Westfield (ship)
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The Westfield was a paddle steamer that was used in New York Harbor on the Staten Island Ferry service from 1862 to 1871 and commuted between Manhattan and Staten Island . She was part of a larger group of ferries that operated for the Staten Island Railway and was an important waterway transport link within New York .
On July 30, 1871, a disaster occurred at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal in Manhattan when a boiler exploded on board the Westfield . 125 people were killed in the worst ferry accident in New York harbor.
The ferry
Since the middle of the 19th century, Staten Island has developed very quickly and has been opened up more and more. Ferries became an increasingly important connection between the individual parts of the city and the number of passengers increased steadily. One of the most important connections was the Staten Island Ferry , which connected Staten Island with Manhattan and began operating in 1817 as the Richmond Turnpike Company . The poor condition of the sometimes very old ships and the limited timetable were increasingly criticized.
With the opening of the Staten Island Railway in 1860, traffic on the line continued to increase. The landing stages of this ferry connection, which still exists today, were already at the South Ferry Terminal on Whitehall Street near Battery Park on the southern tip of Manhattan and at the Saint George Ferry Terminal on Staten Island, where there was a connection to the Staten Island Railway.
In order to be able to cope with the increased volume of traffic, new, larger ferries were commissioned. The double-ended ferries Westfield , Southfield , Northfield and Middletown , all named after cities in Richmond County, were put into service one after the other between 1862 and 1864 . The wooden paddle steamer Westfield was built in 1862 at the Jeremiah Simonson shipyard in Brooklyn and was measured at 609 GRT .
The misfortune
On Sunday, July 30, 1871, the Westfield made an unscheduled additional voyage because of the high afternoon traffic. From 1:10 p.m., 200 to 300 commuters boarded the ship in Manhattan. The command of the Westfield had Captain John Vreeland, who was assisted by the pilot James McGee.
Since it was not a scheduled crossing and no timetable had to be adhered to, Vreeland took its time to embark. Numerous passengers gathered on the bow , which pointed towards Staten Island.
The Westfield was still at the jetty when at 1.30 p.m. a violent boiler explosion tore the ship apart. The boiler and the coal bunker, which were located exactly under the bow, exploded, tore open the bow and destroyed the entire deckhouse. The chimney fell over; People and wreckage flew in all directions and, according to eyewitness reports, were thrown higher in the air than the 15-meter-high tower of the South Ferry Terminal. Dozens of people were thrown into the Hudson River and drowned. The water was full of debris and corpses.
A large crowd immediately gathered at the terminal. The police , fire brigade and paramedics were quickly on site in large numbers. All available vehicles, carriages and carts were brought in to take away the wounded. The many injured were quickly into the hospital brought Park Hospital in the Center Street, which was quickly crowded. Many of them died there. Survivors were also accommodated in the nearby Eastern Hotel.
The wreck of the Westfield was towed from its sister ship, the Northfield , and moored at the foot of East Eighth Street just three hours after the accident .
66 passengers died in the explosion and around 200 were injured, some seriously. In the following days, another 59 people died from severe burns or scalds, bringing the number of deaths to a total of 125. It is the worst accident in the history of the Staten Island Ferry to date and one of the most serious transportation accidents in New York City based on the death toll.
examination
The cause of the accident was investigated by the United States Steamboat Inspection Service (USSIS); the investigation report was available on August 16, 1871. According to this, the Westfield boiler system was last inspected on June 15, 1871, just a few weeks before the tragedy, and had passed the investigation. According to the testimony of James Braisted, the ferry inspector in charge, it was customary to build up more steam pressure in the boilers than was allowed according to the inspection certificate. Westfield's chief engineer , Henry Robinson, said he checked the boiler just five minutes before the explosion. The pressure was okay and the boiler was also supplied with sufficient cooling water. However, Robinson was illiterate and so could not read the inspection certificate. In addition, he was not licensed as an engineer. The fact that Robinson was dark-skinned resulted in openly racist statements in the New York newspapers.
Jacob H. Vanderbilt, President of the Staten Island Railway and brother of Cornelius Vanderbilt , was arrested for murder but escaped conviction.
literature
- Brian J. Cudahy. Over and Back: The History of Ferryboats in New York Harbor . Fordham University Press (1990)
Web links
- The Staten Island Ferry Westfield Blast (illustrated anniversary article )
- Detailed description of the Westfield accident based on contemporary newspaper articles and eyewitness accounts (with lists of the dead and missing) ( memento from January 24, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
- Patell and Waterman's History of New York: The Westfield Disaster ( Memento December 7, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- Report in the New York Times on July 31, 1871 (English)
- Report in the New York Times on August 6, 1871 (english)