A Steam Pipe Bursts Aboard the Nineveh
A donkey engine hoisting ballast aboard the British ship Nineveh exploded at Tacoma, leaving ship carpenter McPherson badly scalded and fighting for his life.
Tacoma, March 26.—Special.—A donkey engine aboard the British ship Nineveh exploded this morning. Ship Carpenter McPherson, aged 40, was running the engine at the time and was fearfully scalded by steam about the head, arms and breast. He may die. A seaman was slightly hurt by flying fragments of the engine. McPherson was removed to the Fannie Paddock hospital, where all that is possible is being done for him. The cause of the explosion was a defective steampipe. The engine was being used in hoisting out ballast. Little damage was done the ship.
“McPherson was removed to the Fannie Paddock hospital, where all that is possible is being done for him.”
Industrial accidents on the waterfront were routine in an era before modern safety codes. The same docks that built Tacoma’s economy could turn a defective steam pipe into a life-or-death event.
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