at the
Eric Basin In Brooklyn. She had been
towed up the coast and was to have been
repaired In the basin.
Second Ofioer Ellingswood, who was
left In charge Of the crippled steamer when
abe was tied up at the Boston Dry Docks
in the Basin, happened to be on the bridge
with the quartermaster. Henry Endt. about
O'Clock. when they smelled smoke They
searched for the fire and found 1t In the
cabin Of the second assistant engineer.
How 1t stai ted nobody knows.
The two officers got three men, the crew
OF q donkey engine, and rsged up FIVE
lines OF hose. 1t took them 30 long to get
started that the fire got going briskly and
the little water they got on 1t didn't do
much good. The flames swept astern
furiously, overcoming bulkheeds and lick
ing up every piece Of exposed woodwork
Finally 1t got 80 hot for the little crew that
they had 10 drop the hose lines and run.
They were half strargled by the dense
smoke and their hair was singed by the
HEAT.
Ellingswood and the donkey men slipped
over the starboard side and down the ladder,
but Quartermaster Endt was driven by the
flames TO the bow. In trying to swing down
into small boat that some men had rowed
to the ships forefoot, Endt lost his grip
and went overheard. He was 80 worn
out with freAshting that he couldn't make
q strong swim Nof 1t. Alfred Summers Of
I'll Richards street, Brooklyn, jumped
overheard from the rowboat and held
Endt UP until both could be hauled out Of
the chilling water.
Meanwhile Second Of1cer Ellingswood
had turned in an alarm and two other alarms
followed quickly as soon as the first fire
company got there and the men saw the
gravity OF the situation. Around the
Finance half dozen iron steamers laid up
in Eric Basin for repairs were moored.
The Excelsior, q Morgan Line steamer,
was right alongside the Finance, and the
heat from the burning ship was 20 fierce
that smoke was curling up from the sides of
the Excelsior. Fifty yards from the Finance
was the Eord America, a steamer in the
Mediterranean trade. The Afghanistan
and the Sif were anchored close by and all
OF them were in serious danger.
Deputy Chief Lally got TO Erie Pasin
twenty minutes after the FIRE started and
took charge. He put most OF his men
on the Excelsior, directing the fr boats
which had arrived. the Havemeyer and the
David A. Boody, to stand close alongside.
Lally got twenty lines Of hose going and a
deluge from each side fell upon the flames.
While he was fighting the fire on the
Finance the boat he was using as a base OF
operations, the Excelsior, caught fire and
the men had double job on their hands.
The Excelsior broke into flames in half
dozen places. Altogether 1t was about
the toughest job the firemen had had for
many q day. They worked an hour and a
halt before they drowned out the flames
In the Finance. The fire In the Excelsior
was conquered in half an hour. The fire.
men suffered intensely from the thick.
binding smoke and they got singed little
in spots from working knee deep in flames
on the Excelsior.
When they got q chan ce to eIamine what
was left OF the Finance she was not much
to look at. The rear half Of her had been
cleaned out by the fire and only the iron
shell wa, left. The fore half was little
damaged comparatively. From the gine
room in the centre OF the vessel to the stern
she was black, smokin g hole.
The damage to the Finance was $25 600
The steamer is insured. The Excelsior
suffered to the e1tent OF 5000. It was
impossible TO discover how the FIRE origi-
mated. Neither the second officer nor the
quartermaster had been In the cabin during
the afternoon and no persons were on the
boat but themselves and the crew OF the
donkey engine. The burning vessel threw
flames fifty feet into the air, and several
thousand people gathered around the Bos-
ton Dry Docks TO look on.
The Finance was to have gone into dry
dock tomorrow morning.
The steamship Finance was one OF the
best OF the earlier creations of John Roach
d Sons shipyard at Chester, Pa, when
iron was just about going out Of fashion
In the construction Of iners She was
considered one OF the best iron boats put
out from the Chester works. She meas
ured 1858 tons gross. was 2o5 feet long
OF 80 fest inches beam and 23 feet 4 incl es
depth OF hold. She was built twenty-five
years ago.
On her last trip to this port from Colon,
whence she sailed on Nov 2, the Finance
ran into foul weather and carried away
her rudder and sternpost The Morgan
line freightcr Il Paso fell in with her and
towed her into Tybee Re ads. turning her
over to tugs, which took her up TO Savan-
nah, where her twenty-six passengers were
landed and sent to this city by rail- She
was seaworthy,- and the tugs Dauntless
and McCauley brought her TO this port
on wednesday for repairs. The lunller
laden schooner Margaret A.. from Tybee,
acted a. the Finances rudder
Thoras kaguiIe, 60 years old, OF 81 Sulli-
van strt et. while OF Iossing Hamilton avenue
and Richards street was knocked down by
an automobile, supposed to be that OF Chief
Croker on its way to Vie fire, and was badly
injured His left thighNwas fractured and his
right leg badly lacerated. He was at
tended by an ambulance surgeon from the
Long Island College Hospital.
RoundsmAn Alfred Reed Of the Hamil.
ton avenue station, while crossing Beard
street on his way from the fire, was knoeked
down by Deputy Chief LAlly's automobile
and slightly Jured about the right leg,
He was attsn edd by an ambulance surgeon
and continued on duty.
LITTLE BLAZE on THE TAURUS.
Ustehmsn Discover RAGS on Fire In .