Montmorency
An immigrant ship, destroyed by fire at Napier on 24th March 1867. No deaths but the cargo was destroyed, including 100 casks of spirits. She was gutted and smouldered for 2 days before being cut adrift to strand between the spit & the Bluff..
Initially the night watchman had detected smoke from one of the hatches & he raised the alarm. An attempt was made to extinguish the flames seen below but it was too much for the crew. The spread of flames was very rapid due to the flamable nature of the cargo, & in no time engulfed the whole vessel
The cause of the fire was unknown but it is thought to have been smouldering in the hold for quite some time. It was lucky it did not spread whilst the vessel was at sea
A 668 ton ship registered at Liverpool, built at Quebec in 1855 at a Black Ball vessel especially to convey immigrants. Commanded by Captain Josiah Hudson Mackenzie & thought to have carried more immigrants than any other British ship.
