Post-Mortem

How the Morro Castle fire started, where it started, and why it burned so fiercely remained mysteries no nearer solution than ever last week when Assistant Director Dickerson N. Hoover of the U. S. Bureau of Navigation made public his 117-page official report on that marine disaster of last September. "I am not able to say exactly how it started," wrote Mr. Hoover. But of one thing he was sure: "The human equation failed." Evidence pointed to the fire's origin as spontaneous combustion in the writing-room locker, the report said, with a strong possibility it may have started in No. 3 hold. Allayed by the report were suspicions of contraband munitions and incendiarism.

For the great loss of life (134 out of 548 aboard) Mr. Hoover blamed many factors, chiefly the fire's rapid spread, the delay in sounding the alarm and sending the SOS, general inefficiency of officers & crew. In future he recommended fireproofing of all vessels, more efficient emergency drills, practical examinations for able-bodied seamen and revision of liability limitation laws covering shipowners.

On trial for negligence before a special board of the U. S. Steamboat Inspection Service in Manhattan last week were five Mono Castle officers including Acting Captain William F. Warms, whose salary from the Ward Line was disclosed as $40 a week.

Off Asbury Park last week the Morro Castle's rust-splotched hulk was the scene of sudden activity as a salvage crew of 50 began operations to float her. This they hoped to do by gently rocking her loose from her bed of sand with tugs and derricks. During the three months it is estimated the job will take, the wrecking crew will live in shacks erected on the vessel's stern. For disposing of the huge wreck the company will receive $149,000 from the War Department.

Prosecutor Jonas Tumen of Monmouth County, N. J. last week announced he would seek indictments against a number of Asbury Park residents, "some of them prominent in civic affairs," who boarded the Morro Castle the day after she was beached and looted the cabins of passengers' valuables. He also planned to seek extortion indictments against officials who charged newshawks and others exorbitant prices for boarding the smoldering vessel.

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