Steamship Lexington
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2008-05-13T06:07:20Z
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[[Image:Awful conflagration of the steam boat Lexington.jpg|thumb|right|320px|'''Steamship ''Lexington''''': Artist's impression of the disaster]]
The [[paddlewheel]] '''steamship ''Lexington''''' was the fastest vessel which traveled from [[New York City]] to [[Boston]], during [[1835]]-[[1840]]. It sank on [[January 14]], [[1840]], after catching fire the previous evening.
==The Ship==
The [[steamship]] ''Lexington'' was built in 1835 at the Bishop and Simonson Shipyards in [[New York City]]. The ship was commissioned by [[Cornelius Vanderbilt]], a prominent figure in the shipping industry. It was a 207-foot-long sidewheel steamer weighing 488 gross tons.
The ''Lexington'' began service as a day boat between New York City and [[Providence, Rhode Island|Providence]], [[Rhode Island]] in 1835. The ship began service to [[Stonington, Connecticut|Stonington]], [[Connecticut]] in 1837. She was sold to the New Jersey Steamship Navigation and Transportation Company in December of 1838 for around [[US$]]60,000. From 1835 to 1840, the ''Lexington'' was the fastest vessel en route from New York City to [[Boston]].
==The Fire==
The ''Lexington'' left its pier on [[Manhattan]]'s [[East River]] at 4:00 p.m. on [[January 13]], [[1840]] bound for Stonington. She was carrying 143 passengers and crew and a cargo of 150 bales of [[cotton]]. The ship was expected to arrive in Stonington the following morning in time to meet the [[train]] that connected with Boston.
The ship's usual captain, [[Jacob Vanderbilt]], could not make the voyage owing to illness and was replaced by veteran Captain [[George Child]].
At 7:30 p.m., the ship's first mate noticed that the woodwork and casings about the [[smokestack]] were on fire. The ship was four miles off Eaton's Neck on the north shore of [[Long Island]]. Crew members used buckets and boxes to throw water on the flames, as well as a small, hand-pumped fire engine. Once it was apparent that the fire could not be extinguished, the ship's three [[Lifeboat (shipboard)|lifeboat]]s were prepared for launch. The ship's paddlewheel was still churning at full speed, since crewmen could not reach the engine room to shut off the [[boiler]]s. The first boat was sucked into the wheel, killing its occupants. Captain Child had fallen into the lifeboat and was among those killed. The ropes used to lower the other two boats were cut incorrectly, causing the boats to hit the water stern-first. Both boats promptly sank.
Pilot Stephen Manchester turned the ship toward the shore in hopes of beaching it. The drive-rope that controlled the [[rudder]] quickly burned through, and the engine stopped two miles from shore. The ship, out of control, drifted northeast, away from land.
The ship's cargo of cotton ignited quickly, causing the fire to spread from the smokestack to the entire superstructure. Passengers and crew threw empty baggage containers and bales of cotton into the water to be used as rafts. The center of the main deck collapsed shortly after 8:00 p.m.
The fire spread to such an extent that most of the passengers and crew were forced to jump into the sub-zero water by midnight. Those who had nothing to climb onto quickly succumbed to [[hypothermia]]. The ship was still burning when it sank at 3:00 a.m.
==The Survivors==
Of the 143 people on board the ''Lexington'', only four survived:
'''Chester Hilliard''', 24, the only passenger to survive, had helped crew members throw bales of cotton to people in the water. He climbed onto the last bale at 8:00 p.m., along with ship’s [[fireman]] Benjamin Cox. About eight hours later, Cox, weak from hypothermia, fell off the bale and drowned. At 11:00 a.m., Hilliard was rescued by the [[sloop]] ''Merchant''.
'''Stephen Manchester''', the ship's pilot, was among the last to leave the ''Lexington''. He and about 30 others huddled at the bow of the ship until about midnight, when the flames closed in on them. Shortly after he stepped onto a makeshift [[raft]] with several passengers, the raft sank. He then climbed onto a bale of cotton with a passenger named Peter McKenna. Three hours later, McKenna died of exposure. Manchester was rescued by the sloop ''Merchant'' at noon.
'''Charles Smith''', one of the ship's firemen, descended the stern of the ship and clung to the ship's rudder along with four other people. The five dove into the sea just before the ship sank and climbed onto a floating piece of the paddlewheel. The other four men died of exposure during the night, and Smith was rescued by the sloop ''Merchant'' at 2:00 the following afternoon.
'''David Crowley''', the second mate, drifted for 43 hours on a bale of cotton, coming ashore 50 miles east, at Baiting Hollow, Long Island. Weak, [[dehydration|dehydrated]] and suffering from exposure, he staggered a mile to the house of Matthias and Mary Hutchinson, and collapsed after knocking on the door. A doctor was immediately summoned, and once well enough, Crowley was taken to Riverhead, where he recovered.
==The Causes==
An inquest [[jury]] found a fatal flaw in the ship's design to be the primary cause of the fire. The ship's boilers were originally built to burn wood, but were converted to burn [[coal]] in 1839. This conversion had not been properly completed. Not only did coal burn hotter than wood, but extra coal was being burned on the night of the fire because of rough seas. A spark from the super-heated smokestack lit the stack's casing ablaze on the freight deck. The fire then spread to the bales of cotton, which were stored improperly close to the stack.
Previous, smaller fires that had occurred due to the design flaw had been extinguished; however, nothing had been done to correct the problem.
The jury also found crewmen's mistakes and violation of safety regulations to be at fault. Hilliard testified that once crew members noticed the fire, they went below deck to check the engines before attempting to fight the blaze. The jury believed that the fire could have been extinguished if the crew had acted immediately. Also, not all of the ship's fire buckets could be found during the fire. Only about 20 of the passengers were able to locate [[life preserver]]s. The crew members were also careless in launching the lifeboats, all of which sank.
The sloop ''Improvement'', which had been less than five miles from the burning ship, never came to the ''Lexington'''s aid. Captain William Tirrell of the ''Improvement'' explained that he was running on a schedule; he did not attempt a rescue because he didn’t want to miss the high [[tide]]. The public became furious at this excuse, and Tirrell was attacked by the [[Mass media|press]] in the days following the disaster.
Ultimately, no legislation was passed by the [[Federal government of the United States|U.S. government]] in the wake of the tragedy. It was not until the steamboat ''Henry Clay'' burned on the [[Hudson River]] 12 years later that new safety regulations were imposed.
The ''Lexington'' fire remains the [[Long Island Sound]]'s worst steamboat disaster. One hundred thirty-nine of the 143 aboard perished.
==Salvage Attempts==
An attempt was made to [[salvage|raise]] the ''Lexington'' in 1842. The ship was brought to the surface briefly, and a 30 pound (14 kg) mass of melted [[silver]] was recovered from the [[hull (watercraft)|hull]]. The chains supporting the hull snapped, and the ship broke apart and sank back to the bottom of the Sound.
Today, the ''Lexington'' sits in 140 feet of water, broken into three sections. There is allegedly still [[gold]] and silver that has not been recovered. Adolphus S. Harnden of the Boston and New York Express Package Car Office had reportedly been carrying $18,000 in gold and silver [[coin]]s and $80,000 in [[currency|paper money]] at the time of the sinking. The silver recovered in 1842 is all that has been found to date.
[[Category:Paddle steamers|Lexington]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the New York coast|Lexington]]
[[Category:Ship fires|Lexington]]
[[Category:Victorian era passenger ships of the United States|Lexington]]
[[category:Maritime incidents in 1840|Lexington]]
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