Prints as Windows to Our Nautical Past

by Mike John - Grandchester, Queensland - Australia

and Paul Austin - Dallas, Texas - USA

Part One - Part Two - Part Three

Hilliard was first picked up by Captain Meeker on the Merchant and Manchester came afterwards. The steamer Statesman was also involved in search and rescue. Meeker also collected two dead bodies. Charles Smith was collected alive floating on the wheelhouse. Smith was in better condition than Manchester who was almost dead when rescued. Hilliard was asked by the coroner about Captain Child. He said he was confused and said nothing. Hilliard claimed that if the fire was better controlled early the ship may have been saved.20

Captain William Comstock, agent and superintendent of the New Jersey Steam Navigation Company, formerly called the Boston and New York Transportation Company, wrote in a letter to the city that Captain William Terrill, master of the sloop Improvement, was within four or five miles of the Lexington when the fire was sighted but he rendered no aid as he would have lost the high tide over the bar. He was advised not to venture about too much in public around the city.21

Henry Cleveland (1840) wrote a letter to the Honourable Daniel Webster, House of Representatives, with pressing evidence which was published. He wrote that Comstock stated in his testimony that "the grate-bars were raised up eighteen inches, the flues contracted, and the insides of the furnaces were filled up with fire brick and iron pans that always had water in them, and the whole width of the boiler at the after end was filled up with brick and iron".22 Frederic Hempstead, an engineer with a trip on the Lexington when his brother was ill, noted there were blowers for increasing the draft and these were fitted just before the last trip with pulleys to make them revolve faster, by the order of his brother, who was the regular engineer of the boat. Frederic Hempstead was warned against the engine's dangers. He was told of a previous fire. He was instructed to watch carefully for fire alongside the boilers, as he might have trouble with the blowers. Essentially, Frederic Hempstead was warned that the Lexington was a dangerous ship. He was told that increasing speed would increase the danger of sparks flying and the steam chimney casing had been on fire before. On his trip the brick work fell down on the sides of the legs of the boiler and the brick work of the arch in the corner fell down. But this was not from the excessive heat. Rather, the blowers blew the bricks down as, when full of coal, the wind must go somewhere. Also, the wheel of the blowers was broken. Frederic Hempstead felt the fire was from excessive heat and the wind of the blowers. The smoke pipe was red hot during his trip as the blowers drove the heat of the boiler up the smoke pipe. Ironically, this resulted in less steam. When the damper was down or even up, the back-draft would blow burning coal onto the floor and the wood beside the boiler caught fire two or three times. Perhaps this is why, when the casing was on fire, little was done early as the crew were used to seeing fire and became complacent. Clearly, the casing was on fire on a previous trip. The cotton on the fatal trip was one or two feet from the smoke chimney. The repair from the last fire on her was done but nothing was done to prevent another fire. Hempstead also stated that the bricks used were not fire bricks but common clay fired bricks.23

Amazingly, no one received any penalty because of the incident. Perhaps this spoke of gaps in the laws concerning steam vessels.24 If you are thinking cover-up somewhere in this story, you are not alone. Several suits were launched against the New Jersey Steam Navigation Company. It is worth noting that this testimony above by Manchester was attached to the Ruggles report of 2 March 1840, of the Committee of Commerce, to which was referred the matter of whether the law relating to vessels powered by steam, in full or in part, should be amended. The report accompanied bill s. 247. Up to this point in time, there were 272 steam marine incidents with 200 lives lost in the last year alone.25

The loss of property was estimated at six to eight million which is a great deal of money in the early 1800s. The Great Western which was also lost by fire cost $100,000 to build. The steam tonnage currently operating was estimated at close to 200,000 tons. Problems that caused incidents included engines, boilers, fire, lifeboats, engineers, cargo (including gunpowder) and the strength of hulls.26

The bill was passed and amendments carried. It was a bill to "provide for the better security of the lives of passengers on board of vessels propelled in whole or in part by steam."27 The Act called for the registration and survey of steam vessels and a survey thereafter annually. Steam engine and boiler setup was to be examined along with hull, fuel and firefighting equipment. The inspectors could also board, such as on the request of passengers, and check the vessel and repairs must then be made. The vessel must also carry a qualified engineer on board and many technical requirements were made for the installation of gauges and so on, including fireproofing the engine or boiler room. Also, there must be enough lifeboats to carry all passengers on-board, the tiller must have a tiller rope on it and a spare tiller must be carried. The vessel was to carry a red light forward and a white light after and it must have a horn. The requirement was set, in some waters, to pass each other vessel to starboard and sailing vessels to windward. The penalty of manslaughter was also enacted for dereliction of duty and it would be subject to common law.28 This bill of 2 March 1840 was amended 10 April 1840 (it included more on maximum pressure and lighting and so on) and it amended the bill of 1838. The earliest bill found originated in 1832 but it did not pass (bill H.R. 582). The original bill of 1838 was amended many times in the age of steam. In 1840, the states of New York and Louisiana had their own legislation for vessels in their waters.

