The Portland daily press., 1889-07-23
FIRE SWEPT THROUGH THE VESSEL
So Quickly That Her People Barely
Made Their Escape.
Burning Of the Bath Built Steamer
Lorenzo q. Baker.
Passengers and Crew Face to Face
with Death-Two Drowned.

the passengers, officers and crew of steam
ship Lorenzo d. Baker of Boston, from ia.
maica, loaded with bananas, consigned tc
the Boston Fruit Company and owned by
by the Standard Steam Navigation Compa.
ny, which was burned at sea. Early this
morning Capt. Anthony, boarding officer OF
the Customs service, Dr. E. E. Waite, acting
quarantine physician, Harbor Master Pit
man and reporter of the Standard boarded
steamer Charlie and were soon steaming to
the quarantine station, where the Franklin
was lying at anchor. On coming alongside
the crew of the schooner and the steamer
with the rescued passengers, among whom
were lady, were seen clustered about the
deck. When the papers had been examined
and the schooner was found to have clean
bill of health, those on the Charlie were per.
statement is as follows:
my name is Warren F. Wiley, and my
home Wellfleet, Mass, and / com manded
steamer Lorenzo d. Baker of Boston, which
was built in 1884, and had been engaged in
the fruit business between Jamaica and
Boston. Her tonnage was 966, her length
215 feet, breadth 50 feet and depth 20 feet.
She was valued at 100000 and insured for
100000. We left Port Antonio, Jamaica, on
the 10th of July with cargo of bananas for
Boston, and had six cabin passengers, Mrs.
Elizabeth Slime of Dundee, Scotland, Josiah
Dlllon OF Iowa. Lorenzo D. Baker, Jr.. Of
Wellfeet, Mass, Jeremiah O'Callaghan and
Jeremiah G. O'Callaghan of Boston. luncle
and nephew, Ernest b. Thing of Lynn,
Lawrence Jensen and Peter Saxild,
sailors who were working the passage,
and and 19 Of Of the officers and
July 15l the day of the disaster, when we
were in lat. 1915 north and Ion. 69.49 west.
AT this time fresh gale from the southwest
set in, causing the ship to roll some, but not
severely. At about bells (midnight) there
was an alarm of fire. l went out on deck
and saw that the engine room was in a blaze.
ordered the fire hose on, but the engineer
said he could not get at the pumps. Then l
ordered the fire buckets, and Immediately
alarmed the passengers and ordered the
steamers boats to be swung out. BY this
time the flames had burst through the top of
the engine room an the starboard boat was
on lire. We swung out the port boat and
lowered her to level with the fall. l had
the lady passenger placed in this boat and
ordered it to be manned. Two other passen-
gers now got into the boat, but the men had
gone forward. This operation had occupied
about ten minutes. The fire was now with
in three feet of us, and the heat to those who
stood by the boat was intense. Placing the
boats painter in the hands of sailor and
telling him to hold it fast, l ordered the first
mate to take the bow, and springing into the
stern, told the men at the falls to lower
away, thinking as soon as the boat was afoat
and detached from the tackles to return ON
board and get out the raft and small boat,
araf caf fn nd
away from the fire. But in lowering the boat
as it struck the water it Immediately cap
sized and threw us into the water.
"On coming to the surface l found the
man holding the painter had let 60 of it when
he saw the disaster, so that the boat was
hold on the keel, in a few minutes the mate
md myself succeeded in righting the boat.
In getting our company to safe positions
again we bailed the boat, took the passeng
ers in and looked around for the ship, which
had by this time drifted about half mile
The time of lowering the boat till we were
safe in it again. We put away for the
steamer, and when about half way to it we
fell in with the raft, which had eight pas
sengers on it, 1t fioated with only one end
above water. having been injured in launch
ing. We took all on board the raft, into the
boat. The wind had now increased and the
sea was running very high Some time was
with the raft, and we were
more than mile from the wreck,
when We were again started for her.
After rowing some time we picked up sailor
1oating on the gangway steps. From him
we learned that he had gone in the small
boat. and that four sailors and two firemen
were left on board the steamer, they having
got cut off from the boats by the fire. One "a
ireman) had been drowned in trying to
reach the small boat We now found to our
sorrow that the distance between us and the
burning ship was gradually increasing, but
struggled to get to the wreck. The forenoon
now was rapidly passing away, when to our
great joy we saw schooner bearing down
TO the ship. We saw her lay by and ap-
proach and take off some men and then
come. toward US. We were soon safely on
whaling schooner Franklin. Capt. Rose, of
New Bedford. We found she had taken
the the steamer. Another 'pfi fireman ai0Dsiad had
been drowned in swinging from the steamers
bowsprit to the spars to which the sailors
clung.. AT the time the steamer had burned
to within three feet of the waters edge, and
was mass of flame from stem to stern. We
soon found the small boat, and % out of 81
souls who had been on board the steamer
were saved and safe on board the schooner
Franklin.
Inc most generous treatment was ac-
corded to us by Capt. Rose and crew of the
schooner Franklin, and clothingIwas kindly
given to us all, as not one of us was fully
dressed. The best of all the rescuers had
was freely offered to us. Said Capt. Rose,
My voyage will not be up for month, but
will carry yoI into port and we imnedi-
ately started for New Bedford"
The firemen who lost their lives were Hugh
Wylie OF Liverpool, Eng, and Ralph Robin
son of Boston, Mass.
lThe steamer Lorenzo ID. Baker was built
by Goss IL Sawyer of Bath, Me-, in 1884, ex-
pressly for the fruit trade between Jamaica
and Boston. She is sister ship to the
steamer Jesse Ii. Freeman, which was built
at Bath in 1888 by the same builders, but has
since been sold on the Pacific coast, where
she is now employed as tender to the Arc
tic whaling fleet. A popularity of the two
steamers was that their masts were made to
answer the purpose of smokestacks; the
mizzenmast of the Freeman being used for
that purpose, while the smoke from the fires
from the Baker issued from the mainmast
The mainmast has since been removed from
the Baker, however, and a smokestack put
1t its place. The managing owner of the
Baker is Mr.. Jesse III. Freeman, Massachu-
sets inspector-general of fish, and who Is
also the Boston manager of the Boston Fruit
Company. The steamer, it is believed, had
af o1o n nnnl