Station Officer Douglas Mearns died after being overcome by smoke in the hold of the M.V. Pagensand.
It says George Mearns on the Memorial at Hamilton but that is a mistake George was Douglas's father's name.
Despite the harsh experiences mentioned, 1960 was not to depart without tragedy
once again hitting the Service severely. On Friday, December 2nd a
further death in the course of duty had to be recorded.
The German Motor Vessel “Pagensand” came into the Clyde Estuary reporting a fire
in her hold and while investigating the seat of the fire, Station Officer
Douglas Mearns, the Officer in Charge, Marine Station, was overcome and died
shortly afterwards. Several other Officers and Men were overcome by fumes and
required hospital treatment.
(Report of the Firemaster of the City of Glasgow, 1960. Page 12.)
Appointment with death
Take a good look at this picture. The officer in the centre about to enter the
hold of a burning ship is only moments away from death. Take a look at the faces
of his colleagues making the final adjustments to his equipment. They too know
the dangers that lie ahead. They too are ready to face them.
Take a good look, chairman of fire brigade committees, members of negotiating
bodies, government officials, newspaper editors and members of the public.
The man you see there alive, and who is now dead, is the 22nd member
of the British Fire Services to die in the past 12 months. He, like the others,
died a violent death for you, for the protection of your homes, your lives and
your property.
He died in the same quiet way as he carried out his duties. He died because he
never questioned the possibility of remaining in a safe place while a job had to
be done.
He died not in the emotional heat of a battle, not for a cause, but for
humanity. His duty was to help others, his heroism was his selflessness. Such
was the man who died – Station Officer Douglas Mearns, aged 45, married, father
of three children and a member of Glasgow Fire Brigade.
Twenty two have died in 1960, an average of 350 firefighters are hurt each year.
There are few who go through their Service career without being injured, and
many are maimed permanently. Yet how few members of the public, the press and
local authorities seem to realise the devoted and selfless service they are
getting from their firefighters.
LITTLE CREDIT
How few seem to be willing to give them the conditions they deserve, the
appliances and fire stations they need, the wages that are necessary to bring
depleted fire brigades up to strength.
How reluctant they seem to give credit for the thousands of jobs the Fire
Service is carrying out apart from fighting fires, or to give them recognition
in the Honours List or even to say just “Thank You.”
We hope that 1961 will prove a year in which the Fire Service will at last
achieve its proper place. Much work is being done in Parliament and in
committees to improve fire prevention and to reduce the mounting annual losses
in lives and property.
We ask all those who meet round the conference table to remember that in the end
it will be the professional firefighter who has to rescue people, put out the
fire and risk his life or health.
To help them remember let them keep this picture of the last minutes in the life
of Station Officer Douglas Mearns, husband, father and selfless hero, and yet no
different from any other member of the British Fire Services who will always put
the common good before the interest of themselves and their families.
Harry Klopper
(Fire Magazine January, 1961. Page 447.)
FIREMEN OVERCOME AT FIRE ON SHIP
<PHOTO> Fireman lying on the deck after being carried unconscious from the hold
of the German ship Pagensand at princes Dock, Glasgow. The fire tender St. Mungo
is moored alongside.
(The Glasgow Herald, Saturday, December 3, 1960. Front page.)
FIREMAN’S DEATH IN SHIP’S HOLD
In Glasgow a fireman lost his life and 11 firemen and a docker were overcome and
taken to hospital during attempts to put out a fire in the hold of a cargo ship
at Prince’s Dock, Govan.
The fireman who died was in charge of a fireboat which stood by the ship after
she arrived late on Thursday night with her cargo of matches, wood pulp and
paper smouldering.
(Further report of incident on page 8.)
(The Glasgow Herald, Saturday, December 3, 1960. Front page.)
GLASGOW FIRE OFFICER DIES IN SHIP HOLD
Station Officer Douglas Mearns of the Glasgow Fire Service was overcome and died
yesterday while fighting in the hold of the German cargo ship Pagensand (1282
tons) at Prince’s Dock, Govan.
