Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-07-31
B L 0 w N TO PIECE s
Ii 4
THE TUG TEMPLAR DESTROYED BY
A BOILER EXPLOSION,
Two Killed and Tire 1n'ured-Ah
Were From Alexandria-The
Captains Statement.

IL
A boiler explosion blew the tug Templar
into kindling wood. killed two and injured
three persons off the foot of Chesapeake
street, Canton Hollow, suburb of Balti-
more at $40 o'clock pm. yesterday. The
list of casualties is as follows:
Killed-Mate jeremiah Moore, married.
aged fifty-six years. of Alexandria, Va;
Engineer Charles e Wood, married, aged
thrty-four years, of Alexandria, Va.
Injured-Captain Oliver Crowder, body
and limbs burned and leg sprained; Fire
man William Cannon, both legs burned,
arms and body scalded: Herbert Wood, son
OF Engineer Wood. left arm broken: Fire
man Thomas Wigus and Steward Matthew
Williams blown overheard, but escaped
uninJured All hands lived in Alexandria.
The Iemplar was wooden boat, seventy
six feet long. and hailed from Alexandria.
She was engaged in Chesapeake bay tow
ing. Yesterday afternoon she picked up
the three-masted schooner Nellie T. Morse
on Sandy Point and towed her to port.
When off the foot of Chesapeake street,
and on the Canton Hollow anchorage
grounds, the tug slowed up to place the
schooner alongside the Joyce Coal Com
pany's pier. Without a moments warning
the vessel blew up, and the survivors soon
after found themselves precipitated over
board with terrific force They came to
the surface through several acres of debris.
The mate and engineer were not seen, and
were either blown to pieces or drowned.
me Wreckage was only sufficient to float
one man, the others being rescued ny
ropes or lifeboatS.
Capt. CrOwder's Statement.
Capt. Crowder. who said he could assign
no cause tor the disaster, states: We had
been towing the Morse astern. but dropped
the line in Canton Hollow to go alongside
the schooner to better facilitate the docking
of the vessel. The mate was at the wheel
and 1 stood at the signal bell on the after
end of the deck house. We were going
alongside the schooner. and the first thing
l KNEW had no warning and heard no
noise-l was being elevated into the air. l
don't know how high l ascended, but it
must have been about thirty or forty feet
but l landed in the water with such force
that went down to the bottom, about
twenty-five feet, and came up covered with
harbor mud. l injured myself by striking
Wreckage which filled the surface and
body of water. The air was full of steam.
l managed to grab hawser hanging over
the side of the schooner and sang out to
those on the vessels anchored nearby to
save the rest of the crew. | do not know
what could have caused the explosion I'M
less there was too little water in the boiler.
lost Sloo | had In a purse
The Hl-Fated Craft.
The boiler in the Templar had been in the
i'4iA4iiioit 'uS SiilCdSO, out was taken out
of the Chicago about five years ago and
placed in the Templar.r Fireman Wilgus
stated that it leaked slightly. He also
stated that the fires. were nearly dead, as
the tug was about to tie, up and clean out
the fire boxes. He believes that there was
Suttclent water in the boiler, otherwise the
engineer would have known it. The Tenn
par was putt at Wilmington. Del. in 1881.
she was az feet long, IS feet beam s feet
depth of hold and registered 81 gross tons
She belonged to Charles Grant of Alexan-
dria, where all the crew lived and in which
city are a widow and two children of the
mate and widow and three children of
the engineer. The schooner Morse had dis
charged cargo of ice from Maine at
Washington, and was bound to Baltimore
to load coal.
What n Local Steamboat Man Says
Apropos Of the disaster to the tug Tenn
plar. local steamboat man said today to
Star reporter:
Captain Crowder, deserved]y popular
officer. certainly was in error when he
stated that he could assign no cause for
the disaster. He must know very well
that when these old boilers are being forced
and are using all the steam they are max
ing that the moment the use of the steam
is diminished its accumulation increases at
a very rapid rate. When the boilers are
worked to the limit and the steam being
used as fast as made the danger of ex-
plosion Is lessened; but the moment the
use of the steam is diminished by slowing
up or stopping the danger point Is reached
In this connection | wish to refer to the
dangerous custom that the same boats in
dulge in on their Sunday evening trips up
the river. These boats are old, and their
equipment Is ancient and worn, well cal
culated to produce disaster under just
such circumstances as overlook the tug
Templar. l a passenger on the up
trip one boat on Sunday evening the
10Th instant, and became quite nervous
realizing l did the awful danger in
which these two captains were placing
their passengers. Both boats were loaded
to the guards and should accident or
panic have seized the passengers the
loss of life would have been appalling.
The two boats ran SO close together
that a line could have been tossed from
one to the other, and this relative posi-
ton maintained for about twelve
miles, and so close at times, in fact that
they frequently were, drawn together by
each others suction. What would have
been the result If at such moment a
link should have parted in the rudder chain
and brought the two boats together can
only be conjectured.
"A head-on railway collision would be
nowhere compared to 1t. l was located on
the boat near one of the bell pulls and was
tempted to pull stop bell but the danger
of blowing all skyward by sudden
stOppage of the use of the steam and
throwing the excessive pressure back
the boilers deferred me- l tried to find the
captain to suggest the possibility of his
being called to the custom house to an
swer for his actions, but he not in
evidence / hope the officials whose duty
it is to secure safety to life on these COM
mon carriers will exercise the authority
vested in them, that it may be safe for
pleasure seekers as the laws contemplate
and especially take note of and prohibit
these old boats from racing and endan-
gering the lives or at least wrecking the
nerves of their passengers.
coOD CAVALRY HORSES SCARCE.