1907 — Feb 11, sidewheel steamer Larchmont hit by schooner, sinks off Block Harbor, RI–133-183  

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 1-30-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

Blanchard estimated death-toll. The most detailed account we have used as a source is that of the U.S. Life-Saving Service Annual Report for 1907. While it notes that the actual numbers of crew size and passengers will never be known, it notes that from accounts of surviving crew members it appears that the crew size was between 30 and 40 and that the passenger size was between 125 and 150 (according to the purser, who would be in a position to have a fairly good idea). We note below our calculations using the low and high end of crew and passengers, and then subtract the 17 survivors to show what in our opinion is the most likely death toll range – 138-173.

 

We need to provide two footnotes to this range. First is that the high number does not derive from the addition of 40 crew and 150 passengers (the high ends of the purser-estimated crew and passenger sizes), it derives from the statement in the same paragraph that there were “a possible 200 persons on board.” While this has the appearance of rounding-up, it could also reflect uncertainty concerning the purser’s estimates. We note below two sources which note a higher mortality than our numbers based on the Life-Saving Service report, and one which notes a 150-200 range.

The second footnote is that our low-end of our estimated death toll is not 138, but rather the 133 reported by the U.S. Steamboat Inspection Service reports which we do not want to dismiss.

 

     —  332  Snow, E.R. Great Gales and Dire Disasters, 1952, p. 127.[1] *

–150-200  McClutchy. “This Day in RI History: Feb. 11, 1907 – New England’s Titanic.” 2-11-2023.

     —<200  McDermott, M. “Thus Just In: R.I.’s Titanic…” The Providence Journal, 2-11-2020.

     —>183  U.S. Lifesaving Service. Annual Report…1907. 1908, p. 26. Our number**

     –~173  Blanchard estimate using 1917 Lifesaving Report high-end of crew size range.***

     –~163  Blanchard estimate using 1917 Lifesaving Report low-end range of crew size.****

     —<150  Grandchamp. “The Larchmont Disaster Off Block Island, Rhode Island’s Titanic.”

     —  150  Washington Post. “150 Perish in Sea Disaster,” February 13, 1907.

     —  143  Lettens, Jan. “PSS Larchmont (+1907).” Wrecksite.eu. 1-24-2011.

     —  143  Providence Journal. “Shipwrecks of the 20th Century.”

     –>143  Soares. The Larchmont Disaster off Block Island: Rhode Island’s Titanic. 2015, p. 1.

     –~139  Heinzmann, Lynne. The Larchmont Disaster. Small State Big History. (Our number)

                        — ~156 passengers and crew onboard, exact number unknown

                        —     19 survivors

                                    –2 survivors died from pneumonia “within a week.”

     –~138  Blanchard number from Lifesaving report using 30 crew size and 125 passengers.#

     —  138  The World Today. “The Calendar of the Month,” Vol. 12, No. 3, March 1907, p. 242.

     —  133  U.S. Steamship Inspection Service. Annual Report 1907, p. 13.

     —  133  US Steamboat Inspec. Service. Report…Supervising Inspector-General… 1907, p321.

     —  131  Snow, E.R.  Storms and Shipwrecks of New England.

     —  123  Berman, Bruce D.  Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 55.

 

*Blanchard note on Snow (1952): “We do not use this death toll as the high-end of our estimated death toll given the unusual circumstances of the number being put forth in 1950 by crew member. It also appears to us that if there were indeed such a large number it would probably follow that statements would reach the press of family members, friends or associates on the Larchmont now missing and not noted in the press at the time.

 

**Blanchard note on Life-Saving Service report:  Notes that there were “a possible 200 persons on board,” out of which only 17 survived. Thus we subtract 17 from 200 to arrive at 183. Also notes that there was “a crew of 30 or 40 men (the actual number is not known)” and “The number of passengers on board is also a matter of doubt, but it was probably somewhat near 150.”

 

***If the crew size was 40 and there were about 150 passengers with 17 survivors, total is 173

 

****Low end of crew size (30-40) plus estimated 150 passengers gives 180 onboard, of whom 17 survived – giving a death toll of 163.

 

# Report notes that the purser thought the number of passengers aboard was between 125 and 150. It is also noted that the crew complement was between 30 and 40 men. If there were 125 passengers and 30 crew, then there were 155 onboard, with 17 survivors, leaving a death toll of 138.

 

Narrative Information

(alphabetical)

 

McClutchy. “This Day in RI History: Feb. 11, 1907 – New England’s Titanic.” 2-11-2023:

“On this day in 1907, the steamship Larchmont collided with the coal schooner Harry Knowlton in the worst maritime disaster in Rhode Island’s history. Between 150 and 200 lives were lost according to newspaper reports at the time. The exact number of deaths has been the subject of much speculation as the passenger list was lost with the ship. Only 17 survived, including the captain and other members of the crew. 