With a detachment of firemen wearing breathing equipment he had gone into the
hold of the ship to deal with a smouldering fire there. They had hardly gone
down when there were cries for help.
Dockers boarded the ship to help firemen rescue their comrades. Eleven firemen
and a docker were brought up unconscious and treated at the Southern General
Hospital.
THREE CHILDREN
Station Officer Mearn’s home was at 29 Brandon Crescent, Coatbridge. He leaves a
widow and three children.
He had been in charge of a fireboat which had stood by the ship on her arrival
in Glasgow late on Thursday night with a smouldering cargo of matches, wood
pulp, and paper.
Captain Berhold Schlinder of the Pagensand said that the fire was discovered on
Tuesday when they were two days out from Gothenburg, Sweden. He radioed a warning
and changed course for the Forth.
HOLD SEALED
The hatches and all air vents were closed to seal the fire, but smoke continued
to come from the hold and the captain considered putting in at Leith or
Grangemouth. He decided, however, that he could safely make port in Glasgow.
When the ship docked on Thursday it was decided by the firemen and captain that
they would leave the hatches in place until daylight.
A squad of 21 dockers worked last night to clear the ship of her cargo while a
pump unit of Glasgow Fire Brigade and a fire boat stood by. A fire officer
said:– “The ship should be cleared by morning. The fire is completely
extinguished but we are here to make sure nothing goes wrong.”
(The Glasgow Herald, Saturday, December 3, 1960. Page 8.)
Ambulances race to dockside
FUMES HORROR
City fireman dies in ship blaze
“EVENING TIMES” REPORTER
A
Glasgow fireman died today after being carried from the hold of a burning ship
in Princes Dock.
The deck of the German ship Pagensand became a casualty clearing station after
eight firemen collapsed below.
Rescuers got seven of the men up on deck, but one was still missing – lost in
the smouldering smoke filled hold.
Down again went the rescue party – and found him.
As ambulances raced to the dockside, firemen and dockers tried to revive the
unconscious men stretched out on the deck of the Pagensand.
Most of them had recovered to some extent by the time the ambulances arrived.
But one was still in bad shape.
And was dead when the ambulances got to the Southern General Hospital.
His family
He was Station Officer Douglas Mearns, of 29 Brandon Crescent, Coatbridge – the
last man out. Station Officer Mearns was in charge of a lifeboat which had stood
by the Pagensand since early today.
Fire Brigade officers went to tell Mrs Mearns, who is a receptionist with a
Glasgow dentist. An “Evening Times” reporter who called at the house in
Coatbridge found the three Mearns children playing happily.
News of their father’s death was delayed till their mother arrived.
The Pagensand was loaded with matches and newsprint. Sulphur fumes were the
killer. Altogether 15 firemen were affected.
By 2-30 this afternoon, Deputy Firemaster Swanson said the fire was under
control. The captain of the ship estimated the damage at Ł100,000.
Treated in hospital
The firemen taken to hospital – the eight rescued from the ship’s hold and two
others – were all able to leave after treatment.
They were – David McFarlane (34), 8 Dunotter Street, Ruchazie; William Fenton
(29), of 31 Glebe Street, Renfrew; William Gray (43), Kelbourne Street, Glasgow;
Walter Hutchison (26), 478 Maryhill Road, Glasgow; James McIntyre, Central Fire
Station; Alan Mackay (29), 59 Calvay Road, Barlanark; John McKinlay (41), 28
Bowfield Terrace; Charles Murray (30), 1 ? Road, Glasgow; Andrew ?, address?,
Glasgow; John White, ? Torogay Street, Glasgow.
Full story Page 12. Pictures Page 16.
(Evening Times, Friday, December 2, 1960, Last
Extra. Front Page.)
Death strikes in blaze ship
There was no hint of death as Glasgow firemen stood on the
decks of the German ship Pagensand at Princes Dock today.
But death was waiting in the smouldering hold.
And when the firemen went down to tackle the fire, eight of them collapsed –
overcome by sulphur fumes from the burning cargo of matches and newsprint.
