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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1979-11-15, Page 12Vit ORM ►1TRt, VB. Editor's note: This is the second in .It; t e -part series Pe e ,terning :of the Great Lakes passenger, ship, the s.S. . Nowak. When passenger Don Church discovered the linen closet floe On the Moronic, he had discovered the villain. which. Wguld destroy Otte of the takes" last great passenger liners, Mr. Church, wasted .eo time in alerting the first crew member he could find, l -year old bellboy Garth McNeill. Men w. R the d: m o u threw I d the Pe a. an.. ee _ . 'l!"hhe bel b�.r prr�d rigor of the closet, to find bedding already glowing orange. and red. The bellboy ran, for a fire extinguisher, but it was obltious that using it was like spraying the fire with a water pistol'. He and, Churchthen ran for a fire hose, but when they ; trained it on the dames, only a thin. Weide of water Camc t of enozzle. Thiswas the first Ofa Series of niiSfgrtu es which plagued efforts to protectthe ship, . Qnce, the closet door was open, the fire spread rapidly in both directions, and the varnish on the floor and woodwork Proved a volatile fuel for the flames, 'Within minutes of his -discovery, Don' Church realized the situation was hopeless, and ran to alert his family. sleeping on the deck below. Seven mipute$ after the fire's discovery, the bellboy broke the glass in afiireboz to soundthe alarm on board. He then located a senior crew member and the men started alerting whoever they could find, including the ship's First Officer Gerald Wood, Wood decided immediately to throw a switch to touch off the klaxon horns, a safety device to alert passengers in case of fire. Then he pulled the boat's; whistle cord, to give a second sequence of blasts as a further warning, Ironically, for some unknown reason the mechanism jammed, and front then on the ship's whistle blew incessantly - almost totally drowning out the warning horn, UKE A PAINT FACTORY Within minutes the entire upper decks of the ship were engulfed with flames. A survivor said later, "She went up like a paint factory," For passengers who were light sleepers, or who had, loyal friends or relatives, or were near the crew, escape was possible. But other. passengers, 'even those who escaped from theircabins, panicked inthe thick smoke, and were unable to reach either a main deck where' they could jump to the chilly waters below er one of the gangplanksleadingtosafety. Firemen were able to rescue some of the trapped passengers with extension ladders, but many others were overcome with smoke: • Sam Graham, the C S,L, truck driver; was staying overnight an "C"' deck, not far from the linen closet. He was awakenedby the commotion, and managed to escape, shouting 'Tire". at the top of his lungs as he' ran for the l gangplank. Many of the people he met looked at, him disbelievingly, and he assumed they thought he'd done too much celebrating earlier in the evening.Later, when the excitement had died down, Mr. Graham discovered he'd rushed out of his cabin without remembering to pull on his trousers: On "C" deck,aJosephine Kerr also heard the commotion'•. and immediately ,woke her. two young nieces. She then pound. ed on the door of her brother's, family,but, failed to wake any of the three people inside. Finally, with the fire spreading,• she could only pray her brother and wife had already escaped. • When Miss • Kerr and the children reached the deck, they could see the only escape was a 60 -foot plunge to, the • harbour below. Although' Miss Kerr knew both girls could swim, she worried they would be injured or panic in the '04 140 cine passenger picked up the one girt and held her as "helumped;and Bother �n helped . the other child over' , Fed the railing, Miss Kerr then iumped herself, hitting the anchor cable way, braising; ,herself badly but .,e � the Y �, otherwise strrviving, Her brother* his witfe :and their son did not escape:. , At 4:30 a stn„ the blackened. hull of `The ;Queen. of the Inland Seas' suddenly began to swing away from the pier. The list'reached an; alarming. angle and it seemed certain the boat would capsize, taking the bodies; of passenger* and; Frew with her to, the bottom. But then the ship suddenly righted herself, and; the stern slowly settled en• the bottom pf thebarbour, TRAGICTgit. it was some days before the final story on the Norenie was written. BerthaWilliams, s, e 86-Yearar Old Passenger had ad e shed Mr. crew byname had perished, a Who , w l wh al the , P e . and Mrs. David Wilder, who complained