Imperial Valley press., 1924-10-30
S1,5OO,OOO Fire
Sweeps Wharf,
Takes Tanker
Confined from nace u


counted for. y
The total loss from the fire which
swept the dock and the steamer was
estimated to exceed 1880, 900.
Although officials of the oil
company maintained that every man
would be accounted for, the where
IT'bouts of the following men had
not been announced this morning:
First Mate Schroeder.
Third Officer George Anderson.
Jack Crawford, pump man, Los
Angeles
Nelson Boushard, seaman, Fail
River, Mass.
Arthur Mcdonald, mess boy, New
York.
Tom Towner, oilcr.
Thirty six members of the crew
had been definitely accounted for.
Shortly :,fter . a. m. .he tanker,
blazing from stem TO stern, broke
away from the dock with the forge
Of the incoming tide and was swept
toward the head of Suisun Bay with
the fireboat Ajaz in close pursuit
The vessel was still drifting Il,
dawn. the heat from her blazing oil
tanks frustrating efforts TO get p
line aboard ;snd bring her to the
beach.
Worm Caus u Blaze
A tiny marine worm-the terede /
which eats at the piling of wharv-
es, is believed to have been The /
cause of this, one of the most spec
tacular fires in this vicinity in
years.
Shortly before p. m. yesterday, |
while oil was being poured into the /!
tanks of the Alden Anderson, the i
end of the wharf along which the
pipe ran, cracked and settled slowly
into the bay.
Pipe lines snapped and in a mo-
ment the splitting sparks from elee-
tric wires broken by the collapse,
ignited the flowing oil and set both
the ship and wharf ablaze.
The tanker had just arrived at the
wharf and was beginning to un-
load. Her entire crew, with few
exceI lions, was aboard, and rs the
fire broke out, those ashore could
hear the men being piped to the
deck and orders to man the boats
were called from the bridge.
Only one boat was lowered, the
heat of the flames preventing the
crew from reaching the others. Ev
erv man unable to get into, the
single boat, whether he could swim
or not, seized a lifebelt and laaped
into the lev waters of the bav.
Several Explosions
One explosion after another hast /
ened the sweep of the flames as
stacks of eased gasoline was ignited .
by the heat. Hoses from fire boats
and engines summoned from all
nearby points poured water on the
flames but it was long after mid
night before control was attained. I
At . a. III. the tide mercifully came
TO the aid of fire fighters and
swept the still blazing tanker away
to where she could do little immedi-
ale damage.
The tanker, worth $l,000,000 and
80 900 barrels of fuel oil aboard
her, is a total loss. Six numbered 7
feet of the mile long wharf, barge
with 1000 barrels of fuel oil aboard
and $4,000 cases of gasoline stored .
on the wharf, and the warehouse
where it was piled, were wiped out.
Members OF the tankers crew were
reported in precarious positions
when the fire broke out. Schroeder,
the first mate, was standing on
the gangplank when the wharf col
lapsed, and his fate has been unde-
termined. William Macdonald,
mess boy, was reported to have been
in his cabinet at the time, with the
doors locked, reading.
John Miller, second cook, was one
of those severely injured. In leap
ing from the deck to swim from
danger, he caught his leg in a rope
and hung head downward over the
flowing oily water until comrades
rescued him.
Henry Soreson, who was in charge
If the single lifeboat which pulled
away, said his men raced for al
yards with flaming oil
upon the water.
Fifteen men are believed to have
eaped into the bay, seven of them
being picked up by Il river steamer.
The remaining eight are reported TO /
nave reached saftey by swimming. !