On March 11, 1914, fire destroyed the training ship Wellesley on the River Tyne at North Shields.
The old wooden warship was moored on the river as an industrial training school for wayward boys.
The fire broke out in the vessel's drying room and spread rapidly, according to the Tyne and Wear Archives and Museum.
It was the boys who battled the flames on the deck, assisted by Tyne Commissioners fire boats.
The smoke "was yellowy with this tar content in it," Edward Joseph Hatfield, one of the boys, recalled as an adult. "We had to go to port every so often and take a breather and then come back.
"There was no bother at all. We weren't panic stricken.
"In fact I think most of us were glad she was burning."
