The Awful Conflagration of the Steamboat Lexington (1840)

in the early 1800s the united states was booming it was hard to keep up with the demand for rapid transportation as the industrial revolution was in full swing in 1807 robert fulton proved that steam travel by sea was indeed viable and in the following decades passenger steamboats sprawled out from new york city in all directions one new yorker in particular was building his fortune in these early steamboats a man named cornelius vanderbilt as an early laborer he worked for the gibbon ferry between new york and new jersey eventually climbing the ladder until he ran the whole operation he opened additional lines up the hudson out to staten island through long island sound eventually earning vanderbilt the nickname the commodore now the commodore would quickly become the richest man in the united states and well his tastes reflected that his ships not only had to be the safest and fastest but also the most opulent in their trade and thus the steamboat lexington was born she was commissioned in 1834 and designed in a rather unique method she wasn't drawn out in plans like most other ships a model of her was made and cornelius himself reviewed this model suggesting changes as they went along the model was then used as the guide for the real ship surprisingly this worked the ship itself was built by bishop and simonson shipyards in manhattan and her engine was made in the west point foundry up the hudson river interestingly her well-designed engine was built by the same man who built the condenser for robert fulton's ss north river 30 years later he's still in the business and working with vanderbilt the lexington was 207 feet long 496 tons and featured teak paneling fully furnished interiors in both a sitting and dining saloon for her passengers she was sleek and elegant inside and out her boilers were placed in the holes below the water line too in order to hide them from view and this was pretty uncommon at the time as a safety precaution a casing was built between the funnel and the boilers the lexington being one of the first ships to have this records aren't clear as to how many lifeboats she carried some sources say three others say four at least one of the boats was up forward and at least two were aft the city of providence rhode island was rapidly expanding its manufacturing and was connected to new york city by an 18-hour steamboat voyage when the lexington made that trip in april 1835 she did it in 12 hours averaging 20 miles per hour people were calling her the fastest ship in the world whether that was true or not but one thing's for certain in the entire career of the lexington she was never beat tickets aboard the lexington cost three dollars round trip she sailed the route between manhattan and providence for two years until a railroad was built out from the city of boston down to stonington connecticut and it was decided that that was a better terminus for the lexington and she switched to that route in 1837 by that year the lexington was turning a substantial profit and within months vanderbilt was in talks with rivals about selling the lexington and by the end of 1838 the new jersey steamship navigation and transportation company bought the lexington for 60 thousand dollars three times what it had initially cost to build her her new owners continued to run her for over a year along the same route keeping on jacob vanderbilt cornelius brother as the ship's captain sometime in 1839 her operators decided to stop burning wood in the ship's boilers and start burning coal which burned significantly hotter and allowed the ship to travel at much greater speeds however they failed to take all the necessary precautions in converting the boilers from wood to coal burning and handling all of that additional heat although top of the line and well designed in 1835 with safety as one of the chief concerns five years of service aged her fast in fact at the end of 1839 inspectors condemned her and deemed her to be unseaworthy at least according to the tioga eagle newspaper however knowing that she was still a serious money maker and a very speedy vessel her operators continued her service captain vanderbilt fell ill for most of the month between january 1840 and was replaced by captain george childs who had the experience of a long career at sea he continued sailing on the route between stonington and manhattan and on friday january the 10th while making a late night return to manhattan the vessel caught fire below decks in panic ensued the coal burning in the boilers initially designed to burn wood had caused parts of the ship to overheat now history skips a few pages here but somehow the fire is extinguished and the lexington arrives at her pier with no casualties but over a hundred very shaken up passengers over the weekend the ship was patched up repainted and i'm sure a very shoddy inspection was done by her operators but come monday january 13th the lexington was being prepared for another outbound voyage 150 bales of cotton were stowed down in the hold for a mill in rhode island and 143 souls boarded the stately yet frail vessel departing manhattan at 4 pm the lexington steamed up the east river and out into long island sound by 7 30 that evening she was four miles north of eaton's neck her first mate who was on duty in the main saloon observed that the teak casing around her funnel uptake was hot glowing and smoldering unbeknownst to the crew on the upper decks the engineers below were actually already evacuating from the lower level the same overheating boiler mishap that caused the fire three days prior had struck again and this time ignited the cotton bales that were stored within the very same hold as the boilers and soon the engineering spaces of the ship had become a fiery inferno because the engineers had already abandoned their post it was impossible to shut off the engines and so the burning lexington steamed forward rapidly losing control