1894 — June 24, overloaded tug James D. Nicol founders, NY excursionists, Sandy Hook, NJ->35

— >35 Blanchard estimated death toll.*

— 57 NYT. “Fifty-Three Still Missing. Only Four Bodies…Have Been Found.” 6-27-1894, p. 9.
— 4 bodies recovered
–53 missing
— ~50 Hamilton Daily Democrat, OH. “Events of the Year,” Dec 29, 1894, p. 6. (nearly 50.)
— 43 Daily Norwalk Gazette, CT. “The Nicol Disaster.” 6-26-1894, p. 2, col. 5.
— 7 bodies recovered
–36 named missing
— 42 Gardner (Editor). American Negligence Reports, Vol. 1, 1897, p. 328.
— 39 Boston Daily Globe, MA. “List of Victims Grows….Nicol’s Lost…39.” 6-26-1894, p. 3.
— 3 bodies recovered and identified
–36 missing
— 36 Waterloo Daily Courier, IA. “Nicol Disaster.” 6-26-1894, p. 2, col. 4.
— 35 Steamboat-Inspection Service (U.S.). Annual Report… 1894. 1894, p. 6.
— 35 Steamboat-Inspection Service (U.S.). Annual Report…1895. 1895, p. 25.

* Blanchard estimated death toll. From a reading of the many accounts of this loss, only a few of which are cited here, it is clear that the true death toll will never be known in that it is not crystal clear exactly how many were aboard, the small number of bodies recovered, and the changing number of names missing. Our own conclusion is that at least thirty-five people died. The Steamboat Inspection Service reports exactly 35 deaths. Given the larger number of named individuals who were reported as missing, however, we view it as quite possible that there were deaths above this number. Thus our estimate of at least (>) thirty-five deaths.

Narrative Information

Gardner: The owner of the tug later sued his insurance company when it refused to pay for the loss of the boat, but lost. (McCarthy v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Company; Supreme Court, Trial Term N.Y., January 1897.)

Marine Insurance – Overcrowding Vessel. – An insurer is not liable where the policy exempts him for any loss caused by overcrowding, and the insured vessel was licensed to carry forty-five passengers and was carrying eighty-one when it sank and it was not shown that the overcrowding did not cause or contribute to the accident. (Gardner American Negligence Reports, V1, 1897, 328.)

“The sinking was variously described; but the witnesses generally agree that a storm came on, and as it approached the boat lunged with the sea which struck it on the starboard side, throwing spray over all the decks, and driving the passengers to the port side, whereupon the boat listed in that direction and the returning wave turned it over.” (Gardner. American Negligence Reports, V1, 1897, 328.)

US Steamboat Inspection Service, 1894: “The increased death rate reported of 27 lives lost over that reported in 1893 results from a single accident occurring to a steamer which at the time was being unlawfully navigated, by a persons wholly inexperienced and unauthorized to act on the dangerous waters upon which the accident occurred, and which accident was wholly the result of such inexperience, the steamer being staunch and strong, and equal in that respect to other steamers of the same class navigating the same waters and neighborhood at the time of the accident under consideration.

“Reference is made in the above remarks to the steamer James D. Nicol, foundered off Sandy Hook, N.J., June 24, with nearly 100 persons on board, nearly double the number allowed by her certificate of inspection, 35 of whom (all passengers) lost their lives. This accident was investigated by the local inspectors at New York, and decision rendered July 6 revoking the license of the master of the steam4r ‘for negligence and willful violation of his license,’ and case referred to U.S. district attorney for prosecution.” (Annual Report of the Supervising Inspector-General…
for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1894. 1894, p. 6.)

US Steamboat Inspection Service, 1895: “Tug James D. Nicol foundered at the fishing banks, being overloaded. Number of persons drowned, 35. Investigated June 27 and July 2. Decision July 6, revoking license of John B. Hyde, pilot of the tug.” (U.S. Steamboat-Inspection Service. Annual Report 1895, p. 25.)

Newspapers:

June 25: “List of Victims Grows.
Number of the Nicol’s Lost Now Reaches 39.”
“Stations Thronged with Relatives of the Missing Men.”
“No Explanation of thee Foundering of the Tug Yet Made.

