An alarming fire vividly illustrated in this picture postcard. The title of this card is 'Brand der Kohlenadung' or 'Coal cargo on fire.' The options were limited when this occurred. The captain and crew could decide to manually shovel it overboard or pour seawater into the hold which sometimes stimulated the fire and risked making the ship unstable. Other options when close to land included beaching the ship but, as in this case, when the fire became intense and out of control, the only option was to take to the boats unless, of course, they were burning as well! This postcard is from the Penarth Dock Collection and one of the T. S. N. Serie which came from the publishing house of Theo Stroefer in Nuremberg, Germany. I'm not sure when the card was printed. [001]