 

“The Larchmont was a wooden, paddlewheel steamship, 252 feet long by 37 feet wide, that had a history fraught with disaster long before the fateful night of February 11th, 1907. The ship, which had three decks, two masts and a chimney, was built in 1885 at a construction yard in Bath, Maine for the International Steamship Line. It was launched under the name Cumberland, but after a collision in Boston Harbor, the ship was abandoned and bought in 1902 by the Joy Steamship Line. Rechristened the Larchmont, it was used to shuttle passengers and cargo between Providence and New York. Between 1902 and 1907, the ship experienced two fires, another stranding, a collision, and was even the location of an unsolved homicide. John O’Hara, a Providence engineer, was shot and robbed while aboard.

 

“At 7pm on February 11th, 1907 the Larchmont left South Water Pier in Providence with 52 crew and more than 100 passengers bound for New York. She was running a half an hour late and facing deteriorating weather with wind gusts of 40-50 miles an hour, waves up to 20 feet and reduced visibility.

 

“Once the ship cleared the Pt. Judith Lighthouse, the 27-year-old first-time Captain, George W. McVey, turned in for the night, leaving the Pilot, John Anson, in command. As blizzard conditions raged, most of the passengers retired to their cabin. The air temperature fell below zero and empty decks became coated in ice. 

 

“At approximately 10pm, the Larchmont exited Narragansett Bay and turned west into the Block Island Sound. At approximately 10:45, the Harry Knowlton, a three-masted schooner loaded with 400 tons of coal bound for Boston, rammed the passenger ship and severed her main steam line. According to eye-witness reports, the Larchmont sunk between ten and 20 minutes, only three nautical miles from Watch Hill.

 

“According to The New York Times, ‘The schooner came on with a speed that almost seemed to equal the gale that had been pushing her toward Boston. Even before another warning signal could be sounded on the steamer’s whistle, the schooner crashed into the port side of the Larchmont.’

 

“Frank T. Haley, the captain of the Harry Knowlton, and his crew of six made it onto a lifeboat and survived. They beached near the Quonochontaug Life-Saving Station in Charlestown where they spent several days recovering from frostbite and hypothermia.

 

“Unaware of the Larchmont’s perilous situation, the crew of the Harry Knowlton did not report the collision. Because of this, no one was aware of the disaster until 6am the next morning when the first lifeboat from the Larchmont came ashore at the North Lighthouse on Block Island.  

 

“Other lifeboats followed, washing ashore with both living and dead victims of the disaster. All survivors were severely frostbitten and suffered from hypothermia, exhaustion and shock. Though 19 made it to shore alive, two died shortly afterwards.

 

“Many Block Island fishing boats set off to look for survivors. The fishing boat Elsie spotted a floating fragment of the hurricane deck with 15 people clinging to it but only eight were still alive. Risking their own safety— sustaining either frostbite or respiratory damage—every crew member of the Elsie received gold medals from the Carnegie Hero Fund for their rescue effort to bring survivors back to shore.

 

“For days, the frozen bodies from the Larchmont came ashore on Block Island. In the weeks following the disaster, newspapers like the New York Times and Boston Globe carried accounts of the sinking and of the subsequent trial. The captains of both vessels blamed one another for the tragedy. Captain McVey claimed he was the last to leave his sinking ship. Other survivors claimed the captain and his crew were in the very first lifeboat and left the passengers to fend for themselves.

 

“After a weeks-long investigation by the Steamboat-Inspection Service of the Department of Commerce and Labor, the pilot Anson, who went down with the ship, was blamed for steering the Larchmont in the wrong direction when approaching the Harry Knowlton.

 

“In August 1964, scuba divers located the final resting place of the Larchmont off Watch Hill in 130 ft. of water.”

 

McDermott, Michael. “Thus Just In: R.I.’s Titanic…” The Providence Journal, 2-11-2020:

“Today is Feb. 11; on this date in 1907, the steamer Larchmont, en route from Providence to New York, sank off Block Island, killing as many as 200 people in Rhode Island’s worst maritime disaster of the 20th century. With winds at near gale force, a coal-hauling schooler, the Henry Knowlton, plowed into the Larchmont, which was known as “one of the finest side-wheel steamers of her day,” causing it to sink in just 15 minutes. The exact tally of dead is not known, but many of the 77 bodies that were recovered were frozen in caskets of ice. Only 17 people survived (including the captain, who made it onto a life boat), some of them pulled to safety by Block Island fishermen.”

