Show r s i t i 1 STEAMER BLOWN UP CAUSED BY A CARGO OF OIL The rhe British Steamer Petrola Destroyed at a French Port Fort and sni Most or ot orth th the Crew RUled Killed RUed An appalling accident occurred on the just outside the harbor on 01 the th the river river twenty four miles mUes northeast of Bor Bor- deaux Lying Lying off of the harbor was wa the British steamer Petrolia commanded by Captain I which arrived June 12 from fromI I Philadelphia Suddenly there was wa a a flash fash a I roar and the vessel was wa blown to I pieces Huge fragments of the deck and deck leek houses were carried carded westward to a a great grea distance The river was strewn with wit wreckage and andt It t was WI readily seen that the disaster was due dueLo to Lo an explosion of gas that had formed from the petroleum Burning oil oU was wa floating on the water ater This drifted with the tide and floating against several vessels lying at anchor anchor an an- n chor near by set them on fire fre Two or three other othel vessels were Ignited by burning oil 01 which fell fel on the decks The petroleum was wa soon burning buring furiously and the heat was so Intense that It I was dangerous dangerous dan dan- for small mall smal boats boat boat to t approach near Volumes of stifling sWUng black smoke hung over and around the burning steamer Some of the most venturesome of the boatmen rowed as IS closely to the fire fre as a possible They succeeded succeeded succeeded suc suc- suc- suc in picking up sixteen of her crew Some of the rescued men were I seriously burned They were taken ashore as a rapidly i as 58 possible and physicians were summoned to attend them The survivors said that there were twenty others on board the vessel when the explosion occurred and another search was made In the vicinity of f the burning ship in th the hope o ol 01 finding more lives But not a I body was a found and it is believed that everyone on onboard onboard board boar perished The crews of the vessels that caught fire fre fought hard to quench the flames ames but their efforts were fruitless and some of the crafts mostly vessels engaged In the river and coasting trade were burned to the waters water's edge |