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Crosby Yacht Yard Fire
Updated 01/03/2004
Photos by Britton Crosby
The Aluminum shed (Shed 4) was a
twisted carcass of steel. Fiberglass yachts were a melted, unrecognizable
mess. Other boats were simply
no longer.
The aluminum shed was built in the
early 1960sand was approximately 150' x 50' is size.
The rear of Shed 4 and the
remains of the older 100' x 50' Shed 2.
The south side of Shed 4 was
the immediately exposure of the original fire building. The distance
between the
three buildings only a matter
of a few feet.
Shed 3, the 280' x 80' wooden shed
where the fire is believed to have started was completely destroyed. The
adjacent boats and shed at Oyster
Harbors Marine is on the left.
Looking through what was the overhead
door on side 1 of the big shed 3 through the destruction. Oyster
harbors Marine recently built the two
wooden (un-sprinklered) storage sheds in the background on Little Island.
There ws a district fear during the
fire that the massive brands flying towards those sheds would cause the
fire to spread to Little Island.
Fortunately, it did not.
The left side (Side 2) of the
original fire building was a 150' x 30' storage shed and a 100' row of rack
storage
belonging to Oyster Harbors Marine
were also destroyed.
Looking from the water side at the
twisted remains of Shed 4.
Only a few heavy timber posts from
the interior of Shed 3 remain as evidence of the huge structure that once
stood here for over 75 years.
The Historic Osterville water front
has changed forever. The loss of historic wooden yachts and memories
are
irreplaceable. The
cause and final dollar loss are yet to be determined, but estimates in the
multiple millions
may put this at the level of one of
the largest losses in the state.
The view from above 10 days later.
Oyster Harbors Marine had already cleared the burned shed and boats
on side 2. The smoothed area in
shed 3 reflects the area cleared during the fire investigation.
The yacht basin showing the proximity of the Little Island sheds to the main
fire.
Crosby
Yacht's main shed on the left. Nauticus Marine is located in the center
with the green lawn. The West
Bay town dock (next to
Nauticus) was used by ET296 to draft.
The potential residential exposures
surrounding the complex were fortunately never endangered.