 

Providence Journal: “February 11th, 1907 the Larchmont left Providence, Rhode Island en-route for New York. A winter storm soon struck which caused high seas and reduced visibility. The Larchmont and the coal schooner Harry P. Knowlton collided in this blizzard during the dead of night. The Larchmont went down within 20 minutes, only three miles from Watch Hill, Rhode Island. According to the New York Times ‘The schooner came on with a speed that almost seemed to equal the gale that had been pushing her toward Boston. Even before another warning signal could be sounded on the steamer’s whistle, the schooner crashed into the port side of the Larchmont. Most of the passengers, who survived the collision, froze to death in their lifeboats’.”  (Providence Journal.  “Shipwrecks of the 20th Century”)

 

Snow: “In…Storms and Shipwrecks of New England, I mention the collision and wreck of the side-wheeler Larchmont which sank near Block Island, February 11, 1907, with the reported loss of about 131 persons. In the year 1950, I interviewed Captain James E. Staples who was Quartermaster Staples aboard the Larchmont at the time of the disaster and who was one of the nineteen people saved. He made a startling revelation that in his opinion the company had minimized the records and that at least 332 persons were lost from the Larchmont  as a result of her collision with the schooner Harry Knowlton that wintry night. As he was present at the time the passengers were going aboard in Providence, Rhode Island, when the gangway counting was being taken, his statement cannot be ignored and we may therefore call the wreck of the Larchmont New England’s greatest sea disaster. ‘I stood gangway watch from six to seven and can safely say that at least 332 persons were lost when the Larchmont foundered,’ was his statement…. Captain Staples kept the knowledge of the correct number of those lost until just before he was to undergo a serious operation at a Boston Hospital, when he called me on the telephone. On August 20, 1950, in an interview preserved by tape recorder, revealed his story in person.” (Snow 1952, p. 126-127)

 

U.S. Lifesaving Service. Annual Report…1907. “The Larchmont Disaster, February 11, 1907:

 

“The marine casualty known as the Larchmont disaster, in which the passenger steamer Larchmont was sunk on the night of February 11, 1907, in Block Island Sound in collision with the schooner Harry P. Knowlton, occurred outside the field of operations of the Life-Saving Service. The case was not, therefore, subject to official investigation by this bureau under the requirements of the act of June 18, 1878. The services of the life-saving crews on Block Island (upon which upward of 100 of the victims of the catastrophe drifted ashore aboard the Larchmont’s boats and life rafts) in caring for those who were so fortunate as to get to land alive, and in recovering from the surf the bodies washed up on the island beach, are, however, considered of such signal merit as to call for more than incidental notice.

 

“The names and post-office addresses of those whose lives were saved or sacrificed are given in every instance possible in order to amplify and complete the record of one of the world’s great sea tragedies. What follows is compiled from a report made in the case by Captain Herbert M. Knowles, superintendent of the Third life-saving district (embracing the coast of Rhode Island), and from reports of the employees of the Service under whose personal supervision the rescue and relief work of the life-saving crews was carried on. Captain Knowles, by whose direction the reports of his subordinates were prepared, spared no pains to make the record of events that took place on the island in connection with the disaster as complete as possible and in thorough accord with the facts.

 

“The Larchmont was a Joy Line, side-wheel, single-deck, two-masted steamer, plying between Providence, Rhode Island, and New York City. She registered 1,605 tons and was 252 feet long, with 37 feet beam. She was built in Bath, Maine, in 1885. She left Providence on her fatal trip at 6:30 p.m. of February 11, 1907, in command of Captain George W. McVey, with Robert Gay, chief engineer, and a crew of 30 or 40 men (the actual number is not known). The number of passengers on board is also a matter of doubt, but it was probably somewhat near 150. Captain McVey, who escaped with his life, estimated the number to have been 50 or 75, but the purser of the steamer, who also survived the disaster, placed the figures at from 125 to 150, and most of the ship’s crew who reached land alive were inclined to agree with him. While the exact number of fatalities will also doubtless ever remain a mystery, the magnitude of the calamity may be comprehended by the small number of survivors – only 17 out of a possible 200 persons on board.

 

“The schooner Harry P. Knowlton was a vessel of 317 tons, hailing from Eastport, Maine. She was commanded by Captain frank T. Haley and carried a crew of 7. When the collision occurred she was on her way from South Amboy, New Jersey, to Boston, with a cargo of soft coal. She had been ice-bound at the head of Long Isnad Sound, and had gotten free early in the day of the 11th, and in order to make up for lost time was carrying considerable canvas. She was built for the South African trade, and for this reason, it is stated, was faster than the average vessel of her class. As the wind was blowing a gale on the night of the 11th she was therefore doubtless going along at a pretty good clip when she rammed the Larchmont.

 

“The weather could scarcely been better calculated to make the impending collision of the most terrible consequence. The night was clear, but the temperature was only 2⁰ or 3⁰ above zero, and the wind, which swept furiously across the Sound from the northwest, sent the seas clear over the laboring steamer, the water freezing as it fell and leaving a coating of ice upon everything above deck. The two vessels came together about 10.45 p. m. 3 ¼ miles SSE of Watch Hill light, and almost due west of the northernmost point of Block Island, lying 10 miles from the mainland.

