HC Deb 28 January 1953 vol 510 cc1018-20
Mr. Bowles

Thanks to the courtesy of the hon. Member for Orpington (Sir W. Smithers), who withdrew a Question on the "Empress of Canada" which he had on the Order Paper for next week, I now ask the Minister of Transport by Private Notice, whether he has any statement to make regarding the loss of the "Empress of Canada" during the night of 25–26th January at the Gladstone Dock. Liverpool.

The Minister of Transport (Mr. Alan Lennox-Boyd)

Yes, Sir. At about 4.15 last Sunday afternoon fire was discovered to have broken out in the 20,000-ton passenger liner "Empress of Canada" as she lay in the Gladstone Dock at Liverpool. On Saturday she had been moved to the dock where her annual overhaul was being completed. The fire spread rapidly to several decks and by the evening the whole of the upper structure was ablaze. Firemen from Merseyside and the surrounding districts fought the fire, on board the ship, from the quayside and from the Salvage vessel "Salvor." The burning ship gradually developed a list towards the quay and late on Sunday night all firemen had to be withdrawn from her. Fire-fighting then continued from the quay, from the roof of an adjacent warehouse, and from the "Salvor," but at about 1.30 on Monday morning the ship heeled over and sank in about fifty feet of water. There was still some fire in the ship this morning and she will almost certainly be beyond repair. Most fortunately no lives have been lost.

On Monday I ordered a preliminary inquiry to be conducted under the Merchant Shipping Acts into the circumstances of this tragic casualty. This preliminary inquiry is in progress.

The House will, I am sure, wish me to pay its tribute to all who have been concerned in the efforts to save this fine ship and to express deep sympathy with the owners in their loss. For many years she has been a link between Canada and the United Kingdom and her loss will be deeply regretted by all who have sailed in her.

Mr. Bowles

May I first thank the Minister for his reply and also associate myself with him in his feelings and expression of sympathy with the owners of this liner? Can he tell the House whether this liner contained the usual anti-fire sprinkler apparatus which I think are quite common nowadays in modern ships? Secondly, were they working? Assuming that the liner had been equipped with them and they were working, is the Minister satisfied that they would have put out the fire? Were the bulkheads which are designed to prevent the spread of fire not closed? The fire seems to have been extraordinarily rapid and outside the control of anybody in the ship, and one wonders what would have happened if the fire had broken out at sea.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

I think that most of those questions had better await the findings of the preliminary inquiry. At this stage I can say that the ship was built before sprinklers became a standard fitting in passenger ships.

Sir W. Smithers

May I add my voice of sympathy to those who suffered and may I ask the Minister whether he will set up an independent inquiry under a well-known Queen's Counsel in order that there should be no doubt that there was no sabotage connected with the destruction of this ship?

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

The procedure which I propose to follow is to await the findings of the preliminary inquiry and then make up my mind whether there ought to be a formal inquiry which, of course, would be a public inquiry.

Mr. K. Thompson

Is the Minister aware that the comments which he made about those who contributed to fighting this fire will be very welcome in view of the enormous strain on those who fight fires in ships? It is an extremely hazardous job. Will my right hon. Friend also inform the House, after the inquiry has been completed, where the Liverpool fire brigade ship known as the "William Gregson" was during the fighting of this fire in the dock? At the same time, will he bear in mind that there have been three serious fires on ships in the docks in Liverpool, and will he consider whether a special inquiry should be made to find out whether there is some sinister background to those fires?

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

I think that all those points will be taken up by the preliminary inquiry. I must point out that it has never been the practice under any Government to publish the findings of a preliminary inquiry.