Strange Times 140: The Burning Oil
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Today we have a single story of smoke on the water and, quite possibly, fire in the sky. Tow your wreckage to the mud flats on…
May 20, 1921
One year after the killings in Matewan, West Virginia, striking miners are suspected of destroying $50,000 of coal company property with dynamite and attempting to assassinate a colliery superintendent.
Michael Llewellyn Davies, adopted son of Peter Pan creator Sir James Barrie, is one of two Oxford undergraduates to drown while swimming in the Thames.
The Weather: Fair and warmer today; Saturday, fair; moderate to fresh south and southeast winds.
So much wonderful stuff in this story, from the appearance of an assistant fire chief named Smoky Joe to the final paragraph, which provides a eulogy for the burned ship so simple, it’s almost heartbreaking. Oh, and you have to love the utterly baffling headline. If you’re considering going into the shipping business, let this be a lesson to you. Don’t screw with your employees, don’t hire scabs, and invest in proper fire protection!
The Panhandle State, a 10,500-ton oil-burning steamship owned by the United States Shipping Board and under charter to the United States Mail Steamship Company, caught fire last night at Pier 7, at the foot of Rector Street, and was towed out and beached on the mud flats off Liberty Island, less than twenty-four hours after her union crew had been replaced by a crew of strike-breakers.
The cause of the fire was definitely established as due to a leak in an oil tank, located amidships above the engine room, according to Assistant Fire Chief “Smoky Joe” Martin, a seam in the heavy iron tank had sprung for a distance of a foot or more, forming an aperture an inch and a half long and half an inch wide through which oil was pouring to seep down into the bilge and add fresh fuel to the fire.
No concrete evidence could be obtained last night that this leak in the oil tank was not due entirely to accident, but the talk among the members of the crew and the employees of the dock was that some strike sympathizer had probably enrolled as a member of the strike-breaking crew and had made the hole in the tank that sent the vessel to destruction. Charges of sabotage have already been made against the strikers by officials of the American Steamship Owners’ Association, and one instance was cited where there was an attempt to set fire to a ship. These charges were denied by the union leaders here.
Early this morning the blaze persisted in the hold of the ship and the firemen were waging a difficult battle because of the danger of flooding the burning oil in the hold up to the level of the superstructure if they used too much water.
F.R. Mayer, President of the steamship company said at 3:30 this morning that, except for the engine compartment and the deepest hold, the ship thus far had not been seriously damaged. Some damage was done to the social hall by the firemen, necessarily, in finding channels to direct their streams below. Mr. Mayer thought the ship could be salvaged without very great loss provided the blaze was conquered before it had spread beyond the engine compartment.
All of Crew on Strike
The Panhandle State arrived here on Monday from Boulogne, France, with passengers, mail and a small general cargo, and docked at Pier 74, Hudson River, at the foot of West Thirty-fourth Street. On Tuesday part of her crew quit, and the rest left on Wednesday and yesterday, leaving besides the deck officers only the chief engineer and his assistant, who volunteered to remain to care for the engines.
Yesterday morning all of the old crew had been replaced by a new crew of 300 strikebreakers, and the vessel was transferred from Pier 74 to Pier 7. Practically no cargo had been placed on board, but the work of filling the oil tanks had been completed only a few hours before the fire was discovered. The Panhandle State was scheduled to leave for London and Boulogne next Tuesday.
The fire was discovered about half past eight o’clock last evening by members of the engine room crew. While some of them tried unsuccessfully to put out the blaze with fire extinguishers others notified the dock watchman. Special Policeman Edward Moore, who was on duty on the pier, sent in an alarm, which brought the fireboats Willlett, New Yorker, and Strong, and the police boat John F. Hylan, the usual complement of land companies and the Rescue Squad.
Rescue Squad Barred Out
Assistant Chief Martin and Deputy Chief Helms, who were among the first members of the Fire Department to arrive, found the engine room compartment of the Panhandle State a furnace. Chief Martin refused to permit the members of the Rescue Squad to descend into the engine room for fear that the intense heat would melt the nipples on the oil tank and send out a gush of oil which would transform the furnace to a volcano.
The nozzle crews of the fireboats and the members of Hook and Ladder Truck 15 boarded the ship under the command of Deputy Chief Worth in charge of the Marine Division of the Fire Department and poured water into the ship to prevent the spread of the fire to another compartment. Several lines of hose were connected by the land engine companies and water from them played on the ship.
Blazing Ship Towed Out
Firemen chopped the lines holding the Panhandle State to the pier. Two tugs and a derrick boat owned by Merritt & Chapman Wrecking Company helped the fireboats pull the burning steamship out of the slip into midstream. There was so much haste used to get the boat away from the pier that the hanging gangplank, which had not been drawn in, caught on the pier structure and was torn away.
While the ship, still ablaze, was towed to its resting place the firemen were still busy on board sticking to the boat to prevent any further spread of the flames before she could be sunk.
Besides the nozzle crews of the fireboats and the members of Hook and Ladder Company 15, Deputy Chief Worth and Captain Cunningham, Captain of the Panhandle State and former captain of the Leviathan, remained on board. Fire Chief Kenlon did not reach Pier 7 before the Panhandle State was towed away, but went to the Battery, where he went out to the burning ship on the police launch Velox.
The fire was reported under control about 1 o’clock. The Panhandle State was grounded on the flats between Liberty and Ellis Islands in about twenty-two feet of water, and water pumped into her by the fireboats until the flames were smothered. Tugs of the Merrit Chapman Wrecking Company stood by ready to begin the work of pumping out the ship as soon as the firemen were through.
Before the leaving the Battery in the department launch, Chief Kenlon sent a message to the Standard Oil Company asking that one of their boats equipped with fire fighting apparatus throwing a patented chemical compound be sent. Chief Kenlon explained that he feared that the water thrown into the stranded ship by the fireboats might spread the flames of burning oil on the surface of the water and wanted to have ready a preparation that would smother it.
Firemen expressed belief that the hull of the ship might be saved and that it was possible that most of the fire had been confined to the engine room compartment.
Both Chief Martin and Chief Helms criticized what they called the inadequacy of the fire protection on the vessel, saying that there were only three gallon hand extinguishers, instead of a complete protective system such as is used on some vessels.
J.M. Kennedy, General Passenger Agent of the United States Mail and Steamship Company, said the Panhandle State was one of the finest vessels built for the shipping board. She had cabins with baths for eighty first-class passengers, he said, and was fitted to furnish luxurious quarters for this limited number of passengers. Mr. Kennedy had been hopeful that the fire would be extinguished without great loss and expressed deep regret when informed that the vessel was sunk.
The Panhandle State was 502 feet in length and of 62 feet beam. She was built in Camden, N.J., in 1920 by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation for the united States Shipping Board, was of 10,583 gross tons and 6,195 net tonnage and was equipped with wireless.