 

“While the stories of the two commanding officers do not agree with regard to the movements of their respective vessels just before the collision occurred, the recitals by the survivors from both vessels as to what took place afterwards are in substantial accord. The Knowlton struck the steamer on the port side forward of her paddlebox, carrying away all the head gear of the first-named vessel back to her knightheads. The speed of the Larchmont, however, carried her clear of the schooner, and the latter fell off to leeward. Captain Haley says that he signaled the Larchmont for help, but realized that his only hope of safety lay in getting ashore. He therefore hauled up to northward for the nearest land, but his vessel was so badly injured that the crew had to take to the ship’s yawl while still a mile and a half off the beach and about the same distance from the Quonochontaug life-saving station. The schooner and her small boat were both discovered offshore about 1.30 a.m. by Surfman Charles G. Eldridge, of the statin named, while making the west patrol. He burned a Costan signal, and when the men in the boat struck the beach he assisted them to land. They were taken to the station, where they were cared for three days. They informed the station keeper of the collision, but it appears that they were in ignorance of its tragic outcome, having express to the keeper the opinion that the steamer had gone on her way. The seriousness of the disaster was not known on the land until the forenoon of the 12th, when the living and dead began to drift ashore on Block Island. After the schooner was abandoned it continued to drift shoreward, and took bottom on the beach about three-fourths of a mile west of the Quonochontaug station, becoming a total loss.

 

“Following the collision, the Larchmont continued ahead for a short distance with all her lights extinguished by the shock, the water pouring in through the gaping hole in her side, and the steam from the pipes broken asunder by the schooner’s prow filling her super-structure. Many of those on board had probably retired, as it seems was customary for persons taking passage on this boat to do after passing Beaver Tail, where the ocean swell is first encountered. Such as had done so were of course totally unprepared to face the awful situation with the presence of mind necessary to make the most of it, and in the short 12 minutes that ensued before the vessel went down  had no chance, in the darkness, choking steam and general confusion, to get to that part of the steamer where the crew were trying to lower the boats and life rafts. The work of getting the boats and rafts over the side and safely afloat was an almost impossible undertaking owing to the terrific onslaughts of the seas, the fierceness of the gale, and the crowding of the terrified passengers. While the operation was going on a number of the passengers jumped, or fell, overboard in their eagerness to leave the ship, and were of course drowned. At least half of those on the vessel succeeded, however, in getting safely away, and there is little doubt that, but for the rigorous weather, the larger part of them would finally have reached land by their own efforts with little discomfort, or been picked up by passing vessels.

 

“Owing to the direction of the wind, the boats and wreckage from the steamer were swept toward Block Island, and the majority of those, living and dead, that reached the island came ashore near the Sandy Point life-saving statin, situated near the island’s northern-most point. Some of the imperiled people missed the island altogether and were carried on seaward, as was the case with the eight survivors picked up by the schooner Elsie several miles northeast of the island. The first news received by anyone connected with the Life-Saving Service bearing upon the fate of the Larchmont reached the Sandy Point station by telephone from the keeper of the Sandy Point light about 6 o’clock on the morning of the 12th, the light-keeper having informed Surfman Charles A. Mitchell, who was temporarily in charge of the station during the keeper’s absence on account of disability, that a boy had come to the light-house nearly frozen to death.

 

“Thinking that a boat might have come ashore, Mitchell sent one of the station crew to the beach to investigate, and taking the rest of his men, except one who remained behind to prepare breakfast, went to the light-house. The life-savers at once set to work to revive the boy, and when he had recovered sufficiently to talk he told them that he was one of several persons who had drifted ashore in a boat.

 

“Leaving a surfman to look after the boy, Mitchell and the rest of his men hastened to the beach. In the meantime the surfman who had gone to the beach direct from the station had found a boat bearing the number 8 broadside on the beach full of water, with the surg breaking over it, and a man, barely alive, lashed to a thwart, his form scarcely discernable through a covering of ice. This man proved to be Anton Razukiewiz, of Central Falls, Rhode Island. The surfman tried to get him clear, but was unable to do so until his comrades came to his aid. The life-savers carried him to the light-house (which was nearer than the life-saving station), where they wrapped him in blankets, after which they bore him to their station, and there applied the treatment prescribed by the Service for frostbite. They then turned him over to the care of Doctor Larrabee, a local physician, for whom they had telephoned, and went down to the beach to look for the other occupants of the boat. Three bodies were picked up, and one man was found who showed signs of life. The latter died, however, before they could get him to the station.

 

“While searching for survivors from the first boat that came ashore, one of the life-savers, who had gone some distance ahead of his comrades along the beach, observed several persons staggering toward the station. The surfman ran to meet them, and, catching hold of two, who were in advance of their fellows, helped them as rapidly as possible on their way. They proved to be Captain McVey, of the Larchmont, and Quartermaster James Staples, of the same vessel. While escorting these two men to the station the surfman met Surman Streeter leaving the light-house and informed him that there were others coming along behind. Streeter continued on down the beach in the direction indicated, and about 150 yards from the life-saving statin discovered a man prostrate, face down. On turning him over the surfman found signs of life in him, and seeing that the men whom he had come to assist would be able to get to the station unaided he took the man in his arms and carried him to the light-house. With the help of the light-keeper’s daughter and others he cut off the man’s clothing and applied the usual restorative measures, but the man died in their hands.