What of the other passengers? A reward was offered for the recovery of bodies from the disaster. One widow, with the loss of her husband and now in poverty, offered only five dollars for her husband's body. The names of the passengers are not all known but Henry Finn, a comedian and author, was found floating with a life preserver attached. Benjamin Holmes and William Dexter were found. Philo Upton was found from a boat after the incident. The bodies of Hempstead (first engineer), Job Sands (head waiter) and an unnamed "colored man" (sic) has washed ashore at Southport, Ct. John Marshall, a glass blower, left behind a wife and three children. Craig, Brackett, Green were found in a ship's boat full of ice and had to be cut out. Green had $15,000 in cash in his pocket in notes. Belongings were found belonging to Kimball, Brown, Winslow, Bosworth and Marshall. Stephen Waterbury, Philip Upton, Silas Thorburn, Benjamin Ludler and Jacob Bates were declared dead by the coroner's jury.29

One of the passengers was Charles Follen. His story has a surprise. Follen fled to America in 1824 after the Prussian government ordered his arrest for his political views. In 1825 he began to teach German at Harvard College. In 1828 he was appointed instructor in ecclesiastical history and ethics at the Harvard Divinity School and he continued to teach German. He fought against slavery and was ordained into the Unitarian Church in 1836. He resigned and returned to Boston in 1838. In 1840 he was traveling back from New York to dedicate a church, which was later named he Free Christian Church of East Lexington, Massachusetts, which he designed and help build when he was lost on the Lexington leaving his wife and son behind. The world lost a controversial but leading citizen. The surprise is, he introduced the German tradition of the Christmas tree to America much to the delight of his young son and all of us. Next Christmas a thought could be given to Follen and the Lexington when putting up your Christmas tree. 30

For some years afterwards, the Lexington was of interest to treasure hunters. The World's News (1930) published an article entitled 'The Adventures of Treasure Hunters' about the "Lexington having many thousands of dollars and much bullion in her safe and strong rooms".31 It is thought that at least some the 'treasure' was strewn about the deck so the empty crate could be filled with water and used to fight the fire.32 The loot, brought on-board by William Harden, was owned by the Merchant Bank and the New Jersey Steam Navigation Company was held liable for its loss due to the handling of the crisis despite the company's disclaimer that it took no responsibility for its loss.33 The ship was raised in 1842 to the surface but the chains broke and it sunk again but not before retrieving a blob of silver weighing 30 pounds. The National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA) found the vessel in 1983 using sonar. At 140 feet divers found most of the Lexington in three pieces and retrieved some yellow pine as proof of the find. The paddle-wheel was in 78 feet of water.34 If there was no fire, and no wreck, Currier may not have had the big push off into the world of prints.

*****

Paul and I came up with this subject for a book as being interesting to us and maybe to other people. We could see the boats in the C and I prints, but what was the story behind the boats? We wanted to know what the people looking at the print knew at the time the prints were created that is now forgotten or at least faded a little from the memory of most folks. Paul and I could continue writing this as a book if folks would like it. It could be a low cost ebook or self published book through Lulu. If you would like to see it as a finished book please let us know. With enough encouragement we will keep writing.

20 Senate of the United States, First Session of the Twenty-Sixth Congress, 1840, p. 19..
21 cited in Pcgs.com, 2015
22 Quoted in Cleveland, 1840, p. 9.
23 Cleveland, H. (1840). A letter to the Hon. Daniel Webster on the causes of the destruction of the steamer Lexington, as discovered in the testimony before the coroner's jury in New York. Boston: C.C. Little and J. Brown.
24 Cussler, C. and Dirgo, C. (1997). The sea hunters. New York: Pocket Star Books, p. 25.
25 Senate of the United States, First Session of the Twenty-Sixth Congress, 1840, p. 4.
26 Senate of the United States, First Session of the Twenty-Sixth Congress, 1840, p. 13.
27 Memory. loc. Gov, 2015 [2].
28 Ibid, [1].
29 Niles, Hezekiah et al. (1840) Niles' National Register: Containing Political, Historical, Geographical, Scientifical, Statistical, Economical, and Biographical Documents, Essays and Facts : Together with Notices of the Arts and Manufactures, and a Record of the Events of the Times. Philadelphia: William Ogden Niles, pp. 370-372.
30 Harris, M. and Harris, M. (2009). The A to Z of Unitarian Universalism. Lanham: Scarecrow Press, pp. 189-191.
31 Trove.nla.gov.au, (2015). 04 Jun 1930 – Adventures of Treasure Hunters.
32 Grohman, A. (2008). Claimed by the sea. New York: Underwater Historical Research Society, p. 28.
33 Supreme Court. The New Jersey Steam Navigation Co. v. The Merchant's Bank of Boston (The Lexington), 47 U. S. (6 How.) 344, 347 (1848).
34 Ibid, p. 30.

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