New-York tribune., 1916-07-31
Three Tow Lighters from
I,a Danger Zone e, Then
Fight Big Blaze,
FIVE CRAFT NOW LIE
ON BOTTOM OF BAY
First Alarms Reach Two Cities
Fire Headquarters by Phone
Men Respond Fast.

Five Jersey Central lighters, loaded .
with shrapnel and one-pound shells
rested last night on the bottom Of New
York Bay. Bell buoys and light buoys
we're placed around them late yester-
cav afternoon 70 warn vessels.
At ( o'clock Yesterday afternoon,
three fire boats Of the New oYrk Fire
Department the New Yorker, the
Thomas Willott. and the William l..
Strong came back 10 their docks IN
Manhattan. They had been fighting the
flames at the great Black Tom fire .
since half past two Sunday morning.
Ten minutes after the first explosion. .
which rocked New oYrk. Acting FIRE
Chief Smoky Joe" Martin received
message by telephone. An excited voice
Informed him that there was huge
fire at Black Tom and that lighters
loaded with ammuniaitos were drift
ing toward this city.
Reaches Pier at 2:3O.
The freboat New Yorker. under COM
mand Of Captain Edward J. Worth,
chief Of the marine division of the
New York department, was dispatched,
reaching the pier about 2:3O. The
Willett and the Strong went a few
minutes later.
The New Yorker found two burning
lighters drifting toward Ellis Island
One had come quite close to the inn
migration centre. and its hail Of shrap-
mel had set the southwest wing Of the
hospital on FIRE.
With the fremen lying fiat on their
80 hs he Na bf1 W. ~
the New Yorker. Captain Worth
brought his craft close TO the splitting
lighter. A stream Of wAter was turned
on the craft. 1t finally exploded and
sank.
Shells Burst Near Firemen.
The Willett and the Strong mean
while followed other blazing barCes.
The fremen were under a hail of
bursting shells. A clean round hole
was shot through the pilot house of
the Strong, and the hulls Of all three
boats were often splintered.
Two barges sank off the north end Of
Ellis Island. One lies west of it. An
other went to the bottom close to the
New Jersey shore, not far from the
pier. and another lies hundred yards
or so of the wharf, well out in the
stream. The schooner Eldridge, loaded
with salt and valued at $3.50, 900. was
towed. mastless, yesterday afternoon
from her moorings at the smouldering
pier.
When the New Yoru freboats had
taken care of all the drifting barges
they tied up close TO the burning ware
houses and turned their streams upon
the bames.
Alarm by Telephone.
The first alarm was received at Jer-
sey City Fire Headquarters by tele-
phone. The entire Jersey City depart
ment started 10 the FIRE. The first ex-
plosion came half an hour after their
work began.
After the explosion the fremen
could get no city water. and were
forced to use the Standard Oil Com
pany's water supply.
ceived by the New York department.
They were turned in by persons woh
believed, on account OF the falling
glass, that buildings were afre- A few
automatic alarms are believed 10 have
been turned in by the air pressure
from the Xeplosion-
Fire Commissioner Adamson went 70
Jersey City at s o'clock yesterday
morning and again in the afternoon.
Cannot Eseimate Damage.
at is almost impossible now to as
certain why the fire started" said he
last night at his home, 215 West 10lst
Street. 1T had been burning almost
an hour before the first firemen reached .
it.
"The men who we're actually fight .
ing the flames could no more tell the .
progress Of their efforts than they
could the origin. | cannot estimate the
damage. ! am sure the figure first set,
s7,000,000, is triAing. l saw massed
on the pier. machinery, automobiles
one little Oakland in a crate. riddled
py mahogany. salt, sugar. and
tons of tobacco. Hundreds of shells
were scattered about. In one place
smokeless powder had burned and lay \
like sand, two or three inches deep.
The wreckage stretched half mile"