about the wild parties on board. Paymistress Louise Dustin survived the fire, but had a relapse three weeks later and also died. But the fact which soon; Captured the public's attention was, that not ope .single member of the crew had perished on, board, Captain Taylor had also. escaped, although he later had to be restrained foam rushing back on board, claiming some other official wascalling to him from on board the tfirewith his sailingcareer in shred -. ship, He survived he and evidence mounting that he was drunk at the time of. the fire. (This was never proied,) The press also asked a number of questions - why had' the crew escaped, hadn't there been any attempt to alert :and rescue passengers, were both passengers and crew suffering the result of too much to drink when the fire was discovered? On Sept. 28, just 11 days after the fire, a Court of Investigation: convened in 'Toronto - presided over by the Honourable Mr. Justice R.L. Kellock of the Supreme Court of'Canada. • The investigation had to deal with a series Of charges put forward bothby the disaster's survivors, and the relatives of those lost inthe fire, as well as counter claims from Canada: Steamship Lines spokesmen. SAFETY MEASURES IGNORED It soon became obvious that basic: safety measures were lacking. There were no automatic fire -detection devices on board, nor was there a sprinkler system. The ship hadn't - been equipped with ' fire -resist nt bulkheads, as "was generally required of all passe ger vessels in a 1934 provision of the Canada Shipping Act. There was no adequate fire patrol; system: in operation on board when the fire broke out. Members of the crew hadn't been properly instructed or trained as to what was expected ofthem in, the event of a fire. Passengers were completely in :the dark in terms of how they should proceed in case of emergency. ' The final conclusion, after hearing testimony of First Officer Gerald Wood and Captain Taylor, was that the failure to report . the fire's discovery immediately had proven,fatal. . Onthe fact there was no loss of life among the crew, the investigators riled, "They all appear to have been warned b ;Pm of their fellows, allda %tee ares tsedthey w ; familiar with the intetlor or the ship, they could M easily find their way out," The final .ruling by Judge Keliock was that, in his opinion, "Rio: one in a responsible position `itt ,connection with the ship, , either on the ship or ashore, has 'applied his m serious way to the handling, of a situation such tnd rn any, w x a g as arose on;the outbreak of fire on, the night in question, th rw•se although•stttheventuality cannot be considered o e t than core which might occur at any thee. ;Mor, m'emer, eomplete eemplacency had descended upon both the ship's officers and the management.", In addition, Captain Taylor's certificate' was suspended for a period: of one'year, and Canada: Steamship tines was as ordered to pay all court costs. Ca - rain Taylor retired fromsailing, , andmovedback to the family home. a familiar Landuark when % was grow ua8 itp, He died in 1965, in his )10's.. The last four unidentified passengers on board: the $,S.. Neronic were buried' in a common grave in Mount Pleasant cemetery,. Toronto, underneath a marker.PernMemorating, the disaster. While the Noronic tragedy did result in more stringent safety rules on board ships sailing the Lakes, it also helped bring anend to passenger linersin our inland waters. Today, despite preventative measures, fire still remains one of the most serious shipboard disasters. H: & N DAIRY SYSTEMS LTD- Sales, Service 8 installation of pipelines, & milking parlours R.R.4 WALTON 8873. Lung �, AssociCytion r delegates at convention Mr. Wm. Leney, Mr$ Frank Dodds, and Mr., and. Mrs. Art Dunsmore, all of Stratford attended the Semi- Annual Meeting of the Ontario Lung Association re- cently. Mrs. Dodds and Mrs. Dun- smore attended a . Program ' Workshop prior to the meeting. • when Mrs. Dunsmoreaddressed the delegates . regarding the carbon monoxide testing done in the ` Spring in the Secondary :Schools"in Huron and Perth Counties. • The machine is'' available for .. testing in any organization or industry if ,application made to the. Huron Perth Lung'. .Association, 121 Wellington St., Stratford, 271-7500. Edelweiss. Rebekah, Lodge welcome. Our .plans `for after- noon euchre for Nov. 21st was finalized:': met on. the evening, . of Nv. 12th with Noble grand' Mar= ion Rose in charge assisted by Vice grand Irene.' Smith: Lodge opened in form with only 1': 'officer absent. Irene Smith