Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1900-07-31
"A TERRIBLE DISASTER.

Boiler--Engineer harles Wood and
Mate Jerome Moore Killed--Oth-
ers Injured.
Considerable sorrow was occssioned
in Alexandria last night by message
from Baltimore which announced that
the tugboat Templar had been blown
up and that Engineer Charles Wood
and Mate Jerome Moore had lost
their lives and others employed on the
boat were more or less injured. 1t was
impossible to obtain all the particulars
connected with the sad accident, and
the relatives and friends of those
known to be aboard of the ill.fsted
tugbost passed through q terrible or
| deal until the full details OF the disaster
were ascertained this mOrning.
rhe explosion occurred at the foot OF
Chesapeake street, Canton Hollow. at
$40 o'clock p. m. yesterday. The tug
was blown into kidding wood. Mate
Moore and Eogineer Wood were in
staatly killed, and Captain Oliver
! Crowder, Fireman Wm. Cannon and
Herbert Wood, the 14-yesr old son OF
| Eogineer Wood, injured. Fireman
Thomas Wileus and Steward Matthew
Williams were blown overheard, but
csc ped uDinjured. All lived 10 this
| city.
lac Templar was wooden boat,
seventy-six feet long, and hailed from
this port Toe tugs boiler was an old
one, taken from the Baltimore tug Chi.
cage. She was engaged in Chesapeake
bay towing. Yesterday afternoon she
| picked up the three-masted schooner
Mile T. Morse, of Sandy Point, and
owed her to Baltimore. When of the
foot OF Chesapeake street, and on the
| Canton Hollow anchorage grounds, the
| ,ug slowed up to place the schooner
alongside of the Joyce Coal Company's
| pier. Without moments warning the
tug blew up, and oil on board were hurl-
| ed overheard with terrific force. They
came to the surface through several
| acres of debris. The mate and engi-
neer were not seen, and were either
clown to pieces or drowned. The
| gre3kage was only sufficient to float
one man, the others being rescued by
ropes or life boats. The wreckage COW
cred an area OF an ordinary city block.
and none Of it was over few feet In
length. TIE atmosphere was full of
steam, which hung like fog. The
river was literally peppered with pieces
OF wood, oil cans, clothing and bedding,
ard full OF oil.
Captain Crowder states: "We had
been towing the Morse ssterD, but
dropped the line IN Canton Hollow to
| go alongside the schooner to better ia.
CT i ate the docking of the vessel. The
| mate was at the wheel. and l stood at
the signal bell on the after end OF the
deckhouse We were going alongside
t1e schooner, and the first thing |
knsW-I had no warning and heard no
ncise--I was being elevated into the air.
| Il In'l know how high | assembled, but
it must have been about thirty or forty
fest, but | landed in the water with
81, h force that went down to the bot
tom, about % feet, and came up covered
WI harbor mud. Iiojured myself by |
striking wrecksge, which filled the sur |
face and body of waller. The air Was |
full of steam. / managed to grab a |
hawser hanging over the side Of the |
schooner, and sang out to those oil the |
vessels anchored nearby to save the |
re- of the crew. | do not know what |
could have caused the explosion, un-
les4 there was too little water in the |
boiler. / lost 800 bad in purse"
Matthew Williams, the steward who |
escaped unlnjured stated: 81 was go
ing 10 my room to dress, and as | pass
ed be eDgne-room door | saw engineer |
Wood at the throttle answering the bell |
signals given by the captain from the
str end of the deckhouse. heard no |
moi g, but the next thing | knew | was |
being driven through the water toward |
thu bottom OF the hsrbor by force |
could not resist, and / am a good swim. |
mer. was an unusually long time in |
struggling TO the surface, and once |
thought that | had been caught and |
WIS being chopped up by the propeller |
Of The tug. Instead, was being hit by |
Fl Jog debris uDde- the water. saw
the boy Herbert c'ingiDg to piece of
wre cksge thirty feet away. He was
crying for his father, engineer Wood. ]
swan to him, and carried him and my
sci TO line hanging from the schooner
Morse"
Fireman Thomas Wilgus stated: 81
was standing on deck at the open bits
making turn in hawser There was
no warning of the explosion. felt
myself being forced downward toward
the deck, aud at first thought one of
the crew was skylarking and showing
me down. The next thing | knew |
was overheard, enveloped 10 cloud OF
steam. When the steam cleared away
our tug had vanished as il by magic.
The river was strewn with bits of
wreckage. | swan to q piece OF the
deck house, 8 by feet square, and
stood upon il. 1t seemed TO he the
largest piece of the tug ahoat. l was
the only one of the crew out Of the
Sa,er when the atmosphere cleared"
Immediately after the explosion a
boats crew put out from the revenue
service steamer Alonquin, which was
anchored in the stream, and hurried to
the scene Of the wreck. They picked
up Wilgus from the piece OF the cabin,
rescued Williams and the fourteen year
old boy Wood. Fireman Cannon and
Captain Crowder, who were clinging to
lines hanging from the side of the
Morse. Later they we're
taken aboard the coast survey steamer
Bsche for medical attendance by DIR.
The men we're also supplied
with dry clothing. The survivors were
sent ashore in launch, and the cap
tai D.. Fireman Cannon and the boy
Wood were sent to Johns Hopkin,
Hospital.
u siatad ahova the hnilar In the