1854 – Apr 15, steamer Secretary boiler explosion ~Petaluma Riv., San Pablo Bay, CA –18-30

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 9-17-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

Blanchard note: We do not use 50 as the death toll noted by five sources below in that it appears to us that this number was derived by adding the number of injured to one of the numbers of reported dead. It appears to us that the death toll was probably about eighteen. However, in that the Placer Herald of April 22 notes “some 30” deaths and the drafters of the “Descendants of John M Camron” genealogy website notes eighteen named victims, adding that the toll “could well amount to at least thirty,” we choose to estimate 18-30. Additionally, MacMullen notes 16 initial deaths as well as “several” (3?) later from scalding injuries. In truth, no one will ever know. No passenger lists were compiled, and if they had been, such a list would have been destroyed. Our search for information from newspaper articles at the time discovered no reports of fifty deaths, though we could have missed such a report, or such a report was not included in the newspaper archive service to which we subscribe.

—        50  Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 224.

—      >50  Lossing. Harper’s Encyclopedia of U.S. History from 458 A.D. to 1905 (Vol. X).  451.

—        50  Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours. 1977, p. 683.

—        50  Oakland Tribune. “Shipwreck One of Worst Since Janeiro’s Loss…” 8-30-1929, D3. 

—        50  Simonds. The American Date Book. 1902, p. 99.    

–18-~30  “Descendants of John M Camron” Genealogy website, Family Tree Maker.

—      ~30  Placer Herald (weekly), CA. “Steamer Explosion.” 4-22-1854, p. 3. (notes “some 30.”

–13 – 18  The Sierra Citizen, Downieville, CA (weekly). “Steamboats. Secretary.” 4-22-1854, 2.

                        –13  dead

                        —  5  missing and presumed dead

—      >16  MacMullen. Paddle-Wheel Days in California. 1944, p. 26.

                        –16  died at the time

                        –several of the 31 scalded victims “died within a few days.”

—      >15  Secrest. California Disasters, 1812-1899. 2005, p. 54.

Narrative Information

Descendants of John M Camron Genealogy website, Family Tree Maker: “The steamboat Secretary, Capt. C. W. Travers, running from this city to Petaluma, burst her boiler yesterday between twelve and one o’clock, killing it is supposed about thirty persons, and scalding and bruising a large number more, many of whom will probably die. The explosion took place between the islands known as the Brothers and Sisters, distant about twelve miles from the city. The Secretary left Pacific wharf about ten o’clock yesterday morning, with about 65 passengers, for Petaluma, many of whom were bound for the Russian River mines. The steamboat Nevada, Capt. J. H. Cornell, left about fifteen minutes afterward for the same place and at the time of the explosion had overtaken the Secretary, and was nearly abreast of her at the time at a distance of about one hundred yards.

”The explosion is described by the passengers who were saved and those on the Nevada, as sudden and very loud. The scene caused by it is indescribable. Bodies were blown into the air, heads flying in one direction and limbs and trunks in another. So great was the force of the explosion that the boat and all her machinery was literally broken to pieces. The dead, dying and the wounded were blown into the water, and all who were able were seen clinging to fragments of the wreck. One gentleman, Mr. Cookingham, who escaped with a slight wound, informed us that he was blown a distance of some forty feet, and that while in the water he rescued a child from drowning and brought it safe to a piece of the wreck on which they clung till rescued. Mr. John Smith, late second officer of the Don Quixote, had his cap blown off and was himself blown into the water and assisted in saving a number of persons.

”So sudden was the shock, and all were so overwhelmed by it, that the passengers who were saved are able to detail but very little of what occurred. All, however, describe the scene as horrible in the extreme. The Nevada immediately commenced picking up those who were in the water. But one dead body was recovered, that of Mrs. Cecilia Clark. The rest who were instantly killed by the explosion, sank, and were seen no more. The Nevada remained at the scene of the explosion about an hour, gathering up the wounded, and then returned to this city, which she reached about half past three o’clock. At that time nearly all the fragments of the wreck had sunk and persons who have witnessed many previous explosions say they never saw so complete a wreck. The wounded were provided for as comfortably as possible on the Nevada, and on her way back, the clerk, Mr. J. H. Lockman, to whom we are indebted for much information, obtained as accurate a list as could be of the missing, the wounded and the uninjured. The list of missing is of course incomplete. Many were killed, probably, whose fate will never be known….

“The steamer Secretary…was built upon the hull of the old Gabriel Winter. She commenced running last November. Her boiler was new, having been built about two months since by Messrs. Gordon & Steen, and was, before being put in, tested with a hydraulic pressure of 100 lbs. to the square inch. Her engine was the same one that was used in the ill-fated Sagamore. The Secretary has been running on the route to Petaluma about three weeks, while the Nevada has made but two trips. The passengers on both boats say they have no doubt that the Secretary was crowding all steam with the intention of beating the Nevada….