“New York, June 25 – The list of missing men who it is supposed were on the tug James D. Nicol when she foundered outside of Sandy Hook on Sunday, grows larger today, partly, perhaps, because the friends of missing persons who were not known to have been on the tug have jumped to the conclusion that they were aboard of her.

“The list reaches of total of 36 missing, which, with the 49 saved and the three dead bodies identified, would make a total of 88 persons aboard of the tug.

“The attendants at the morgue, police headquarters and the various police stations throughout the city had a busy time of it today, attending to the dozens of people who kept coming in to report friends supposed to have been lost with the Nicol, or to inquire if missing friends had been heard from. Police headquarters was probably the busiest place of all. At the bureau of information there were women in search of husbands, and fathers in search of sons, one son looking for a father, and any number of weeping girls whose brothers went out on the excursion of the herring fishing club and have not come back.

“No satisfactory explanation of the foundering of the tug was made today. Capt. John Hyde, who was in charge of her when the accident occurred, made his report to the steamboat inspectors this afternoon, but it was very hazy. Hyde said he hadn’t been asleep since the accident, and he looked it. He is 25 years old, but he doesn’t look it. In appearance he is a mere boy.

“His employers, however, regarded him as a careful man, and for four years he has held a captain’s license. He may have some difficulty in retaining it, for there are several things that he must explain to the inspectors on Wednesday morning that are likely to give him trouble.” (Boston Daily Globe, MA. “List of Victims Grows.” 6-26-1894, p. 3, col. 1.)

June 26: “Nicol Disaster.”
“Thirty-six Persons Supposed to Have Lost Their Lives Off Sandy Hook.”
“The Whole List Will Probably Never Be Known – Seven Bodies Recovered.”
“The Captain of the Boat Places the Blame on the Passengers Themselves.”

“New York, June 26. – How many persons were drowned by the capsizing of the tug James D. Nicol, off Sandy Hook, is not yet known. The excursionists were from all over the east side, from College Point, from Brooklyn, and even from Hoboken, and it is probable that some of those drowned will never be reported or heard from gain.

“The catastrophe is rendered more harrowing by the fact that most of the men were married and leave large families. The highest estimates in last night’s dispatches were probably within the mark, for today it is thought that not less than 36 perished. So far, however, only seven bodies have been recovered.
The Captain’s Story.

“Captain John Hyde, commander of the ill-fated tug, was seen at the office of the owner of the tug. He is a young man, 25 years of age, and says that he has had a master’s license for the past four years. For the first time Captain Hyde told the story of the disaster:

I could count but 58 passengers on the tug when she left the second stopping lace at pier 3, East river. There were five men in the crew, making 63 all told. We had been lying off Seabright at anchor, when the wind began to freshen. We soon raised anchor, intending to leave. We were about three-quarters of an hour from the shore. The sea, when we started, was not very heavy and hardly any spray came on board. The passengers, thinking that they might get wet, all crowded to the port side. I asked them to divide up and part take the starboard side, but no attention was paid to my request. The sea was somewhat choppy, but not what would have been called heavy. Outside, some distance from shore, it appeared much calmer than in shore. I thought if we ran for some distance, we would make better weather. We were in no apparent danger, except for the people crowding to the port side of the boat. I suddenly saw a heavy swell bearing down on us, closely followed by a second one. I called out to the passengers to take the starboard ide of the boat, but it was not done. The first sea boarded us clean over the bow, and rushed aft. The second followed closely, also boarding us over the bow, and washed down the port side. This was caused by the heavy list on the boat.

When the first wave hit us, I cried, ‘For God’s sake get over to the other side.’ I pulled the whistle rope, too, as a signal of distress, and seeing the great danger, tied it down. It kept blowing until the Nicol went down. After the boat had careened under the second swell, Al Hammond, a deck hand, and myself climbed through the starboard windows of the pilot house, and went overboard. There were a number of people struggling in the water, all around. The life raft was near the spot where the tug sank, and I made for it. There were a number of passengers on it, hanging to it, and their struggles capsized it. As it went over, I was struck by it and went down. When I arose to the surface, I managed to grasp it again. The members of the crew of the boat, Pilot Raymond Kelly, Engineer John Farrell, Fireman Louis Hookie, Al Hammond and Steward James Fleming, were all picked up by the tug Sayre.

