Evening star., 1949-09-18
Ship Fire Death Toll
Nearly 200 as Hunt
For Bodies Continues
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there was no negligence on the
part of the crew.
He said the blaze was out of
control before ships officers dis
covered it about $3.50 am. in a
stateroom near the ships cock
tail bar.
Crew Fought Fire.
Mr.. Marshall said the ship was
well equipped with modern fire.
fighting devices.
Either a lighted cigar or a
cigarette may have been left in
the stateroom which was left un-
occupied and. as a result, there
was no immediate report of the
beginning of the fire." he said in
q statement.
Certainly none of the officers
or the crew knew of the fire until
1t became uncomfortable"
Mayor McCallum said it was
definite" that the crew attempted
to fight the fire before calling the
city fire department.
Captain Aided Escapes.
Capt. William Taylor of Sarnia
performed heroically. Crew men,
bers said he first manned a hose
and then raced along the ship,
smashing in doors and windows
to awaken the passengers. He
leaped over the bow as flames
closed in on him.
J. Donald Church of Silver Lake,
Ohio, described by his fellow
passengers as one of the heroes of
the disaster, said he first saw the
fire start from a cupboard near
the bar. At his call, crewman
came with a fire extinguisher. Mr..
Church said another crewman
helped him drag up a big fire hose,
''but just q few drops of water
trickled out"
Mr.. Church said he went out
in a rowboat to pick up three men
struggling in the water and got
them close to the dock, when the
boat capsized.
Canada Steamship Lines said
the Sill passengers boarded the
ship at Detroit and Cleveland.
Steamship officials said all the
dead were passengers. The ITO
crewmen all got to safety after
fighting the flames.
Lifelines Dropped to Dock.
Within IS minutes after the
first alarm, flames had swept the
entire ship. Survivors told of
panic-stricken struggles in smoke
filled corridors and around life
lines dropped to the dock.
Ben Kosman of Cleveland. who
fed to safety, told Of seeing ship
attendants trying to stem the
roaring flames with hand exiting
uishers-.
They might have been trying
to put out hell with their foun-'
tain pens" he said brokenly.
Whole families, vacationing on
the Noronic's last cruise of the
season. were wiped out. Firemen
who finally got aboard the heat
twisted steel hull live hours after
the fire began told Of finding
eharred groups with their arms
about each other.
Mauy~~yere trapped. in their
eabins.~-~s- --------------..-.-.---,-
Some Of those people were
partying and after they had gone
TO bed I'm afraid many of them
wouldn't smell the smoke or hear
any shouts Of .fire'." declared Sam
Grammar, a crewman.
Some Escaped Unclothed.
Many Of the survivors escaped
dressed only in nightclothes. Some
jumped to the nearby dock or
into the water without any clothes
on at all.
People were screaming and
Jumping without thinking" AL
fred Peterson, dock watchman,
reported. Bodies were falling all
around me on the dock and soon
the screams were mingled with
the means Of the injured"
Fire Chief Art Smith said fire.
men found dozens Of couples who
went to death in a last embrace.
Lifeguards in rowboats sought
bodies of persons who had slipped
down ropes or jumped overheard
IN terror at the flames.
Death List Completed.
Steamship officials were at
tempting to establish the death
list from a check Of the survivors
with their passenger and crew
rolls. But this was difficult be-
cause many survivors had dis
persed to hotels, hospitals and
homes. The officials said they
had been advised by their law
yers not to release the passenger
list until all had been accounted
for and the next Of kin informed
This might take days.
The steamer had settled to the
bottom Of her slip on Lake On
tario, and the deck where the
fire started was under water.
The Noronic docked here at 6
pm. yesterday on what was to
have been q gay holiday cruise to
Prescott and the Thousand
Islands.
Dan Harper. q pier watchman,
turned In the first alarm when he
saw glimmer of fire near the
stern. In 2 minutes. he said. the
whole ship seemed to be afire.
Fremen later said the fire had
started from an unknown cause in
Stateroom 462. two cabins aft of
the cocktail bar just below the
main deck.
Fire Like Match Box.