“Although we have the names of but eighteen killed, it is supposed that the loss could well amount to at least thirty. If it be true, and there can be but little doubt of it, that the Secretary was crowding her steam for a race, a fearful responsibility rests upon all who countenanced such a course. The engineer has gone to give his account at a higher tribunal than any on earth, but if there are others who are guilty, it is to be hoped they will not escape the responsibility of this wholesale murder. It is time that some means were adopted here to prevent the frequent changes in the names of boats, And that some greater security should be afforded the traveling public.”  (“Explosion of the Steamer Secretary; Thirty Lives Lost!” an unattributed news article reprinted in Descendants of John M Camron Genealogy website, Family Tree Maker.)

Lossing: “Steamboat Secretary, crossing San Pablo Bay from San Francisco to Petaluma, bursts her boiler; more than fifty lives lost…April 15, 1854.”  (Lossing 1905, 451)

MacMullen: “…on April 15 of the same year [1854] we find the Secretary…gleefully racing some rival, each hell-bent on getting first to Sacramento. Between The Brothers and The Sisters in northern San Francisco Bay, the Secretary blew up, killing sixteen of her people and scalding thirty-one so badly that others died within a few days.  At the inquest it came out that the engineer, a playful soul, had secured an oar and at the moment the boilers could stand no more was actually using it to hold down the safety valve….”  (MacMullen 1944)

Newspaper

April 22, The Sierra Citizen, Downieville, CA: “Secretary, plying between Petaluma and San Francisco, exploded her boiler last Friday, near the ‘Brothers and Sisters,’ twelve miles from Saan Francisco, while racing with the steamer Nevada. – The scene is reported as indescribable – whole bodies and trunkless limbs were scattered in every direction. The force of the explosion rent the boat to pieces, and some persons who were not hurt by the hot steam drowned. One man, a Mr. Cookingham was blown a distance of forty feet into the water. So completely was the demolition of the boat that an hour after the explosion not a vestige of the wreck could be seen. But one body was recovered – that of Mrs. Cecelia Clark, which was taken to San Francisco and a jury of inquest held upon it. The verdict was that her death was caused by recklessness of owners and officers of the boat, and recommended that the District Attorney institute legal proceedings against them immediately.

“By this unfortunate catastrophe thirteen valuable lives are lost; five persons are missing – supposed dead; and twenty-five more or less injured. Only nine of all on board escaped uninjured!…” (The Sierra Citizen, Downieville, CA (weekly). “Steamboats. Secretary.” 4-22-1854, p. 2, c. 1.)

Sources

Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. Boston: Mariners Press Inc., 1972.

Descendants of John M Camron Genealogy website, Family Tree Maker. Accessed at:  http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/e/r/w/Terry-L-Erwin/GENE2-0002.html

Lossing, Benson John.  Harper’s Encyclopedia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1905 (Vol. X).  NY:  Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1905.  Digitized by Google; accessed 9-17-2024:   http://books.google.com/books?id=yvzXAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

MacMullen, Jerry. Paddle-Wheel Days in California. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1944. Google preview at: http://books.google.com/books?id=E-ieAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours – A Narrative Encyclopedia of Worldwide Disasters from Ancient Times to the Present. New York: Pocket Books, Wallaby, 1977, 792 pages.

Oakland Tribune, CA. “Shipwreck [San Juan] One of Worst Since Janeiro’s Loss, 1901.” 8-30-1929, D3.  At:  http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=105413307

Placer Herald (weekly), CA. “Steamer Explosion.” 4-22-1854, p. 3. Accessed 9-17-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/auburn-weekly-placer-herald-apr-22-1854-p-3/

Secrest, William B. Jr. and William B. Secrest Sr. California Disasters, 1812-1899: Firsthand Accounts of Fires, Shipwrecks, Floods, Epidemics, Earthquakes and Other California Tragedies.  Quill Driver Books, 2005, 368 pages. Partially digitized by Google. Accessible at:  http://books.google.com/books?id=FiOrJ47gno8C&dq=Belle+explosion+1852&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0

Simonds, W. E. (Editor). The American Date Book. Kama Publishing Co., 1902, 211 pages. Google digital preview accessed 9-8-2017 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=JuiSjvd5owAC

The Sierra Citizen, Downieville, CA (weekly). “Steamboats. Secretary.” 4-22-1854, p. 2. Accessed 9-17-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/downieville-sierra-citizen-apr-22-1854-p-2/