the first mate went down below to see what was the source of the flames and then returned to the saloon to lead a bucket brigade against the spreading fire his initial inspection below had actually wasted precious time and now the fire was spreading out of control their bucket brigade efforts were fruitless and only then did they decide to activate the ship's fire hoses and pumps another sea captain a captain chester hilliard of the steamboat mississippi was on board the lexington as a passenger and later he noted just how inadequate the lexington's fire extinguishing system was the passengers were ushered out of the cabin and onto the deck while the crew remained behind to fight the fires the ship's pilot a man named steven manchester turned the ship 90 degrees to starboard and pointed her straight towards the nearest land shortly after captain child stepped to the helm to help maintain the ship's course as she began to drift but the ship was unresponsive the ship's tiller ropes had burned and severed by this time 15 minutes after the first sign of danger it was clear that the lexington was doomed and her lifeboats were prepared starting with the forward one it was fully loaded and lowered away slapped into the water and tangled in its falls and was pulled right into the still spinning paddle wheel all in that lifeboat were killed now it was said that captain child either suffocated in the wheelhouse or fell into that first lifeboat and was killed along with all of its other occupants moving aft and dodging the flames which now nearly spanned the full width of the ship the crew began loading the afterlife boats filled fully these boats also tangled in their falls once they hit the water as the ship steamed forward as a sort of blazing meteor and they were capsized the flames of the lexington were seen on land and sailors scrambled to their boats to assist survivors but ice in the harbors blocked most vessels from leaving in a timely manner one sloop in particular called the merchant did manage to make a significant headway toward the foundering ship but grounded on a sand bar another sloop under the command of a captain william terrell saw the flames of the lexington and was close enough to help but ignored them not wanting to miss the high tide at this point captain child was dead the lexington had lost all control and yet still steamed forward at nearly full speed and all of her lifeboats were destroyed it seems from the very few surviving accounts that captain hilliard at this point stepped up and actually led the crew on what to do next now remember up until this point he was just a passenger he directed sailors to begin grabbing hay bales and throwing them into the sea along with any other crates or furniture that would float meanwhile over two dozen passengers had found lifebelts and leapt into the icy waters after steaming about two miles towards the shore the ship's engine failed and stopped the lexington which had made good headway towards beaching itself now became dead in the water captain hilliard leapt over the railing and into the sea along with a fireman named cox who had been assisting him throughout the disaster they swam to the last hay bale that they threw over and held on for dear life as the drifting ball of fire that was the lexington slowly sank into the sea around 3 am fireman cox died shortly after of exposure the sloop that grounded on its way out finally was freed with the rising tide and made it to the wreck site around 11am long after the lexington had vanished they picked up only three survivors captain hilliard the ship's pilot steven manchester and a fireman named charles smith a fourth survivor the ship's second mate had actually hollowed out one of the hay bales and rode in it for 43 hours until washing ashore 50 miles away the new jersey steamship and navigation company was sued and re-sued fined and refined after the disaster but managed to survive and continue operations until 1865 even expanding and buying out competing companies along the way in the wake of the disaster the courts required better fire extinguishing equipment to be installed on all steamboats as well as metal rods to be included in ships tiller systems however beyond the written inquiry transcript i can't find any source that says if these requirements actually went into effect the ship was carrying a rather large sum of silver which led to a salvage expedition in 1842 the ship was found in 130 feet of water and raised by chain which was remarkable for the time period now some silver was salvaged right on the spot but very quickly the ship broke into three pieces and sank again only to be found once more in 1983 in an expedition supervised by clive kessler another interesting footnote we're all familiar with courier and ives prince they covered nearly every major disaster of the later 1800s and depicted so many peacetime scenes of american history nathaniel courier of courier knives was a small time illustrator until his lithograph that he titled the awful conflagration of the steamboat lexington became such a hit in the aftermath of this sinking and he was given a weekly commission in the new york sun the wreck of the steamboat lexington in 1840 remains the worst steamship disaster in the history of long island sound with all but four of the 143 men women and children on board perishing once again their deaths as well as the ship that carried them are almost completely forgotten to history thank you so much for taking the time to watch this video please take another moment and subscribe to this channel and turn on post notifications as well as leave a like and share this video also a huge special thanks to my friend liam sharp for suggesting this topic and helping find so much rare material [Music] you

Channel: Part-Time Explorer

Views: 262,671

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Id: Ao8Wz-MsFq0

Length: 13min 6sec (786 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 08 2022