Firth. — On the Causes of Fires on Ships. 389 



The steamer " Ionic," lying in the London Docks, took fire 

 on the 24th December, 1889, and again on the 26th December, 

 1889. In both cases the charcoal insulation was badly burnt, 

 and without doubt caused both fires. 



The " Moorish Prince " steamer, while lying in the South 

 "West India Dock, took fire on the morning of the 10th Sep- 

 tember, 1890. The steamer was laden with charcoal and 

 timber, and (as reported in the London Evening Standard of 

 the same day) from some unknown cause a large quantity of 

 the charcoal took fire. 



Towards the close of 1891, the P. andO. steamer " Eome," 

 lying in dock at Greenock to be lengthened, took fire. The 

 fire was cabled as having been caused by her charcoal insula- 

 tion. Though this was afterwards denied, " as believed to 

 have occurred through a candle being left burning by one of 

 the workmen," it may be one of the "mysterious fires" 

 where, for obvious reasons, any cause of fire is accepted rather 

 than the true one. 



In this connection it may be noted that the frozen-meat 

 ships " Dunedin" and "Marlborough" (both insulated ships) 

 were never heard of after leaving the New Zealand ports of 

 departure. There can be hardly any doubt that both were 

 burned at sea, with all hands, owing to the spontaneous com- 

 bustion of their insulation. 



I now come to the fire on board the iron frozen-meat ship 

 " Timaru " (insulated with charcoal about two years ago). 

 The "Timaru," lying in Auckland Harbour, had been dis- 

 charged, and was waiting for a charter, having nothing in her 

 but some barrels of cement for stiffening. On the morning of 

 the 21st September, 1892, the " Timaru " was found to be on 

 fire in her charcoal insulation (the ship being fitted up for 

 carrying frozen meat). Owing to exceptionally favourable 

 circumstances, the fire was extinguished before very much 

 damage had been done. Had the fire occurred in mid-ocean 

 the ship would have been destroyed with all on board. In 

 that case no evidence of the fire would have been forthcoming, 

 and, as in so many other cases, the final and only report 

 would have been, " Ship ' Timaru ' never heard of." 



The fire on the "Timaru," without any question or doubt, 

 was caused by the spontaneous combustion of her charcoal 

 insulation, as will be seen from the reports of the various 

 official surveys held on board her immediately after the fire 

 by Captain H. Worsp, for the Auckland Marine Underwriters' 

 Association, and Captain M. T. Clayton, for Lloyd's Agent in 

 Auckland, and for Lloyd's Eegistry, London. From these 

 exhaustive reports I am permitted to make the following 

 extracts : — 



Captain Worsp says, " The fire on board the ship 'Timaru' 



