The Fiery Wreck of the J. C. Brittain
A freight steamer loaded with lime catches fire after hitting rocks in a thick Rosario Straits fog.
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.
The freight steamer J. C. Brittain, Captain McDonald, loaded with lime from Roche Harbor to Everett, was wrecked on Belle Rocks in Rosario Straits yesterday morning. The J. C. Brittain is owned by the Everett Trading & Transportation Company. When the vessel entered a thick fog, it struck the rocks, listing badly to port. As water entered the hull, the barrels of lime began bursting and popping like big firecrackers, and within minutes, the ship was engulfed in flames. Eleven crew members managed to escape in a lifeboat just as the ship began to burn. While the vessel and its cargo are considered a total loss, all crew members were rescued safely by the tug Holyoke.
“The barrels of lime were already bursting and popping like big firecrackers. Great volumes of steam poured out of her as soon as the water entered, and before we got any distance away the flames shot up.”
Rosario Strait remains a treacherous and busy waterway for modern maritime traffic, though improved navigation technology has replaced the rely-on-sight methods of 1893. The incident highlights the inherent dangers of transporting volatile industrial goods like quicklime, which reacts violently with water—a hazard that necessitated careful cargo management in the age of steam.
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