[editor-surveyor]

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Gutted the ship???

Where do you get that?
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[GingisK]

I threw that in to stir the pot a little.

The coal locker that was hot did not heat the entire length of hull that was cut. Furthermore, the ice cold water would have kept the temperature of the hull pretty low.

As pointed in numerous postings, the crew knew about that fire and kept it sprayed down with water.