1919 – Sep 8, last communication, steam tanker Larimer, 8m south of Key West, FL — 36

— 36 Blanchard estimated death toll.*

— 42 Bryan Daily Eagle, TX. “Hope is Abandoned for Tanker and Crew.” 12-9-1919, p. 2, c. 5.
— 42 Galveston Daily News. “All Hope For Safety of Tank Larimer Given Up.” 12-2-1919, p.19.
— 36 Singer S. D. Shipwrecks of Florida (2nd Ed.), 1998, p. 228.
— 36 US Bureau of Navigation. Fifty-Second Annual List Merchant Vessels…[US]…1920, 447.
— 34 Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger. “Tanker Nine Days Overdue.” 9-22-1919, p. 2, c. 6.

* Blanchard estimated death toll. Though one newspaper source notes 34 fatalities and two papers (with one seeming to be a shorter version of the earlier article) notes 42, we choose to follow the U.S. Bureau of Navigation report in 1920, of thirty-six deaths.

Narrative Information

Singer: “Larimer – Steam tanker (steel), of Port Arthur, Texas (owned by The Gulf Refining Co.,), 3737 tons, built in 1903 at Camden, N.J., 325.5’ x 46.4’ x 26.2’. Left Baltimore for Port Arthur, Texas, and Tampico, Mexico, where she picked up a cargo of oil, the headed back to Baltimore. She was last heard from Sept. 8, 1919, by wireless from Sand Key, eight miles south of Key West, in direct line of a hurricane. Never heard from again. All 36 of crew lost.”

U.S. Bureau of Navigation: “St. s. [steamer steel]…Larimer…3,737 [tons]…1903 [built]…36 [crew]…36 [lives lost]…Foundered…Sailed from Port Arthur for Philadelphia, passed Sand Key, Sept. 8, 1919, and has not since reported.”

Newspapers

Sep 22: “Tanker Nine Days Overdue.”
“Grave Anxiety for Larimer From Texas to This Port.”

“Grave anxiety is felt in the shipping circles of this city for the safety of the American tank steamship Larimer, bound from Port Arthur, Tex., to this port [Philadelphia] with a cargo of crude petroleum. The ship is nine days overdue. The Larimer left on her voyage just prior to the hurricane, which wrought such havoc in the Gulf of Mexico.

“In command of the Larimer is Captain Braun, and many of the crew of thirty-three men are said to be Philadelphians. She carried 31,000 barrels of oil, consigned to the Gulf Refining Company at Gibson’s Point on the Schuylkill river. She has not been sighted since September 8.” (Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger. “Tanker Nine Days Overdue.” 9-22-1919, p. 2, col. 6.)

Dec 1: “All Hope For Safety of Tank Larimer Given Up.”

“Special to The News.
“Port Arthur, Tex., Dec. 1. – All hope for the safety of the Gulf Refining Company’s tank steamer Larimer, which left this port for Baltimore Sept. 6, has ben given up. The vessel carried a crew of forty-two. The belief that the Larimer might have been disabled and drifted out of trade routs has been abandoned.” (Galveston Daily News, TX. “All Hope For Safety of Tank Larimer Given Up.”
12-2-1919, p. 19, col. 1.)

Dec 9: “Hope is Abandoned for Tanker and Crew.”

“Port Arthur, Dec. 9. – All hope for the safety of the taken steamer Larimer, which left this port for Baltimore September 6, has been given up by officials of the Gulf Refining company. The Larimer carried a crew of forty-two.” (Bryan Daily Eagle, TX. “Hope is Abandoned for Tanker and Crew.” 12-9-1919, p. 2, col. 5.)

Sources

Bryan Daily Eagle, TX. “Hope is Abandoned for Tanker and Crew.” 12-9-1919, p. 2, col. 5. Accessed 3-2-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/bryan-daily-eagle-dec-09-1919-p-2/

Galveston Daily News, TX. “All Hope For Safety of Tank Larimer Given Up.” 12-2-1919, p. 19, col. 1. Accessed 3-2-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/galveston-daily-news-dec-02-1919-p-19/

Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger. “Tanker Nine Days Overdue.” 9-22-1919, p. 2, col. 6. Accessed 3-2-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/philadelphia-evening-public-ledger-sep-22-1919-p-2/

Singer, Steven D. Shipwrecks of Florida: A Comprehensive Listing (2nd Ed.). Sarasota, FL: Pineapple Press, Inc., 1998. Partially digitized by Google. Accessed 2-16-2021 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=6j6kjZQReqkC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s#v=onepage&q=&f=false

United States Bureau of Navigation, Department of Commerce. Fifty-Second Annual List of Merchant Vessels of the United States…For the Year Ended June 30, 1920. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1920. Google digitized; accessed 3-2-2021 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=mF4uAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false