Antwerp’s fire brigade was called out in the late afternoon on Monday for a fire on the ship ‘Cdt. Fourcault’, moored in the Kattendijk dock. The cause of the fire is yet to be investigated.
The fire brigade received a report of a fire on the ship ‘Cdt. Fourcault’ at around 3pm on Monday, 23 January, and came to the scene at the Kattendijk dock with the large resources. The smoke was from a fire that had broken out in the engine room.
“It was not easy to locate the fire on the ship,” said the Antwerp fire brigade. “There was some smoke and the fire also released a lot of heat. Moreover, the space on the ship is very limited, which made it difficult for our people to work. In the end, we managed to put out the fire with foam on the third attempt.” At 4.30pm, the flames were completely extinguished.
At the time of the fire, no one was on board the ship. The exact cause is yet to be investigated.
Diving expeditions
The ‘Cdt Fourcault’ was built in 1968 at the Chantier Naval in Rupelmonde, according to the Heritage website. The vessel was named ‘Pilot boat 1’ and was used as a pilot tender until 1985. From that year until 1991, the ‘Pilot boat 1’ was used as a training ship for the Nautical College. The ship was named ‘Cdt. Fourcault’, after the captain of the Belgian training ship ‘Comte de Smet de Naeyer’, which sank in 1906.
After the merger of the State Naval College of Ostend and the Higher Naval College of Antwerp, the ship was decommissioned. The ship lay languishing in Ostend from 1992 to 2000, until it wasbought by a Dutch private individual in that year. That used the ship for diving expeditions and salvage operations, among other things.