One of the firemen, Station Officer Douglas Mearns, aged 45, of Coatbridge , was killed.
Blast danger
As Station Officer Mearns and his colleagues watched the ship’s crew clear the
deck cargo to get at the hatch covers, they were ready for danger.
The danger of explosion.
It was feared that when the hatches were lifted there might be an explosion as
air rushed into the hold which had been sealed since Monday when the fire was
discovered at sea.
But all that happened was that smoke drifted lazily into the air.
The firemen, wearing breathing masks, then went down into the hold. In a few
minutes there were shouts for help.
The deadly drama of the Pagensand had begun.
Frantic search
Choked by the fumes, 11 firemen collapsed.
Dockers rushed to help the firemen on deck.
A relay of stretcher bearers went down to the hold. Ambulances were called.
And as the unconscious men were brought up, the deck looked more like a casualty
clearing station than a ship.
As efforts were made to revive the men on deck, a frantic hunt was going on
below for a man still missing.
He was found and brought up.
By the time the ambulances arrived the men stretched on the deck had started to
recover.
All but one – Station Officer Mearns.
And when the ambulances arrived at the Southern General Hospital, Station
Officer Mearns was dead.
Five of his rescued colleagues who returned to the dockside after hospital
treatment reported the Station Officer’s death to Firemaster Martin Chadwick,
who was in charge of the fire fighting and rescue operations.
“Like ninepins”
Firemaster Chadwick later told reporters – “They all went down like ninepins –
without warning.”
And one of the rescued men added – “Everything appeared normal for about three
minutes. Then, suddenly, we all started collapsing. It just hit us.”
Another of the rescued firemen, Bill Gray, of Kelburne Street, Glasgow, sitting
in a wheel chair at the hospital, said he remembered very little of what had
happened in the smoke filled hold.
Still dazed, blinking, and gulping air, he was unable to answer questions at
first.
After a few minutes, however, he accepted a cigarette from an ambulance driver
and tried to explain.
The fumes…
“I believe the hold had been battened down for two weeks. When we went in the
sulphur fumes got us. It all happened very quickly. I don’t know what happened
to me.”
Twelve men were taken to hospital – 11 firemen and a docker. After two hours
nine had been discharged. The docker, Robert Dayer, and Station Officer James
McIntyre were still under treatment.
Station Officer McIntyre later left the hospital by ambulance. He was taken out
in a stretcher, and was too ill to be interviewed.
By rope
Last of the casualties to be discharged was docker Dayer, aged 32, who said he
had gone into the hold twice and had collapsed the second time. “I wakened up
here in hospital.”
He added that before he was overcome he and his colleagues rescued several
firemen who were in trouble.
Back at the dockside, two dockers who went into the hold with Dayer – William
Brannigan, of 115 Stobcross Street, Glasgow; and Jimmy Robertson – spoke to
reporters.
Mr Barnnigan said they uncovered part of the hatch and went into the hold to
clear a space for the firemen to work.
Moments after the firemen went into the hold there was a concentration of fumes.
“I was staggering about myself,” said Mr Braggigan. “We had to come out, of
course, because we had no masks.”
The dockers helped out the firemen overcome in the hold. They lifted them up
some 12 feet by hand and rope.
Water was later pumped into the ship which began to list to port.
Dockers were told to go ashore and members of the crew were asked to keep back
as firemen – wearing breathing apparatus and working in short spells – organised
the unloading of the hold so that they could put out the fire.
Stormy voyage
The Pagensand’s stormy voyage across the
North Sea was described by First
Officer Karl Erler
“We saw the smoke and smelled it two days out from Gothenburg in Sweden,” he
told a reporter. “We never saw any flames. We had reached a point in the North
Sea when we were nearer Scotland than Sweden or Denmark, so it was decided to
continue on to Scotland.
“We sailed up by the Orkneys and through the Pentland Firth. The seas were very
rough and we got a lot of – I’m sorry, my English is not so good – we got a lot
of cracking.”
