A BRITISH SHIP BURNED; EXTRAORDINARY CONDUCT OF CHILIANS.

Inangahua Times, Volume IX, Issue 1479, 5 December 1884, Page 2

A BRITISH SHIP BURNED; EXTRAORDINARY CONDUCT OF CHILIANS.

«. The chief officer and two apprentices of the British ship Dalswintou arrived on September 16 at Liverpool, and gave particulars of the burning of their * vessel in harliour of Pisagua. A fire j broke out in the hold, and while the crow w»th at work energetically in pouring large quantities of water into the i hold, it isalleged that the Chilian author j ities of the place took both the captain • and the mate away and place thorn m j prison on short. The eff.-ot of tak.ng tile Oifijevs twiywH vsry SrtnoH, as the crew did little further to put out j the fir*. For three days the fire raged | and eventually burned itself out. Previous to this, however, the Chilianc at tempted to cut the vessel adrift, so ! that it would drift out to sea, ani it i was only on a strong protest this was not done. The. captain and mate were j release after some six or seven hours' detention, but on the following day the crew were also taken to the prison and | detained There were several British vessels in port, and, all the masters j and crew* mm willing to assist in I saving the siiio aid it wis sbitU tint the damage to the Dalswinton would have been comparatively slight; if fcha j captain and crew had not been interj fered with. Aa it was the vessel, *s { she stood with her damaged cargo j was sold for a little over I .£2OOO. It was statod by the men that the custom of the authorities ay J Pisugua is at oace to place under ' arrest the owner or occupier of an place that happwns to be ■•urned down, the arrested parties not being released until it is proved by trial that they did not set fire to the place. It may, therefore, be on this principle that the captain and crew of the Dalswinton j were arrested. The Dalswinton is a j vessel of 1012 tons register, and wa* owned in Glasgow by T. C. GHthrie.