New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-08-26
Two Inquiries
Into Leyiathan
Fire Are Begun
Army Board and Department
of Justice Seek Cause
of CONFEDERATION Which
Did $5,OOO.OOO Damage
Faulty Wiring Reported
Belief Exists in Certain
Quarters That the Pier
Blaze Was Incendiary

Two Investigations into the causes OF
the fire Wednesday night in HoboNen,
which destroyed Piers and s of the
army transport docks and damaged the
steamship Leviathan, were begun yes
terday. One is being directed by a
board of inquiry of the United States
army from Governors island and the
other by the Department Of Justice.
Yesterdays estimates place the total
damage at $4,000 900.
Rumors that tho confagration had
been caused by cinders from a tug s
ash ejector and that workman had
started it by tossing lighted cigarette
into bundle of oiled waste were dis
credited. The tug captain accused gave
satisfactory proof that he had not been
responsible, and it was discovered that
no workmen had been on Pier S, where
the blaze began.
One story being investigated is that
faulty insulation of wires in a tool
house resulted in shortcrcuiting and
set fire to adjacent woodwork. but those
to the outbreak say it was signalized
by a sudden burst Of smoke and flame
from the end of the pier, after which
clouds Of dense smoke so obscured the
pier end as to preclude observation Of
what was happening there.
There is belief in certain quarters
that the fire was of incendiary origin.
The first blaze appeared a few minutes
after o'clock, and when the first fire
engines arrived ten minutes later Pier
was a roaring furnace. Members OF
the crews of two army transports, the
Wheaton and Western Queen, which
were lying at Pier and were hauled to
midstream by tugs, are said to have
information which will prove OF value
to the investigators. They will be ex-
amined by the Army Board of Inquiry
tomorrow.
1t was said yesterday that damage to
the Leviathan will be no more than
$75, 900. 1t was at first estimated that
she had suffered to the extent of $780,,
O00 Her starboard lifeboats are all
badly damaged, starboard port lights
smashed and all pain. off one of her
sides. William T. Gibbs, chief con-
structor of the international Metan-
tile Marine, who was on board the giant
liner when the fire broke out, said last
night that only the precautions take
against just such { contingency had
saved the vessel.
"The fact that we had steam on one
of the boilers and were able to WORK
twelve lines of hose Immediately pre-
vented the destruction Of the Levia-
than" said Mr.. Gibbs. Twenty minutes
after the fire began starboard lifeboats
were blazing, port lights were smashed
and rails were ablaze. 1t is not too
much to say that the crew of the Levi
athan handled the fire aboard her with
their own hose.
"The freboats attempting to aid US
were crowded so close to the ship by
space limitation that all they we're
able to do was shoot water straight up
in the air They could not defect their
nozzles. 1t is eighty feet from the water
to the Leviathan's bridge, which also
was on fire. If it had not been for our
own fire fighting resources and the
bravery of the crew Of fifty men then
available the entire upper works of
the ship would have been destroyed.
At one time the crows nest, sixty feet
above deck on the foremast, was burn
ing"
The total property damage as report
ed yesterday includes Piers 5 and of
the Army Transport Docks, the old
Hamburg American Offices, the bar
racks and guardhouse of the 18th U. S.
Infantry, the army machine shops and
slight scorching of adjacent property.
Late yesterday the fire was still
burning and freboats were playing on
the ruins to prevent possible new out
breaks.