Captain Schlinder, master of the Pagensand, who left his ship for a conference
on shore with the owners’ agent, said that during the voyage members of the
crew, whose quarters were in the forecastle, were moved to other parts of the
ship when the plates became warm.
Sea spraying over the ship in the rough seas helped cool the plates.
The smoke coming from the forward hold was at its worst on Wednesday. It was
coming through little holes in the deck, and these were sealed with adhesive
tape.
VICTIM’S WIFE RUSHES HOME TO CHILDREN
A
Glasgow dentist’s receptionist was told by fire brigade officers today that her
fireman husband was dead.
She was Mrs Mearns, wife of 45 year old Station Officer Douglas Mearns, the
victim of today’s ship fire.
Mrs Mearns is a receptionist with dentist Mr H. McCall, Byres Road. A car rushed
her to her home at 29 Brandon Crescent, Coatbridge.
An “Evening Times” reporter who had called at the house in Coatbridge found the three Mearns children playing happily. The eldest son, Rodney
(13), off school with a cold, was looking after three year old Fergus. And 12
year old Patrica had just come home from school for lunch.
News of their father’s death was delayed
until the arrival of their mother.
Station Officer Mearns, one of the first men into the burning hold today had
been in charge of the fireboat for about 18 months.
He had many years experience in fire fighting, seven years of them in Glasgow.
Before that he was a member of Middlesbrough fire brigade.
In fighting one fire in Glasgow some time ago he received an injury to an eye.
(Evening Times, Friday, December 2, 1960, Last
Extra. Page 12.)
Death
MEARNS – On 2nd December, 1960, Douglas, beloved husband of
Rose Lenson, father of Roderick, Patricia and Francais?, and son of Mrs. J. D.
Mearns Shawlands, Glasgow – Funeral to Craigton Crematorium tomorrow (Tuesday)
at 2 p.m. friends please meet cortege at crematorium; no flowers, no mourning,
please.
(The Glasgow Herald, Monday, December 5, 1960. Page 12.)
“Standby” during unloading
FIREMEN STILL AT DEATH SHIP
EVENING TIMES REPORTER
Firemen were standing by today while cargo was unloaded from the death ship
Pagensand on which a fireman was killed by carbon monoxide fumes yesterday.
The firefloat, whose officer in charge, Douglas Mearns, died yesterday, is still
lying alongside the German vessel.
It will remain there throughout the weekend while the cargo of matches,
newsprint, and timber is unloaded.
Dockers will work on the ship tomorrow, and it may be Monday before all cargo is
taken off.
Still ill
Divisional Fire Officer James McIntyre, one of the 11 firemen overcome by fumes
and discharged from hospital after treatment, is still suffering from the after
effects of his experience.
A doctor attended him at his home during the night and today callers were told
that he was not to be disturbed.
More than once before Mr McIntyre has been affected by smoke while fighting
fires.
In addition to the firemen, one docker was overcome by fumes.
No danger
There is now no danger of fire on the ship as the sodden cargo of matches is
taken out of No. 1 hold, where the smouldering fire was discovered on Monday
when the Pagensand was two days out of Gothenburg.
But the 20 firemen who are standing by are taking no chances.
They are watching closely as the crates of matches and newsprint in No. 2 hold
are removed.
The only danger, said one officer, could arise from spilled matches being
ignited by contact with men’s boots.
First Officer Carl Erler said today that the cargo in both holds was so badly
damaged by fire, smoke, or water that it was a write-off. But the cargo in the
two aft holds was unaffected.
A full report is being prepared by the police for submission to the Procurator
Fiscal.
A fatal accident inquiry will later be held in Glasgow Sheriff Court.
How could experienced firefighters be overcome by deadly fumes while wearing
breathing apparatus?
Mr Martin Chadwick, the city’s Firemaster who retires at the end of the year,
said that Station Officer Mearns crawled between piled up cargo after going down
into the hold he slipped and dislodged his mouthpiece.
He was immediately knocked out.
(Evening Times, Final Edition, Saturday, December 3, 1960. Page 1.)