The steamboat Dix operated from 1904 to 1906 as part of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet. She was sunk in a collision which remains one of the most serious transportation accidents in the state of Washington to this day.[2]
In May 2011, it was erroneously reported that wreckage likely to be that of the Dix had been confirmed off Seattle's Alki Point.[1][3] What they believed to be the wreckage was soon acknowledged to not be the Dix.[4]
The true discovery of the Dix was announced on November 17, 2023 by the Northwest Shipwreck Alliance. Working with Rockfish Inc., the Alliance revealed to reporters that they had been studying the wreck site for years and testing their equipment on it. Their hope is to bring legal protection to the site to prevent disturbance of the gravesite.[5][6]
Construction
Dix was built in 1904 at the Tacoma yard of Crawford and Reid. Dix was 102.5ft (31.2m) long, 20.5ft (6.2m) on the beam, 7.5ft (2.3m) depth of hold, and rated at 130tons.[1] Later, given her tragic end, it was recalled, perhaps superstitiously, that the launching of Dix was a failure. The vessel had simply refused to move down the ways at Crawford and Reid, and had to be hauled into the water the next day by Captain Sutter in command of Tacoma Tug and Barge's Fairfield.[7][8]
Dix was purpose-built for one route only, the run across Elliott Bay from Seattle to Alki Point, then the main recreation area for Seattle. Her owners were A.B.C. Dennison and W.L. Dudley, doing business as the Seattle and Alki Point Transportation Company. She was lightly built and apparently top-heavy, as the steamboat inspectors twice refused to issue her a seaworthiness certificate. They relented only when her builders installed 7tons of gravel ballast in her hull and bolted 5tons of iron weights to her keel.[9] Even so, she was said to be difficult to handle.[10]
Operations
Dennison and Dudley put Dix on the intended Seattle-Alki route. In summer service with their other steamer Manette, the two boats made nineteen trips daily. During the legislative session in early 1905, Dix was placed on the Olympia-Tacoma route. The fast sternwheeler Greyhound was already on that run and there wasn't much business left over, so in January 1905 Dix was returned to the Alki run.[11]
Sinking
On November 18, 1906, Dix was acting as a relief boat for Monticello on the Seattle-Port Blakely run. She left Seattle with about 77 passengers.[3] Her captain, Percy Lermond, tasked with collecting fares, was absent from the pilot house, leaving the mate Charles Dennison in charge. Theoretically fare collection was a job for the purser, but on the smaller vessels, it was customary for the master to perform this function.[12]
The evening was calm and somewhat clear, and as the vessel steamed west past Alki Point into the open Sound, Captain Lermond went to his quarters behind the pilot house to tally the fares. Off Duwamish Head, Dix approached near the Alaska Coast Company steamer Jeanie[13] and then mate Dennison (who it turns out was unlicensed) inexplicably turned the vessel directly into Jeanie's path. Jeanie was ten times the size of Dix and loaded with iron ore.[14] Even though Jeanie had already reversed her engines, and was barely under steerage way, the impact was sufficient, given the much greater weight of Jeanie, to cause Dix to heel sharply over on her port side. She quickly filled with water, rolled over, and sank in 103 fathoms (188m). Captain Lermond described the terrifying scene:
The sight fascinated me by its horror. Lights were still burning and I could see people inside of the cabin. The expressions on the faces were of indescribable despair.... There were cries, prayers, and groans from men and women, and the wail of a child and the shouts of those who were fighting desperately to gain the deck.[15]
Impact of sinking
The first vessel on the scene was Florence K, whose master, Capt. Cyprian T. Wyatt (1877-1952) and chief engineer, E.L. Franks, picked up the first survivors and took them to Port Blakely.[16] The shock of the survivors was great, as a newspaper account of the time showed:
"Tottering and shaking with tearless sobs... (Adeline) Byler was led from the steamboat unable to walk unassisted," the Daily Times reported. " 'Have you seen my boys? Oh, my boys!' was the consoless question that Mrs. Byler put to every man. As nothing definite was heard, nor either of them put in an appearance, Mrs. Byler collapsed."[2]
Reports of the number of passengers lost vary; The New York Times, having received a dispatch from Portland, Oregon about the sinking, reported the number lost as 40.[17] Years later, in a 1913 story about Jeanie's loss off Calvert Island, the Times reported the number of passengers lost by the sinking of Dix as 54.[13] A 2011 Seattle Times article said the number was "as many as 45",[3] when another source has it as over 45 people, including Charles Dennison. Mrs. Byler's sons, Charles and Christian, and their sister, Lillian, were all trapped below deck and taken down when the ship sank.[14]
The chief engineer, George F. Parks, also drowned. The wreck was sunk so deep that salvage operations were impossible. No bodies were ever recovered;[13] the people were trapped inside and went down with her.[18][19] Most of the Dix victims were from Port Blakely, and the place was hit hard, that night in the little town being described as "running of a gauntlet of shrieks and moans of grief-stricken wives and mothers ..."[20] Work stopped briefly at the huge Port Blakely Lumber Mill for the first time in the mill's history.[18]
Captain Lermond was one of the survivors,[3] indeed he died only in 1959, at the age of 90 years.[21] Following the Dix sinking, his master's and pilot licenses were revoked.[22] The Steamboat Inspection Service found Dix totally at fault for failure to keep an efficient lookout; the captain, who had been acting as both master and fare collector at the time of the accident, was found to have negligently relinquished his control of the steamer to an unqualified person.[22] Captain Lermond had apparently failed to protest the requirement he collect fares for fear of his job.[22]
Although his license was reinstated a year later, Captain Lermond served exclusively in command of tugs for the rest of his career until 1933, never again commanding a passenger vessel.[18]
Though the fault was placed with Dix and captain Lermond it was found during the investigation that Jeanie was navigating in violation of law with only one engineer, the first assistant, on the engine; without the knowledge of the ship's master.[22] Up until then, with the significant exception of Clallam, the steamboats had enjoyed a good reputation for safety, at least by the standards of the time. The circumstances of the loss of Dix were all the more shocking to the people on the Sound, who depended on the steamboats for their basic transportation.[2]
In 1973, a memorial to Dix was dedicated in a small park at Duwamish Head.[3]
Related Research Articles
The Puget Sound mosquito fleet was a multitude of private transportation companies running smaller passenger and freight boats on Puget Sound and nearby waterways and rivers. This large group of steamers and sternwheelers plied the waters of Puget Sound, stopping at every waterfront dock. The historical period defining the beginning and end of the mosquito fleet is ambiguous, but the peak of activity occurred between the First and Second World Wars.