 

“While efforts were being made to restore the man picked up by Streeter another man reached the light-house, who proved to be Purser Oscar Young, of the Larchmont. About this time also John Tolan and Martis Liebert, firemen from the Larchmont, were found on the beach by acting keeper Mitchell and assisted to the life-saving station. When these two men were safely under shelter Mitchell again went up the beach and found two more nearly frozen men trying to get to the station. He secured a team from a resident of the neighborhood and hauled them in. Their names were James Vann, of Wilmington, North Carolina, and James L. McFarland, of Brooklyn, New York.

 

“Until the arrival of Captain McVey at the Sandy Point station the Block Island life-savers had had no definite information of the disaster of the previous night. Upon learning something of the nature of the casualty their vigilance was redoubled, and with the spreading of the terrible news a number of private residents of the island came to the station with proffers of assistance. By mid forenoon the mist, which had hung heavily over the water since dawn, began to lift, making it possible to get a view offshore, and disclosing a boat drifting in. The team that had been previously used in the rescue work was brought to the beach, in readiness to carry the occupants to the station when they should land. The boat was found to be No. 6. It contain one live man and 9 frozen bodies, one of those on board having committed suicide while drifting in the Sound. Oliver Janvier was the name of the survivor. The suicide was identified as John Marcario. Another of the bodies proved to be that of James B. Harrison.

 

“Soon after the landing of boat No. 6 an empty raft came ashore, those it supported having evidently been washed away. Following this raft another was sighted, which, on nearing shore, was seen to support 6 persons, only one of whom appeared to be living. This raft turned over in the surf and all who were on it were swept away, but the lone survivor fortunately managed to get hold of the lifeline attached to it, and was rescued by surfmen Mitchell, Steadman, and Northup, who secured him by rushing waist deep into the water. This man was named Mohammed Omar. Shortly afterwards a fourth raft was seen coming in. Two or three of the surfmen waded out to meet it, and found upon it 5 frozen bodies.

 

“As soon as Acting Keeper Mitchell learned from Captain McVey of the seriousness of the disaster, and realized the character of the work probably in store for him and his men before the close of the day, he telephoned to Keeper A. N. Littlefield, of the New Shoreham station, situated near the southeasterly end of the island, to come to his assistance. Keeper Littlefield promptly responded, taking with him several of his crew and the station cart loaded with clothing, blankets, medicines, and other supplies useful in succoring the shipwrecked. In his report of the day’s work Keeper Littlefield says:

 

We reached the Sandy Point station about 10 a.m. and found the life-saving crew there busily engaged looking after the survivors, caring for the dead, of which there were then 12 at the station, and taking others from the boats and surf. My men at once went to work stripping wet and frozen clothing from the survivors and assisting the physician present in caring for them, while others of my crew went to the beach and brought in dead bodies.

 

“About the time of the arrival of the New Shoreham station crew another raft came ashore empty. It was followed by boat No. 5 containing one body. A little later boat No. 7 came ashore one-third of a mile south of the station with 3 bodies. These were all carried to the station by Mr. A. N. Sheffield’s ox team, along with several other bodies which had washed up on the beach and been placed by some of the surfmen out of reach of the surf.

 

“From noon of February 12 to noon of the 13th 4 men of the Sandy Point station, assisted y 2 surfmen from the Block Island station, maintained a constant patrol along the beach, while other surfmen of the Sandy Point crew were at the station ministering to the survivors and caring for the dead. As fast as bodies came ashore they were carried to the station and tagged and numbered by Doctor John C. Champlin, of the Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service, whose station is on the island. Doctor Champlin’s work was as thorough as possible under the circumstances and greatly facilitated the later work of identification at Providence, to which place the bodies wer taken from the island.

 

“On the morning of the 13th A. N. Sheffield discovered a body in the surf about three-fourths of a mile southeast of the Sandy Point station. With the assistance of another man Sheffield recovered it and laid it on the beach. It was later carried to the station, where it was identified as Reverend Philip Manfre, of Providence.

 

“About noon of the 12th, while the men of the New Shoreham station were assisting the Sandy Point crew, word was received that the Block Island schooners were bringing survivors and dead from the Larchmont into Old Harbor, near the New Shoreham station. Thinking that the serviced of himself and crew might be needed at Old Harbor, Keeper Littlefield returned with his crew to his station, where they found the citizens at Old Harbor caring for the 8 survivors and 7 dead picked up by the schooner Elsie. (A previously mentioned, this vessel had rescued 8 persons several miles at sea, the only survivors picked up offshore by any vessel.)

