Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1874-11-05
The Steamboat Explosion on the De-
trOit River.

The propeller Brooklyn, Capt. Harvey
Brown, of the Northern Transportation
Companys line, bound from Ogdensburg
to Chicago, exploded her boiler yester-
day afternoon, about two o'clock, just
after passing Fighting Island completely
SCATTERING the vessel and causing the
death of thirteen persons on board, be-
sides manning and wounding eleven
others. She sunk in about two or three
minutes in twenty-five or thirty feet of
water, only about six or eight inches of
her pilothouse remaining out of water,
to which nine persons chung for safety,
and were soon released by the propeller
Cuba, while eight others who were
thrown into the water were picked up by
fishing yawls from the shore. All but
six were injured, and were brought to the
city and taken to the Marine, Harper and
St. Mary's Hospitals.
The Captain states that he was on deck
at the time, and that several men were
within distance of few feet from him.
At the first shock of the explosion he says
it felt as though the boat had struck a
rock He was thrown to the deck and
partly stunned. Hejumped up as soon
as he could, and began to realize the fact
of the explosion. He saw the boat sinking
rapidly at the center, and jumped into
the rigging and hauled out the cabin boy,
Albert Gibbons, from a cabin window,
He also assisted the first mate, Daniel
Ryder, who had an arm broken by being
struck with flying missile, to the top OF
the pilot-house, to which place all on
deck fastened, as the boat was complete
ly under water in less than five minutes.
There were nine persons on the pilot
house and they remained there about fif-
teen minutes, until released by the pro-
peller Cuba, when he came with them to
this city. He subsequently started back
at four O'clock with the tug Oswego to
look after the remains OF the wrecked
vessel and also to see if he could find
any of the bodies of the lost or pick up
any who were supposed to be left on
the island. He, however, only found the
body of woman, which was tied to the
| island, and, Coroner having been sent
| for to hold an inquest, he determined to
| leave the body there. The Captain said
the BROOKLYN was going at a rate of
speed of about ten miles an hour, which
| is not an unusual speed for the boat, and
that he was not racing.
| Our reporter had a conversation with
Fred. w. Stevens, Riley Franklin and
John Mullane, passengers of the boat.
! They say that the steamer Cuba was
several hundred yards ahead of the boat,
and both were going at apparently the
same speed. Two of the men heard
Capt. Boardman, who was on the deck,
say to Capt. Brown, of the Brooklyn,
that the Cuba would keep ahead, and
Capt Brown replied: "She will read
| the name of our boat on our stern before
we reach Detroit"
Missing and supposed lost Mrs. Peter
| Babbin and child, four years old, of Og-
| densburg, passengers; one lady pas
senger, name unknown, from Cleveland;
| two Frenchmen, passengers, names un-
known, travelling from Ogdensburg to St.
| Louis; John Morley, first cook, Ogdens-
burg; second cook, name unknown,
shipped at Oswego; James Romaine,
| wheelman, Cape Vincent, N. Y; William
| billiard, second engineer, Ogdensburg;
/ Michael Huck and James Phillips, fire.
men; Mike Hanley, deck hand; Samuel
Anderson, porter, Rensselaer, Falls, N.
| Y. Total, thirteen.
The propeller Brooklyn was built at
| Cleveland in 1865, and was therefore
eight years old. She was considered a
! first-class vessel, of good speed, and in
| one of her trips has, 1t is stated, averaged
between ten and twelve miles per hour
! from port to port. She was valued at
$45, 600 and was insured for half that
| amount. She had on board full cargo
of general merchandise, sixty tons of IT
being for this city, and the balance for
Milwaukee and Chicago.-DetroH Irfo-
! u'se, Oct. 20.