A Launch, a Leaking Tank, and Eight Tourists Who Nearly Died on Lake Washington
A gasoline explosion aboard J. B. MacDougall's launch off the Madison Street landing nearly turns an Alaska reunion into a catastrophe — no life preservers, no bars, and flames between the double hull.
A gasoline tank exploded yesterday morning on board J. B. MacDougall's launch at Lake Washington about 100 feet from the Madison Street landing, and but for the timely assistance of parties from the shore might have caused the death of several persons.
Fred Everett, who has just returned from Alaska, was starting out on an excursion with a party of eight tourists from Utica, N. Y., whom he had met on the Alaska trip. Suddenly one of the ladies screamed that the gasoline was on fire, and before anything could be done the tank, containing several gallons, flared up and all hands began flooding the flames with water, but the bottom of the boat, which is double, became so hot from the flames between the floors that they could hardly bear to step on the bottom of the boat. Men from the shore came in a rowboat and pulled them to the beach. No bars nor life preservers were on board and a dangerous catastrophe was averted by the merest chance.
“No bars nor life preservers were on board and a dangerous catastrophe was averted by the merest chance.”
Lake Washington's Madison Street landing is now the Madison Park beach, still a launch and swimming hub. The 1895 near-disaster — a gasoline tank, no life preservers, and a double hull that trapped fire — is a reminder that recreational boating safety rules came only after a long series of such close calls.
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