Larchmont (ship)
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The Larchmont was a passenger ship of the US shipping company Joy Steamship Line, which transported passengers and cargo between Providence in the US state of Rhode Island and New York between 1885 and 1907 . On February 11, 1907, the paddle steamer collided with the sailing ship Harry Knowlton off the island of Block Island on the coast of Rhode Island and went down within a few minutes. 140 passengers and crew members were killed. Only 17 people survived, including two women. The sinking of the Larchmont was Rhode Island's worst shipping disaster of the 20th century.
The ship
The Larchmont was a wooden paddle steamer . The ship was built in 1885 at a construction yard in Bath , Maine, for the International Steamship Line. It was launched under the name Cumberland .
After a collision in Boston Harbor , the ship was abandoned and bought in 1902 by the Joy Steamship Line (often just called Joy Line ), for which it shuttled between Providence and New York. It operated this route together with the Tremont , which burned down in 1904. The 1,600 GRT Larchmont had three decks, two masts and a chimney. Her hull was painted white, the chimney black. Several accidents occurred during the ship's service life: between 1902 and 1907 there were two fires, one stranding and one collision. The Larchmont was equipped with eight lifeboats and four life rafts , but had no watertight compartments.
Downfall
On Monday, February 11, 1907, at around 7 p.m., the Larchmont departed from South Water Pier in Providence with 52 crew members and over 100 passengers for another crossing to New York. She was already half an hour late. The command was the 27-year-old Captain George W. McVay, who had only been the skipper for 18 months. After the ship to Lighthouse Point Judith Light on the west side of the entrance to Narragansett Bay had happened, Captain McVay went to bed. He left the responsibility for the Larchmont to the quartermaster James E. Staples at the helm and the pilot John L. Anson. As the ship steamed west through Rhode Island Sound towards Fishers Island in Narragansett Bay, there were violent winds of 40 to 50 miles per hour . During the journey the weather continued to deteriorate, the sea became rougher, snow gusts set in and visibility became increasingly limited. Ice formed on deck as the temperatures had fallen below freezing point.
A group of Salvation Army women sang songs. They were preparing for a concert in New York. North Attleborough , 17-year-old Millard Franklin , who called himself "Young Houdini ", performed magic tricks to entertain the passengers . About three miles from the Watch Hill Lighthouse, the helmsman noticed Anson Lights off the Larchmont's bow . It was the much smaller three-masted schooner Harry Knowlton , en route from South Amboy to Boston with a cargo of coal under the command of Captain Frank T. Haley . Since the two ships were very close, Anson turned to port to avoid a collision. In addition, he let the ship's horn sound. The Harry Knowlton seemed to be changing course at the same time.
At 10:45 p.m. on the evening of February 11, the Harry Knowlton collided with the Larchmont off Block Island . The bow of the sailor rammed the port side of the steamer just in front of the paddle wheel and penetrated almost to the center of the ship. The Harry Knowlton was only 317 GRT large and only 39 m long, but had 400 tons of coal on board. There was a severe shock that cracked glass and metal everywhere. The Harry Knowlton lost her bowsprit and jib boom . She was badly damaged and was beginning to sink, but her crew of six managed to land her at Weekapaug and take a lifeboat to reach the Quonochontaug rescue station.
Most of the Larchmont's passengers were already in bed and woke up to the din. Panic broke out. The Larchmont got heavy list to port and took a lot of water. Shortly afterwards the lights went out, the steam boilers exploded and so much steam escaped from the boiler rooms and the broken steam pipes that the decks were wrapped in thick clouds. When Captain McVay heard the collision, he immediately went to the navigating bridge and ordered the lifeboats to be lowered into the water. Many passengers drowned in their cabins because they did not make it on deck in time, dozens of others froze to death in the icy water or in the lifeboats. Most only wore pajamas. Very few people wore life jackets .
10 to 15 minutes after the collision, the Larchmont sank and took most of its passengers and crew with it. Only about 50 people made it into the boats in the short time, but most of them died successively from shock , hypothermia, and exhaustion . Big waves hit the lifeboats again and again. In one of the boats, a man committed suicide by cutting his own throat. 19 people made it ashore alive, two of whom died shortly afterwards.
Aftermath
Since the only available passenger list was in the paymaster's safe and had sunk with the ship, there was much speculation about the number of passengers. The Joy Steamship Line told the press that there were at least 157 people on board, 52 of whom were crew members. As there were only 17 survivors, at least 140 people were consequently killed. In some newspaper reports, the numbers also vary between 183 and 200. The surviving helmsman James Staples claimed that 352 people were killed. However, that many people were most likely not on board. Of the total of 77 recovered bodies, only 38 were identified. They were all frozen stiff and covered in ice.
An investigative commission of the Steamboat Inspection Service blamed the helmsman John Anson for the accident, as he had steered the Larchmont to port and thus brought it into the course of Harry Knowlton . Anson had gone down with the ship. Captain McVay was badly attacked for leaving the ship in the first lifeboat and because there were only eight people, all of the crew, on it. Several survivors reported that the passengers were left to their own devices and that the boats were almost entirely composed of crew members. Joy Line President Frank M. Dunbaugh Sen. denied these statements and defended the team. Captain George McVay survived the sinking. He was standing on the bridge of the excursion liner Mackinac on August 18, 1925 , when its boiler exploded off Rhode Island, killing 55 people.
The wreck the Larchmont is three miles from Watch Hill in about 40 meters depth in position 41 ° 16 '0 " N , 71 ° 49' 18" W .
Web links
- Tabular overview of facts and figures about the Larchmont
- Summary of contemporary articles from the Washington Post , February 1907 (including eyewitness accounts and lists of those rescued and missing)
- Five postcards with motifs from the Larchmont
- PROBABLY 150 LOST IN WRECK ( New York Times report of February 13, 1907)
- CAPTAIN'S BOAT FIRST IN WATER ( New York Times report of February 14, 1907)
- DID ALL I COULD FOR OTHERS ( New York Times report , February 17, 1907)