I was at the wheel from the time we left the dock, until the accident occurred, except a short time while at anchor, when I went below for dinner. It has been stated that I was intoxicated. I am not a drinking man, and touched no liquor whatever. I do not think the boat was overcrowded, and had the passengers acted as I told them, we would have come through all right.”
(Waterloo Daily Courier, IA. “Nicol Disaster.” 6-26-1894, p. 2, col. 4.)

June 27: “Fifty-Three Still Missing.”
“Only Four Bodies of Nicol’s Victims Have Been Found.”

“As in the case of the Hotel Royal fire and the Park Place disaster, the true number of victims of the overturning and sinking of the tug James D. Nicol off Sandy Hook, N.J., on Sunday [24th] will probably never be known. There are, perhaps, some who have taken the loss of the tug as an opportunity to disappear from their relatives and friends, leaving it to be supposed they went down to a watery grave.

“The very manner in which the ill-fated fishing party was made up renders it all the more difficult to fix accurately the number of drowned. There were many on the Nicol who were entirely unknown to one another. The best estimate that can now be formed – and it is an estimate based on the statements of survivors and on the reports of the missing made at the Morgue, at Police Headquarters, at the tugboat office, and on the beach where relatives are watching for bodies – places the number of missing at fifty-three. In addition, four bodies have been recovered bringing the total loss up to fifty-eight lives.

“At least forty-nine men are known to have been rescued from the water. Of these the tug Sayre picked up thirty-four, the tug Sammy picked up six, and the steamship Algonquin rescued nine. Some others are known to have been taken from the water, but the names and the number of those saved otherwise than by the three boats mentioned are not known. It is considered to be only barely possible that some of those who are among the missing have been saved.

Bodies Recovered.

“The four men whose bodies have been recovered were:

Buckridge, Walter, forty years old, 992 Halsey Street, Brooklyn; wife and two children.
Dunn, John, forty-six years old, 874 Eighth Avenue, this city, carpenter; wife and one child.
McAleer, Frank, forty-five years old, 27 Bridge Street, Brooklyn.
Weisler, Andrew, thirty-six years old, 534 East Eleventh Street, this city.

The Missing.

“The names of the fifty-three persons who are missing are: [we omit this list, mostly NYC area]

“All names known to be doubtful have been omitted from the above lists….

“The local board of Government Inspectors of Steam Vessels, of which Inspector Fairchild is the head, will to-day begin an investigation into the cause of the disaster….

“In case there is evidence to show that any one is chargeable with Sunday’s tragedy, Inspector Fairchild is instructed by the law to report the facts to the United States District Attorney.

“There is also a law under which the owners of a boat are liable to a penalty of $500 for carrying more than the license calls for, and there is also a liability on the part of the owners to a fine of $10 for every persons carried over the prescribed limit.

“Three charges have been made against the owners of the Nicol by the passengers. It is said that the officers were not in a condition to competently navigate the tug. It is said that the boat was overcrowded. It is further alleged that the tug had not a ‘deep-sea’ license, but only a ‘river-and-harbor’ license, and that, therefore, she could not lawfully go outside Sandy Hook.

“At the office of the Reeves Towing Company, Dey and West Streets, it was said yesterday that Capt. Kelly of Hoboken, who claimed to act as the Captain of the tug on Sunday, had a deep-sea pilot’s license.

“The tug was licensed to carry sixty men and a crew of five. According to the stories of the survivors and the reports of the rescued and missing, there were far more than this number on the boat.

“The only named added yesterday to those whose bodies have been recovered was that of Andrew Weisler. The body was in the morgue at Long Branch. It was identified by William Weisler, brother of the dead man.

“Several tugs were cruising around the scene of the disaster yesterday, but none of them was successful, owing perhaps to the fog, in locating the place where the Nicol went down….” (New York Times. “Fifty-Three Still Missing. Only Four Bodies…have been Found.” 6-27-1894, p. 9.)

June 28: “Some indictments and criminal prosecutions are likely to grow out of the overturning and sinking of the steam tug James D. Nicol, off Sandy Hook last Sunday, by which two score and more persons lost their lives. The evidence adduced yesterday before the Board of Inspection of Steam Vessels showed the tug was greatly overcrowded. She was licensed to carry forty-five persons besides the crew. By the estimate of Charles Kirchner, the President of the Herring Fishing Club and the manager of the ill-fated excursion, there were nearly ninety person on board, all told.

