Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-08-06

Unassumingly thankful that tlt"y
had been saved from a watery graz e.
Capt X. Lindberg, officers and Crt "
of the X. P Rithet told today OF u -
fire which destroyed their ship at sh,a
and OF their ten-day voyage Of near'v
900 miles to land and safety at Port
Allen. Kauai.
Flooding Of the engine cylinder hIad
with oil from a feed pipe broken by
the vibration of the vessel is held re
sponsible for the fire. 1t was disCUv
cred by H. A. Houston. the first enIgi-
neer, who was on watch at about $3.50
o'clock Tuesday morning. July "a
=, When the blaze fam d up he grabbed
a fire extinguisher and attempted t.
stop the fire. Unable to do so he
rushed up to the officers sleep Ing
quarters and called the chief e 1gi.
neer, E. Emmerick. Returning hey
discovered the blaze had made such
progress that 1t was impossible to
curb it.
Going back to the sleeping quart ers
Of the ships officers all were arous ed.
Aft and asleep when the fre star TED
there were besides the captain ind
chief engineer, the following perso Us
NJ. Page, first officer; NJ. Olsen, SEC
ond mate; E. Lungrin, third mate:
Charles Shear, second engineer; the
ships carpenter and the after mess
man.
Engine Room Afisme
BY the time they were aroused, ia e
housing on the main deck was tillea
with smoke and the engine room was
q mass of blaze. So rapid was the
progress Of the fire that q few mo-
ments later 1t would have been iul-
possible for the officers to have made
their way forward along a narrow
paSsageWay.
Fearing that an explosion would re-
suit when the oil supply tanks wene
reached by the FIRE, the captain gave
orders to launch the life-boat which
was stored beneath the under hous
ing. AS the steering wheel was AFT
amidst the flames, the ship could NOT
be brought about and it was neces-
sary to launch the lifeboat on tlAe
weather side. The captain thinks tn at
they got the boat over into the water
in about 80 minutes.
With all the crew in the boat they
pulled away from the ship about 2ID
yards and lay to waiting Tor daylight
sometime before daylight q great
amount Of smoke and flames shot up
ifrom the ship and 1t was thought the
expected explosion had resulted rs
the immediate danger did not seem
great the captain ordered a part OF
the crew placed aboard the vessel to
attempt to secure provisions and
water and to fight the fire. Then AL
all day but hopeless night began
With two lines OF hose through wnlcn
the water was forced by the donKey
engine, the streams OF water were
turned on the flames. But with little
avail. Two big holes in the stern Oh
the boat had been burned by this time
and the Rirhet began to slowly sink,
stern first.
Nevertheless the fight against TIE
Ere was not given up until about 10
O'Clock that night, and then not un1ii
the hot decks began to buckle, grehS
seams appearing one after the othtT
in the deck, beneath which the hre
was burning half way to the mai q
hatch which the fire fighters had al
tempted to keep clear Of the flames
There was plenty Of water in the
tanks forward to take on in the lite
boat but a scarcity of containers and
the capacity Of the life boat made II
impossible to take large quantity
Potatoes were the only eatables whfc