 

“The schooner Clara E also brought into Old Harbor 13 bodies; the schooner Edward H. Sneed, 3; the schooner Wm. Talbot Dodge, 1; the schooner Little Fred, 6; and the yawl Theresa, 7, making all told, 8 survivors and 37 bodies. Four of the survivors and 13 bodies were cared for at the life-saving station on the night of the 12th. On the 13th the living and dead so far brought ashore at Old Harbor, numbering 21, were conveyed by team across to New Harbor, on the western side on the island, and placed aboard the Joy Line steamer Kentucky, which had come to carry them to Providence. The Kentucky was then piloted upshore by a surfman from the New Shoreham life-saving station, and took from the Sandy Point station the survivors and dead being cared for at that place. Later in the day 22 more bodies, brought into Old Harbor by the fishing vessels above referred to, were left at the New Shoreham station, and on the following day two more bodies were added to the number. The Joy Line sent the tug Roger Williams to New Harbor to receive these, and 23 of them were carried across the island by the life-saving crew and placed aboard that vessel. One body, that of Harry L. Eckles, a resident of the island, was interred in the Old Harbor burying  ground.

 

“On the night of the 25th, two weeks after the disaster, a body was found by Acting Keeper Mitchell on the beach a short distance from the Sandy Point station. By means of papers found on the clothing the dead man was identified as Julian Klimaslewski, of Providence, Rhode Island.

 

“From the foregoing it appears that 20 survivors and 75 corpses from the Larchmont came ashore on Block Island, namely: 1 survivor, succored at the Sandy Point light station; 11 survivors and 38 bodies, cared for at the Sandy Point life-saving station; and 8 survivors and 37 bodies, brought into Old Harbor by Block Island schooners. These, with 2 bodies that came ashore on No Man’s Land, and which were recovered by the crew of the Gay Head life-saving station, make 97 victims accounted for. The bodies last referred to were identified as the remains of Joseph P. Gightman, of Lebanon, New York, and Fredrick H. Mooney, of East Providence, Rhode Island.

 

“Of the 20 persons who reached land alive, one died on the island and two succumbed after reaching Providence, leaving only 17, so far as can be ascertained, who survived the terrible exposure of that winter’s night.

 

‘One fact developed in this case was the failure of both vessels involved in the collision to burn rockets or make other distress signals. This omission on the part of the Larchmont was doubtless due to the great confusion on board and the rapidity with which the stricken vessel went to the bottom, leaving no time fore concerted or effective action of any character by her officers. Moreover, the fatally injured Knowlton drifted away after the impact totally unaware of the seriousness of the injury she had inflicted on the Larchmont. The scene of the collision was not more than 3 or 4 miles from the mainland, which, the records show, was patrolled by members of the Life-Saving Service. As the night was clear and an extended view offshore possible by either of the vessels, in which event many of those who succeeded in escaping to the boats and life rafts might have been picked up by craft putting out from the shore, hours before they began to drift on Block Island.

 

“The services of the life-saving crews on Block Island, while not taking them away from the shore, were extremely heroic and self-sacrificing. During the entire day of February 12 several of them remained in the open on the beach in a heavy gale of wind, with the temperature near zero, their clothing frozen stiff, and their grewsome task of recovering bodies frequently taking them shoulder deep into the surf. To quote from the report of the district superintendent, ‘they resembled statues of ice more than human beings.’ Nor was their work ended with the close of the day immediately following the disaster. Throughout the night of the 12th and until noon of the 13th they remained on the beach without sleep, and with little refreshment, ready to five aid to, or recover any living or dead that the turbulent waters might cast upon the shore. Following is a letter addressed to the keeper of the Sandy Point station by the president of the Joy Steamship Company, expressing his appreciation of the services of these men:

 

On behalf of our company I want to thank every man in the life-saving organization on Block Island for their efforts in caring for the living and dead from the disaster to our steamer Larchmont on the 11th instant. From all reports that I have received nothing was left undone by the station crews that could have been done. Hoping you will convey the thanks of the company to each of the men, and that they man know that their work has been, in a small measure at least, appreciated, we remain,

            Very respectfully,

  1. M. Dunbaugh, President.

 

“The Service desire here to acknowledge the great assistance rendered the life-saving crews on this occasion by private citizens of Block Island, as follows: Walter R. Littlefield, Elwin A. Perry, Roy Payne, H. Ansel Ball, Thaddeus A. Ball, S. Martin Rose, Samuel L. Hayes, Seymour Hayes, Charles Littlefield, Ira H. Littlefield, Charles Smith, Arthur N. Sheffield, John G. Sheffield, John Hayes, and Oscar H. Willis. Side by side these men worked on the beach with the surfmen, picking up bodies and hauling them to the Sandy Point station with teams furnished by themselves.

 

“It is considered proper here to refer to the efficiency of the Service telephone system in this instance. As the stations on Block Island are connected by wire with ‘half-way’ houses, the men on the beach and at the stations were able to keep in constant and ready communication with each other, thereby greatly facilitating the work in hand.” (United States Lifesaving Service. Annual Report of the United States Life-Saving Service for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1907. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1908, pp. 25-31.)

 

U.S. Steamboat Inspection Service, Annual Report 1907: “…the steamer Larchmont [sank] after collision with the schooner Harry Knowlton in Block Island Sound, on the night of February 11, 1907, when 133 of the Larchmont’s passengers and crew perished….

