Previous Chapter   |   Table of Contents   |   Next Chapter

Part Five: Chapter IV

THE DISASTER TO THE BENNINGTON

The explosion on board the gunboat Bennington, which occurred in San Diego harbor on Fri­day morning, July 21, 1905, was an event of national importance. The vessel was lying in the stream at the foot of H Street, with steam up, ready to depart. The crew num­bered 179 men, Captain Lucien Young com­manding. The captain had gone ashore and the crew of his launch were awaiting his return at the wharf, when the boat was to leave for Port Harford to take the Wyoming in tow for San Francisco. At 10:33 A.M. there were two explosions in quick succession and the ship was enveloped in steam and listed to starboard. The forward and main port boil­ers had exploded. The explosion and escaping steam killed or injured more than half the crew. Many were blown into the water; others were penned between decks and cooked by steam; the passageways were blocked with dead and dying; the decks covered with blood and debris; and a scene of horror impossible to describe was created. The gunboat 'Bennington' after the explosion Captain Young was notified and hurried to the wharf and boarded the vessel. With him went a reporter of the San Diegan-­Sun; and they were the first to set foot on the deck after the explosion. Boats and launches were sent from the vessels anchored near, and from the wharves. Volunteers came on board and offered their services in rescuing the living and removing the dead. They went down into the reeking hold, groping amid wreckage and blinding steam, and in a short time did everything possible. The explosion of the boilers left the blow-off pipes open and water began to come in rapidly. The danger of fire was also great, and for this reason the magazines were flooded. The water thus coming in settled the vessel in the bay and made the work of removing the bodies much more difficult. An engine was provided and placed on a lighter alongside to pump out the hold. It took three days to finish this work. On the evening of the 24th, the water was under control and the vessel having been lightened by the removal of supplies, she was towed to the Santa Fé wharf and made fast. The dead and wounded were transferred to the nearest wharf and arrangements for their care immediately made. Mayor John L. Sehon was quickly on the scene and organized the relief work with military skill and efficiency. There were comfortable beds for the sufferers, hot water, physicians, and nurses in waiting. There never was a case where so much was done in so short a time, with such magical celerity and absence of confusion and friction. The police kept back the crowd and co-operated in many ways. The doctors and nurses of the city volunteered their services. The Agnew Sanitarium and St. Joseph's Hospital were thrown open and the injured removed there, where they were tenderly cared for until death relieved them or until they recov­ered sufficiently to be removed to the army hospital at the barracks. The number of men killed outright at the time of the explo­sion was 51, and 9 died from their injuries, making the total deaths resulting from the disaster 60. The injured numbered 46, and only 91 escaped uninjured. The funeral of the victims of the explosion on July 23d was observed as a day of mourning, and the citizens of San Diego did everything in their power to show their appreciation of the occasion. The 47 coffins were placed side by side in a long trench at the military cemetery, and the ceremonies were of an impress­ive character. There were many instances of individual heroism at the time of the explosion. Injured men worked like heroes, and saved their comrades regardless of their own sufferings. One of the men who escaped uninjured was J. H. Turpin, a colored man, who had been badly injured in the Maine explosion. The forti­tude of the sufferers was beyond all praise. There were rumors which gained currency at the time that the boilers of the Bennington were known to be weak, and that the commander had repeatedly reported this fact. The affair was passed upon, first by an investigation board under Admiral Goodrich, and then by a courtmartial, the latter body recom­mending the censure of Captain Young. The Bennington was a gunboat and a warship of the third class. She was built at Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1889-90, and cost $553,875. She was equipped with two screws and was schooner-rigged. She was taken to Mare Island Navy Yard to be rebuilt. [from William Ellsworth Smythe's History of San Diego, 1908, pp. 503-505]