The Narrow Escape of the Passenger on the George E. Starr
While boarding a steamship at Port Gamble, a man walking along the deck slipped through an unguarded gap in the railing—highlighting the dangerous lack of safety regulations on Puget Sound vessels.
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.
As the George E. Starr was to make a landing this morning at Port Gamble, a man, not noticing that the rail had been unshipped to put out the gangplank, walked overboard. His cries were heard in time, but the boat was some time in reaching him, and had he not been a good swimmer he would have drowned. On the Atlantic coast, the crews of passenger steamers are drilled once a week in lowering boats to save lives. It would be a great protection to passengers if this law were enforced on passenger steamers on the Sound. The fortunate or unfortunate passenger happened to be a half-breed Indian.
“On the Atlantic coast, the crews of passenger steamers are drilled once a week in lowering boats to save lives. It would be a great protection to passengers if this law were enforced on passenger steamers on the Sound.”
Public transit safety has come a long way since the 1880s, but the critique of 'drilling for safety' versus the reality of maritime operations mirrors ongoing debates about worker training and passenger safety on modern ferry systems in the Puget Sound.
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