The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1905-07-28
FAULTYBOILER EXPLODES
Awful Disaster on United States Gunboat Ben
nington. at San Diego. Cal Thirty
Nine of Her Crew Dead-Scores
of Others Are Injured


A section of the upper deck was car
ried away from stem to stern. Blood
and wreckage was distributed over the
entire ship, the after cabin and the
vicinity of the ship adjacent to the ex-
ploded boiler resembling a charnel
house. Over it all hung the great
cloud of white smoke, which drifted
slowly toward the Coronado shore.
Many Blown Overheard.
A dozen or fifteen were blown over
board by the force of the terrific ex-
plosion. Captain Wentworth, who was
looking at the Bennington when the
disaster occurred, says he saw human
bodies hurled over hundred feet up
ward. The air was black with smoke,
which enveloped the ship. When it
cleared away only few men could be,
seen on the decks, while number
were floundering in the water. A boat
was lowered from the vessels side
and most of them were picked up and
taken on board. The shock of the ex-
plosion penetrated every section of
the ship, blood and ashes being found
as far as the stern of the captains
cabin. Portions of the upper deck
were carried away and great damage
was done in all sections.
All the available launches fastened
to the wreck while most of the row.
boats along the bay were brought into
use. Most of the dead and injured
were taken ashore, where the under
takers and physicians were assembled,
the former taking charge of the dead
and the latter to minister to the needs
of the living. The bodies of many of
the men taken from the wrecked in
terror of the ship were mutilated al
most beyond recognition. The faces
of many were covered with blood and
ashes.
AS fast as the wounded could be
removed they were hurried in ambu-
lances, carriages, wagons and auto
mobiles to the hospitals. For a long
time the hot steam prevented access
to the space between decks, where
most of the dead bodies lay, and it
was not until late in the afternoon
that the last were removed from the
boiler rooms. Several bodies were
tightly wedged in by a bulkhead that
the woodwork had to be hewn away
to free them. Most of the bodies yet
unidentified have been mangled, most
beyond hope of recognition.
The boiler which exploded, it is
said, was regarded as unsafe. Com
mander Young stated that during a
recent return from Honolulu the
steam pressure was kept reduced in
that particular one. The ships, inner
works a.a a tangled mass of ma
chinery she probably will have
to be ntled in order to examine
her injuries.
Officers Story.
Lieut.. Yates, executive officer in
charge of the Bennington, at the time
of the disaster was in the aft cabin.
He rushed out, to be met by binding.
scalding cloud of steam as it swept the
vessel. Speaking of the occurrence, he
said:
Il must have remained seated in my
IL
and did not know what had happened
then rushed out and the steam, even
at the extreme part of the ship, was so
dense that could not get breath of
air until / assembled the rail. AS ran
forward l passed one of our boys
crawling along on his belly. There was
no time to attend to individual cases
there were so maryland they
seemed like an indistinct memory to
me. About 80 of the boys were on the
fore deck, all badly wounded. called
for men to man the boats, and only
about IL, including officers, responded.
All of the rest were injured or had
been driven over the side by the
scalding steam. We have no means
as yet of ascertaining the extent of the
number of injured. AS far as can be
learned a part of the furnace fell
against the boiler, which exploded i'm
mediately afterwards, and the steam
pipes were wrecked, liberating the
steam Every man in the engine room
at the time must have met death. We
cannot tell yet how great is the leak
Four bodies are still in sight in the
boiler room, under the wreckage, and
they will be secured as soon as pos
sible. Men are now at work cutting a
hole into the other engine room
through the bulkhead."