The Tragic End of the Steamer Ellis
A sternwheeler plying the waters between Seattle and Sidney is lost to fire, leaving a captain with a total loss and few answers.
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 steamer Ellis, which had been plying between Seattle and Sidney, was burned to the water's edge yesterday morning at Sidney. The boat had been undergoing repairs to its pipes and boiler throughout Sunday. After a fire was banked for the night, a watchman on board was awakened around 1:00 AM by smoke. He was forced to leap onto a wharf to save himself as flames engulfed the vessel, fueled by an exploding barrel of kerosene. The mooring lines were cut to protect the wharf, and the burning ship drifted out into the inlet, where it was later scuttled and sunk by Captain Ellis. The wreck now lies partially submerged near Bremerton. The vessel, built in 1891, was insured, but the loss is estimated at $15,000 to $17,000.
“The fire spread rapidly and soon enveloped the whole boat, being increased by a barrel of kerosene which exploded on board.”
The destruction of the steamer Ellis reminds us that the Puget Sound 'Mosquito Fleet' was a hazardous and fickle enterprise. Today, the location of the wreck near Bremerton serves as a ghostly remnant of a time when the inland sea was our primary highway and fires on wooden steam vessels were a constant, terrifying threat.
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