 

“The most serious disaster of the year was the sinking of the Larchmont. The weather was very cold (thermometer at or about zero), and a strong gale was blowing from west-northwest. The night was dark, but clear, and signal lights could be seen a sufficient distance to have avoided collision, but notwithstanding this the schooner rammed the steamer at or about right angles on the port side, cutting into the fire room and totally disabling the steamer, which sank in about ten minutes or less. Only a few of those on the Larchmont were fortunate enough to get into the boats and most of these died from exposure before they reached Block Island, whither they drifted before the gale.  The disaster was thoroughly investigated by the officers of this Service, and the responsibility determined, but those who were found responsible for it had passed beyond the jurisdiction of human authority.” (U.S. Steamboat Inspection Service. Annual Report 1907, p. 13.)

 

U.S. Steamboat Inspection Service, Supervising Inspector General Report: “The most serious disaster of the year was the sinking of the Larchmont. The weather was very cold (thermometer at or about zero), and a strong gale was blowing from west-northwest. The night was dark, but clear, and signal lights could be seen a sufficient distance to have avoided collision, but notwithstanding this the schooner rammed the steamer at or about right angles on the port side, cutting into the fire room and totally disabling the steamer, which sank in about ten minutes or less. Only a few of those on the Larchmont were fortunate enough to get into the boats, and most of these died from exposure before they reached Block Island, whither they drifted before the gale. The disaster was thoroughly investigated by the officers of this Service, and the responsibility determined, but those who were found responsible for it had passed beyond the jurisdiction of human authority.” (U.S. Steamboat Inspection Service. Report…Supervising Inspector-General… 1907, 321.)

 

Newspaper

 

Feb 13, Washington Post, Schooner Blames Steamer:

 

“Capt. Frank P. Haley, of the schooner Harry Knowlton, which was in collision with the, Larchmont, stated that the accident was entirely due to the steamer.  He said: that his lights were burning, and he held to his course, with’ the expectation that the steamer, having sighted him,  would pass him with plenty of sea room. When he found that the steamer would not turn out, Capt. Haley said It was too late to avert a collision. Capt. Haley’s explanation of the collision follows: 

 

“I never shall quite understand how this accident occurred.  The night was dark, but starry, and it was not thick. We left New York yesterday with a cargo of coal, bound for Boston, and were making fair progress through the Sound. A long time before the accident happened we had sighted the Larchmont as she steamed steadily to the westward.  All her lights were seen. Some of the crew were on’ deck a while, and we spoke of the picture that the Larchmont made, all lighted up.  Then we saw that the steamer seemed to be heading directly for us.  I remember that I looked up at our lights, which were burning all right, and, of course, I expected that the steamer would look out for us. But she kept right on .

 

“Some of us shouted a warning-, and one member of the crew blew a horn constantly.

I scarcely knew what to do. I did not dare attempt to tack to clear the path of the steamer, because I thought she would turn out for us.  When she was right ahead of us, there was nothing for us to do but hit her. The blow was a very bad one. I thought we were going down at once, as the schooner quivered and then reeled backward, with the bowsprit, the jib boom, and fore rigging forward carried away. The water rushed in at once. The steamer lurched badly to starboard when we struck her, and then she continued on her way. She did not seem to be badly damaged.”

 

“Capt. Haley then proceeded to narrate the experiences of himself and crew in working his vessel shoreward. With  five feet of water in the hold, and gaining, the work of manning the pumps was exceedingly difficult, as the water surged about the men all the time. Finally it was decided to abandon the vessel, and after seizing a few of their personal effects, all hands took to the boat, which was launched. Eventually all reached the shore safely about seven miles below Watch Hill.

 

“The exact moment of the collision fixed by Capt. Haley as being 10:45p. m.”  (Washington Post, “150 Perish in Sea Disaster,” February 13, 1907.)  

 

Larchmont Captain on Leaving Sinking Ship: 

 

“When I saw that every one was making ready to escape as fast as possible, I went to my boat, which was hanging on the davits, and took into it six of the crew and four passengers.  When the steamer had settled almost to the water’s edge, we cleared away, after we had made sure that there were no passengers on board who had not been taken care of.  After our boat dropped into the water we remained in the immediate vicinity until the steamer sank, and then we pulled away.  The boat was a heavy one, and we found it impossible to row to the windward, so we turned to the leeward and started for Block Island.  The cold was terrible.  We struggled for hours and hours, and the pain from out frostbitten hands and feet was almost unbearable.  One of our men, a seaman, became crazed and committed suicide in the boat by cutting his throat.  No one in the boat had strength enough to prevent him from doing it.  We arrived here at 6:30 o’clock in the morning very much exhausted and frozen.”  (Washington Post, “150 Perish in Sea Disaster,” February 13, 1907.)