reported . for the visiting committee. A letter from United Nat- ion's Pilgrimage for youth was read and S50 forwarded for.. this years student to receive the trip., A float for Santa Claus parade was discussed and. decided to pass the inform- ation on to the CPT Com- mittee for action 510 was voted to the War 'Memorial'. Hospital. An invitation to Christmas party at the Home in Barrie was received. The Past grand's bazaar and tea is to be held in lodge moms on the afternoon of Nov. 28th with everyone ATE SHOPPE MAiN COikNER, CLINTON PHONE 462.177S (NEXT TO CAMPBELL'S:; MEN'S WEAR). :5! eLOUSESlitair -PANT$,-IIBL ArEas SWEATERS OPEN l--6• OMEN 1-4• USE EXPOSITOR WANT - ADS Phone 527-0240 A new'financial Sec. book is to be sent for. Lodge closed in form. 2-5 p.m. Home Balling, f raftit, White Elephant Table Mr. & Mrs. Alfie Dale Arts & heights will be on display sitsvoiftet 4 Open 9e.m. till 11p.m. 7 days a week Xmas Cards $ee our Targe selection of Xmas cards. by Coutts -Hallmark Boxesfrom Singles for everyone► • Large selection of matching serviettes, pithy' and.,accassories +° 1480 calendars -different Scenes Wren you care' nnauglt td send' the very best. • Gdr»Os. Rartiote Control 'tr'ucks Science fair Kits for the Hobbyist '1 Huron as ern' Wednesday to Saturday and Saturday Matinee. Stage. Flight Next week & Saturday Matinee Dining Room Open- Dally, from i2 Noon Good Old -Fashioned Horne -Cooked tVils autkertau m eflt tom $ p.rn to 1 a.m. HWAY ` 8 ovillis. '44' OPP.oh r: r vomittiont $qtecywheeI gets re "TAOSThe aque411CY._, . wheel Ygets the grease .in, educat%ri Circles. • The Huron County board of education learned Tuesday that on occasion government Itself cart become a victim ,,of government bureaucracy. John Cochrane, dutorof edueation,. Old the board; that a recent appeal of the board's education requisition: to the villa e o fBaYl1 hayfield d been appealed. He extlalned that each, year the board passes its: budget and then. divides up: the amount of money to be paid into education. coffers ' 'by municipalitiesin the county. He said the board notifies each. municipality of its ap- portionment portionment and bills it for the amount. He said hayfield' had; objected to the amount it was billed and appealed the *natter: The director said any appeal by a town or township issent to a specialmeeting of clerks- and: treasurers ijr the county. That group hears the argu ment raised by the appealing . municipality and acts ail: an arbitrator in the matter. He said, he clerks fii hir*Ter-f te' appes M voted in foot: of the Pomo- a. requisition: Kayfield was not Satisfied � with those resi its` and took the matter * to, the Ontario Municipal f#pslyd; A hearing date was set f`o 'December 10 in the, municipal offices in Bayfield. The OMB iglatr00.04 :thc. board .of wile 4th fl* all clerks ;an 1 . olf the Media* by e. mail; Cochrane said that aria I n4. sooner done than *►. ,Hubei ,1., boar.sent bili ;'beard of"education . 125, presurnabT fOr the rental of the hall. "The wheels govern, Meat," .muttered Cr►ne,. Stratford 'Fair roun� presents'' s TIHP C�roratiofl Friday, Nov.. 23 9p.m,-1a.m. DOOMS OmATB$-M. ■ Ticketsts SS.00 per pennon, atvaWble at Oho dose or phaatt271-5130 HRISTMAS 00:0 SAYING CARDS .4 For the person with every. thing, choose from our wide selectionof styles • aitcl colors imprinted name 'or initials, Single 1 • 95 Deck • . * s. Double .11 cc •s Deck . •i •0 "OA0v0z0:0:0 Put your name 0n• handy personal labels:- Excellent for Cameras, Toys, Stationery and thou- sands' of other uses. tiGUMMED ` .LABELS 1.95• • 200 Presson Labels (White or Gold) 2.95 ;IP PENCIL PACK Yellow eraset-topped pencils stamped with a full name in gold. Handy gift for the scholar, 12 Pencil', 44 47.95 Tack TREASURE PACK Cocktail napkins and: matches both with na►€te or initials imprinted.: De SERVIETTES Ideal accompaniment to. any table ...luncheon, tea or dinner napkins in a linen: or facial quality imprinted with your , name in gold, silver or black. Choose from a wide assortment of colors and styles. s. Frain 6.20 BOOK MATCHES Wide range of colors. Personalized book matchet. ina lig'otful souvenir of your . oholiday parties or a 's thoughtful gift • for thea • hostess. 1 • 0 54) Facial Quality Napkins , •t and 45 regular 0 size matches.. 12.95 0 osTESS . PACK if!) 50 Facial Quality Napkins imprinted in red or gold ' _' and . attractively' packaged GIET DRUM Show your good taste , • , i an attractive clear plastic drum containing 50, personalized book matches.. 795 Choice of` Fromwr colors F'am 5.7 O24O ;xpo,�ifia