Lake Washington steamboats and ferries operated from about 1875 to 1951, transporting passengers, vehicles and freight across Lake Washington, a large lake to the east of Seattle, Washington. Before modern highways and bridges were built, the only means of crossing the lake, other than the traditional canoe or rowboat, was by steamboat, and, later, by ferry. While there was no easily navigable connection to Puget Sound, the Lake Washington Ship Canal now connects Lake Washington to Lake Union, and from there Puget Sound is reached by way of the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks.
The steamboat Urania was a vessel that operated on Lake Washington and Puget Sound in the first part of the 20th century.
The steamboat Defiance operated in the early 1900s as part of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet. In later years this vessel was called Kingston.
Matthew McDowell was a steamboat owner and builder associated with the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet.
The steamboat Monticello (2) operated in the early 1900s as part of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet. The vessel went through several reconstructions and remained in service until 1962, when she was lost in Alaska waters. Her later names were Penaco and Sea Venture. (This Puget Sound steamer should not be confused with the smaller Monticello, which also ran on Puget Sound, but was built in 1895 for Captain Z.J. Hatch of the Monticello Steamship Company.
The steamboat Mizpah operated in the early 1900s as part of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet.
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The steamboat Clallam operated for about six months from July 1903 to January 1904 in Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. She was sunk in a storm on what should have been an ordinary voyage to Victoria, British Columbia.
Sechelt was an American steamship which operated from 1893 to 1911 on Lake Washington, Puget Sound and the Strait of Georgia, mostly as a passenger ferry with routes between Washington state and British Columbia. For most of her career, she was called Hattie Hansen. She became well known following her unexplained sinking with no survivors near Race Rocks Lighthouse in 1911.
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Florence K was a steamboat that was operated on Puget Sound from 1903. This vessel was later renamed Gloria and was rebuilt as a steam ferry and renamed Beeline.
Inland Flyer was a passenger steamboat that ran on Puget Sound from 1898 to 1916. From 1910 to 1916 this vessel was known as the Mohawk. The vessel is notable as the first steamer on Puget Sound to use oil fuel. Inland Flyer was one of the most famous vessels of the time on Puget Sound.
Camano was a steamboat built in 1906 at Coupeville, Washington, which operated on Puget Sound from 1906 to 1917. Camano was later known as Tolo. As Tolo the vessel was sunk in 1917 as a result of a collision at sea. Four people died as a result.
Atlanta was a steamboat built in 1908 at Houghton, Washington which served on Lake Washington and Puget Sound until 1938, when it was converted into a diesel-powered houseboat.
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↑ Newell, Gordon R., Ships of the Inland Sea, at 142-43, Binford and Mort, Portland, OR (2nd Ed. 1960)
↑ Newell, Gordon R., ed., H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest, at 105, Superior Publishing, Seattle, WA 1966
↑ McCurdy at 105 states that the inspectors required 30 long tons (30t) of permanent ballast be installed. This higher figure may be erroneous given the size of the vessel and the more detailed breakdown supplied by Newell
1 2 3 "An Unlucky Ship Lost — The Jeanie, Which Caused a Sea Tragedy, Is Destroyed on Rocks". The New York Times. December 21, 1913. Retrieved 2011-05-18. The Jeanie, a wooden ship of 1,072 gross tons, was built at Bath, Me. in 1883. On the night of Nov. 18, 1906, she rammed the steamboat Dix just outside Seattle Harbor, and the Dix sank with fifty-four of her passengers. Their bodies were never recovered.
↑ Faber, Jim, Steamer’s Wake – Voyaging down the marine highways of Puget Sound, British Columbia, and the Columbia River, at 191, Enetai Press, Seattle, WA 1985 ISBN0-9615811-0-7
1 2 3 4 The American Marine Engineer (1908). "Editorial". The American Marine Engineer. 2 (January, 1907). New York/Chicago: National Marine Engineer's Beneficial Association: 14. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
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