“Capt. John Hyde, who was in command, admitted under oath that the tug was over-crowded. The Captain admitted also that he was not sure whether old Capt. Kelly, who assisted him at the wheel after they got outside Sandy Hook, had a deep-sea pilot’s license. The Captain admitted, further, that, contrary to law, he had two friends in the pilot house most of the time the tug was outside the Hook. Capt. Hyde said he have no orders for the distribution of life preservers after the boat keeled on her side….

“Charles Kirchner, President of the fishing club, testified that he did not see the inspection certificate of the Nicol, and did not know and was not told how many persons the tug was licensed to carry….

“The testimony showed conclusively that, in at least one respect, namely, that of overcrowding, there had been an open violation of the law. Section 5,344 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, relating to the crime of manslaughter, provides:

Every Captain, engineer, pilot, or other person employed on any steamboat or vessel, by whose misconduct, negligence, or inattention to his duties in such vessel the life of any person is destroyed, and every owner, inspector, or other public officer through whose fraud, connivance, misconduct, or violation of law the life of any person is destroyed, shall be deemed guilty of manslaughter, and, upon conviction thereof before any Circuit Court of the United States, shall be sentenced to confinement at hard labor for a period on not more than ten years.

“If the present inquiry shows any violation of the above or of any of the laws of navigation, it is made the duty of the Board of Inspection of Steam Vessels to report the facts to the United States District Attorney. The District Attorney’s assistant, John O. Mott, said yesterday that there might possibly arise a question as to whether the jurisdiction of a prosecution for the overcrowding of the Nicol would lie with the Federal or the State authorities. ‘The accident took place on the high seas,’ said Mr. Mott, ‘and in that aspect would come under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government. The overcrowding, on the other hand, occurred at the wharf, in this city [New York] and that offense was committed within the jurisdiction of the State.’

“There is a further Federal law which renders the officers and owners of a vessel liable for damages where there is accident or death through violation of the law. The section is 4,493, and it reads:

Whenever damage is sustained by any passenger or his baggage, from explosion, fire, collision, or other cause, the master and the owner of such vessel, or either of them, and the vessel shall be liable to each and every person so injured, to the full amount of damage if it happens through any neglect or failure to comply with the provisions of this title, or through known defects or imperfections of the steaming apparatus or of the hull, and any person sustaining loss or injury through the carelessness, negligence, or willful misconduct of any master, mate, engineer, or pilot, or his neglect or refusal to obey the laws governing the navigation of such steamers, may sue such master, mate, engineer, or pilot, and recover damages for any such injury caused by any such master, mate, engineer, or pilot.

“The investigation of the Nicol disaster began…in the office of the Board of Inspection of Steam Vessels…The first witness was Capt. Hyatt:

I have been in command of the tug…since Dec. 12, 1893. Raymond Kelly, whom I have always understood to be a deep-sea pilot, was with me on the excursion last Sunday. He was in the pilot house a part of the time. We were authorized to carry forth-five passengers and a crew of five persons. The license was displayed where all could see it.

Q. – Did you count the passengers as they came aboard last Sunday? A. – No.
Q. – Were you aware that the tug was overcrowded? A. – I thought she was.
Q. – Did you object? A. I did. Many men clambered aboard, saying they were merely crossing to a boat moored next to us at the wharf. Some of these men staid on board. I objected, but it did no good.

“Capt. Hyatt said there were a dozen or so cases of liquor aboard the Nicol.

Q. – Was there any drinking after the boat started? A. – Yes. Most of the passengers got under the influence.

“Capt. Hyatt said… ‘The vessel would not have listed…if the passengers had not all climbed on one side to keep dry.’…

“Charles Kirchner, the President of the Herring Fishing Club, which gave the excursion, said he hired the tug for $50 for the day from the owners. …. ‘the Superintendent of the company said the Nicol …could carry sixty-five passengers.’….

Q. – How many were there on board? A. – After leaving the pier I took up sixty-three tickets and $4 in cash. There were also seven dead-head members of the club aboard, not including two boy helpers, the five members of the crew, and eight or ten men who got on somehow.
Q. – Doesn’t that make eighty persons? A. – Yes. There were eighty-six or eighty-seven persons aboard….

