September 2, 1914 – Federal officials begin an
investigation to determine the cause of a fire that rips through the passenger
ship City of Chicago, which lies
beached at the life saving station at the entrance to the Chicago River. The one big question about the wreck is how a
fire could have gained such force if all members of the crew were on duty. The boat sits with its hull resting on the
bottom of the lake in about twelve feet of water with a load of Michigan
grapes, cantaloupes and peaches still aboard.
The official report of the Coast Guard describes the event, “When within
5 miles of the end of her run in the early morning of September 1, 1914, the
1,439-ton passenger steamer City of Chicago,
bound from St. Joseph, Mich., to Chicago, with 94 passengers, a crew of 56, and
a full cargo of fruit, was discovered by her master to be on fire
amidships. To avoid panic no alarm was
sounded, and the presence of the fire was kept secret on board until the master
was able to lay his vessel, head-on, upon the breakwater protecting Chicago
Harbor. As the steamer rested upon the
barrier referred to she lay within a few feet of the old Chicago Coast Guard
Station. The station lookout had
observed smoke rising from her before she struck, and keeper and crew lost no
time in beginning the work of extinguishing the fire. The women and children on board were carried
down ladders set against the steamer’s side.
With everybody safely landed, the Coast Guard crew devoted their entire
attention to subduing the fire, and succeeded, with the help of a fire tug, in
putting it out after three hours’ effort.”
The captain of the City of Chicago,
Oscar Bjork, says, “There isn’t much to say about it. You can see where the boat is, and you can
bet I didn’t put her there for nothing.
I don’t think it would have been possible to save her anyhow – but I
wasn’t figuring on saving her. It was the
passengers I was worried about.” [Chicago Daily Tribune, September 2, 1914]
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