Steamer Triumph Lost to Fire in Fairhaven
A ferry boat plying the Puget Sound trade caught fire from a loose spark while its watchman slept, resulting in a total loss of the vessel.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Fairhaven, July 16.—The steamer Triumph, 100 tons register, licensed to ply between Tacoma and Lynden, the head of navigation on the Nooksack River, was burned to the waterline between 6 and 7 o’clock this morning on the beach at the foot of McKenzie Avenue, where she was tied up at 4 o’clock to discharge a cargo of hay for Hamilton Co. of this city. The Triumph was built three years ago, partly at Lynden and partly at Sehome, and was the property of Captain C. M. Maltby of Lynden. She cost $5,000, and is a total loss except the machinery, which is not much injured. There was no insurance. The wreck was carried out into the bay by the wind and tide and was towed into Ocean Dock by the Evangel. Five persons aboard at the time escaped without injury, but lost everything except the clothing they had hastily donned. One man lost $77. The fire is supposed to have caught from a spark of coal from the firebox while the watchman was asleep.
“The fire is supposed to have caught from a spark of coal from the firebox while the watchman was asleep.”
This incident highlights the precarious nature of early 1890s maritime commerce in the Puget Sound region, where small independent steamers were the lifeblood of transport. Fairhaven and Sehome have long since merged into the modern city of Bellingham, and McKenzie Avenue is a historic marker of an era before the waterfront was heavily industrialized.
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