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This newspaper page contains 11 articles. Subscribers can read the full text of each article.
Newspaper
Boston Post
Location
Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
Date
Jul 31, 1912
Page
3
A US official stated the City of Rockland would have sunk after colliding with the Chisholm if not for the bulkhead and its position 22 feet abaft the bow. Inspectors found the bow stove in for feet, the vessel open to the water, with bulkhead serving as the bottom.
Mayor Charles S. Taylor of Medford suffered a severe sprain of the left ankle after jumping from the Rockland onto the collier. He returned home with medical aid from Dr. Cleaves and noted the incident could have sparked a riot without the captain and crew’s calm actions aboard.
Eastern Steamship Company and Seaboard Transportation Line officials said no employees were at fault after reports from the captains of the colliding steamers. Vice-President F A Jones of Eastern Steamship stated that Rockland officers and crew were not to blame, blaming passenger chaos during lifeboat and life raft deployment.
Captain Charles A. Blair of Rockland cites thick fog as the accident cause. He says neither he nor the other captain are to blame and notes the collier’s low waterline made her lights invisible in the dense mist, leaving little real confusion.
Captain Calhoun of the collier William S. Chisholm and Captain Blair both affirm no one was lost or seriously injured after the collision. They maintain the fault was not clear and that Rockland’s course had been near the area, suggesting the other vessel had passed earlier.
Napoleon P. Bernard of Newtonville recalls aiding women in a lifeboat overturned while being lowered. He describes 25 people in the water, a 9 year old girl delaying rescue until her grandmother was aboard, then towing a man to safety with a rope as they neared the collier.
Firsthand account describes men attempting to enter lifeboats ahead of women and children after a maritime crash. The narrator, former basketball and football player Win Snow of Dartmouth, was called to help restrain frantic male passengers and ensure women and children were aided first.
Miss Frances Ladd of Rochester a nurse and her sister Bessie Ladd survived after the City of Rockland collided and overturned its boat. Frances swam to a collier while directing rescue efforts in which Agnes McKenzie aided. The trio were passengers bound for Beachmont.
Miss Ladd recalls a perilous midnight ordeal at sea aboard the City of Rockland and Belfast. Lifeboats lowered amid chaos as crews, sailors, and passengers saved and cared for women and children including Bessie and Agnes while Agnes was later found safe.
The interior of the City of Rockland shows the fear and rush during the crash with doors battered and panels kicked inward. Bedding, clothing, and jewelry lay scattered as passengers and crew hurriedly fled. The bow was demolished exposing sleeping quarters and the crew avoided loss of life.
Mrs. Alice F. Decatur and her daughter Miss Gertrude, 19, of 17 Garland Avenue Malden, injured passengers on the Rockland, are confined to bed at home with cold and nervous shock. They were sleeping in their staterooms when the crash occurred and woke to find themselves lightly clad with clothing and a pocketbook loss including money and trinkets.
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