In article t,
Tank Fixer writes:
In article ,
on 20 Jun 2004 03:48:41 GMT,
So coal caught fire in a very politically correct location and time.

No, coal bunker fires were known in the period to burn for weeks before
flairing up.

Indeed they were - one of the factors on the catastrophic nature of
teh loss of the Lusitania was an ongoing bunker fire that had been
going for about half the voyage - when teh torpedos hit, they stirred
up the coal dust in the bunkers. Aerosol-ed coal dust is very
explosive.

Warships were blowing up all over the World, in just abpot all navies
at that time. Coal fires aren't great seeping conflagrations -
without some sort of draught, they're slichtly smouldering piles of
very hot rocks. Ammunition handling wasn't particularly rigorous,
either.

--
Pete Stickney
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
bad measures. -- Daniel Webster