“Kirchner said the reason the passengers went to the dry side of the boat was that they would have been washed overboard if they had remained on the side over which the waves were breaking….Mr. Kirchner said he was positive the side of the tug which went under first was the side on which there were no passengers. ‘The door of the engine room was open,’ the witness said, ‘and I saw a flood of water pouring down the hole.’ Engineer John Farrell denied that the door of his room was open….

“Capt. Hyatt was recalled, and said he had done everything he could to warn the passengers and provide for their safety. ‘The accident,’ he said, ‘was caused by the heavy seas and the presence of all the passengers on one side of the boat.’

Q. – Was Capt. Kelly engaged to pilot the boat? A. – No; he was my guest. He came to help me because my license does not go beyond the Hook.’…

“No more bodies were recovered yesterday. Only one of the missing turned up…. This leaves fifty-three still missing.” (NYT. “Law violated on the Nicol,” June 28, 1894.)

July 23: “Victim of the Tug Nicol.”

“Long Branch, July 23, 1894. – The lower half of a man’s body was cast upon the shore here in front of the Brighton Hotel early this morning. The portion of the body was taken to the morgue, where Coroner Oliver, of Asbury Park, was summoned. The man is supposed to hve been one of the party who went down with the ill-fated tug, James D. Nicol, off Sandy Hook, June 24. Coroner Oliver made an examination of the body, and found a silver watch of Colorado make, No. 66,638, which stopped at 12:37. A bunch of keys and a silk handkerchief were also found. From the description ascertained of the body it is supposed to be that of Emil Wolf, aged twenty-one, of No. 351½ Bowery, New York.” (Jersey City News, NJ. “Victim of the Tug Nicol.” 7-23-1894, p. 7.)

Dec 29: “June 14. Fishing tug sank off Atlantic Highlands, N.J., nearly 50 drowned.” (Hamilton Daily Democrat, OH. “Events of the Year,” Dec 29, 1894, p. 6.)

Sources

Boston Daily Globe, MA. “List of Victims Grows….Nicol’s Lost…Reaches 39.” 6-26-1894, p. 3, c.1. Accessed 2-4-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/boston-daily-globe-jun-26-1894-p-3/

Daily Norwalk Gazette, CT. “The Nicol Disaster.” 6-26-1894, p. 2, col. 5. Accessed 2-5-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/daily-norwalk-gazette-jun-26-1894-p-2/

Gardner, John M. (Ed.). American Negligence Reports Current Series: All the Current Negligence Cases Decided in the Federal Courts of the United States, the Courts of Last Resort of all the States and Territories and Selections from the Intermediate Courts, together with Notes of English Cases and Annotations, Vol. 1. New York: Remick & Schilling, 1897, 911 pages. Digitized by Google. Accessed 2-4-2021 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=Ee42AAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Hamilton Daily Democrat, OH. “Events of the Year.” 12-29-1894, p. 6. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=71970899

Jersey City News, NJ. “Victim of the Tug Nicol.” 7-23-1894, p. 7. Accessed 2-5-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/jersey-city-news-jul-23-1894-p-7/

New York Times. “Fifty-Three Still Missing. Only Four Bodies of Nicol’s victims have been Found.” 6-27-1894, p. 9, col. 1. Accessed 2-4-2021 at: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1894/06/27/issue.html

New York Times. “Law Violated on the Nicol,” 6-28-1894. Accessed at: http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9905EEDF1531E033A2575BC2A9609C94659ED7CF

Steamboat-Inspection Service (U.S.). Annual Report of the Supervising Inspector-General to the Secretary of the Treasury for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1894 (Treasury Department Document No. 1705. Steamboat-Inspection Service, dated 10-5-1894). Washington: Government Printing Office. 1894. Accessed 2-4-2021 at:
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nnc1.cu09189980&view=1up&seq=197&q1

Steamboat-Inspection Service (U.S.). Annual Report of the Supervising Inspector General, Steamboat-Inspection Service to the Secretary of the Treasury for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1895. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1895. Digitized by Google. Accessed at: http://books.google.com/books?id=JFYpAAAAYAAJ

Waterloo Daily Courier, IA. “Nicol Disaster.” 6-26-1894, p. 2, col. 4. Accessed 2-4-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/waterloo-daily-courier-jun-26-1894-p-2/