 

“New York, Feb. 12 – Late tonight the officials of the Joy Line here received a detailed report from Capt. Gray, of the steamer Kentucky, which left Fall River, Mass., at 11 o’clock this morning for the scene of the wreck of the steamer Larchmont, off Block Island…. Immediately upon its arrival…[the crew] put out in small boats and made an inspection of the wrecked vessel.  No one was found aboard, and Capt. Gray said that there was about five feet of water in the staterooms on the hurricane deck. The sea…was breaking over her, and she would undoubtedly be a complete wreck.

 

“The Kentucky then steamed to Block Island and anchored off the spot where the survivors landed in small boats.  Capt. Gray again ordered his crew to the boats and was rowed ashore.  As he neared the shore, the captain said that he saw huge blocks of ice and wondered at first what they could be.  As he neared the beach, he said that he discovered that the blocks of ice covered human bodies.  ‘It was the most horrible sight I ever saw,’ the captain reported.  ‘There were thirty bodies strewn along the beach, and all of them were incased in ice. The ice was several inches thick.’ 

 

“After making an examination of the bodies, Capt. Gray went to the rowboats, in which those who had survived had abandoned the Larchmont.  In the bottom of the boats he found twelve bodies, and several of them were women. These, the captain said, had been frozen to death in the boat, while drifting about in the sound.

 

“Capt. Gray then hurried to the lighthouse, about half a mile away, where he found nineteen, who had been saved. They had been carried from the beach by farmers and those employed in the lighthouse…. “ (Washington Post. “Appalling Disaster – Explosion of a Staten Island Ferry-Boat Boiler.”  July 31, 1871, p. 11.) 

 

Sources

 

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

 

Grandchamp, Robert. “The Larchmont Disaster Off Block Island, Rhode Island’s Titanic.” Book Review of The Larchmont Disaster, by Joseph and Janice Soares (Charleston, SC: History Press, 2014), in Small State Big History website. Accessed 1-29-2024 at: https://smallstatebighistory.com/the-larchmont-disaster-off-block-island-rhode-islands-titanic/

 

Heinzmann, Lynne. The Larchmont Disaster. Small State Big History. Accessed 1-29-2024 at: http://smallstatebighistory.com/the-larchmont-disaster/

 

Lettens, Jan. “PSS Larchmont (+1907).” Wrecksite.eu. 1-24-2011. Accessed 1-29-2024 at: https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?154403

 

McClutchy, Sarah. “This Day in RI History: February 11, 1907 – New England’s Titanic.” WUN (What’s Up New). 2-11-2023. Accessed 1-29-2024 at:  https://whatsupnewp.com/2023/02/this-day-in-ri-history-february-11-1907-new-englands-titanic/

 

McDermott, Michael. “Thus Just In: R.I.’s Titanic…” The Providence Journal, 2-11-2020. Accessed 1-29-2024 at: https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/2020/02/11/this-just-in-ris-titanic-state-police-internal-investigation-update-monique-brady-sentenced/1727482007/

 

Providence Journal.  “Shipwrecks of the 20th Century.” A Special “Newspaper In Education” supplement from The Providence Journal. 2-11-2020. Accessed at:  http://www.projo.com/nie/djl/NIE_05.pdf

 

Snow, Edward Rowe  Great Gales and Dire Disasters. NY: Dodd, Mead and Co., 1952.

 

Snow, Edward Rowe. Storms and Shipwrecks of New England. Boston: Yankee Pub. Co., 1943.

 

Soares, Joseph P. and Janice Soares. The Larchmont Disaster off Block Island: Rhode Island’s Titanic. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2015. Google preview accessed 1-29-2024 at: https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Larchmont_Disaster_Off_Block_Island/lujuBwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=larchmont+sinks+1907&pg=PT46&printsec=frontcover

 

The World Today. “The Calendar of the Month,” Vol. 12, No. 3, March 1907, p. 109. Accessed 1-29-2024 at:  http://books.google.com/books?id=cZjNAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=true

 

United States Lifesaving Service. Annual Report of the United States Life-Saving Service for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1907. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1908. Accessed 1-29-2024 at: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Annual_Report_of_the_United_States_Life/h-o9AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=US+Lifesaving+service+annual+report+1907&pg=PA12&printsec=frontcover

 

United States Steamboat Inspection Service. Report of the Supervising Inspector-General, Steamboat-Inspection Service (Department of Commerce and Labor). Washington, Nov 18,1907, pp. 313-370 in United States Department of Commerce and Labor.  Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor. Washington: GPO, 1907. Digitized by Google; accessed 1-29-2024 at:

https://books.google.com/books?id=lqQXAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Washington Post. “150 Perish in Sea Disaster,” 2-13-1907, p. 11. Accessed at:  http://www.newspaperarchive.com/PdfViewerTags.aspx?img=5250583&firstvisit=true&src=search&currentResult=0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] This new number was based on statement of James E. Staples, who had been the Larchmont quartermaster in 1907, who contacted Snow in 1950 and stated “that in his opinion the company had minimized the records and that at least 332 persons were lost from the Larchmont…”