1925 — Aug 18, Steamer Mackinac Boiler Explosion, Narragansett Bay, RI — 55
Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 3-21-2025 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/
–55 Blanchette. “Pawtucket Park Honors Mackinac Steamer Tragedy.” Providence Now. 8-14-2014.[1]
–55 Lowell Sun, MA. “Sell Mackinac to Pay Damages.” November 28, 1925, p. 3.
–55 Valley Breeze, Lincoln, RI. “Remember the Mackinac disaster Tuesday.” 8-17-2015.
–53 New Castle News, DE. “Pleads Not Guilty To Negligence in Mackinac Disaster,” 9-3-1925, 1.
–52 Lowell Sun/AP, MA. “Death Toll Now 52.” 8-27-1925, p. 22.
–47 Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 59.
Narrative Information
Valley Breeze, Lincoln, RI. “Remember the Mackinac disaster Tuesday.” 8-17-2015:
“PAWTUCKET – Mayor Donald Grebien and City Councilor Mark Wildenhain are inviting the public to a ceremony to remember the Mackinac tragedy on Tuesday at 10 a.m. on the Festival Pier off Tim Healey Way. The ceremony will include the unveiling of a Mackinac memorial plaque and a wreath-laying ceremony.
“On Aug. 18 of 1925, the steamer Mackinac was returning to Pawtucket with 672 passengers after an excursion to Newport when the boiler exploded, unleashing a deadly blast of steam that killed 55 people and injured 150 more. One of the deadliest disasters in Rhode Island history took the lives of many Pawtucket residents who were on a holiday sponsored by their employer, J & P Coats Company.”
Newspapers at the time:
Aug 19: “The excursion steamboat Mackinac, built in 1909 at Ferrysburg, Michigan, left Pawtucket the morning of August 18 “bound for Newport. The departure was delayed almost an hour while steam fitters of the Blackstone Valley Transportation Company placed a patch on the boiler.” (Fitchburg Sentinel, MA. “Excursion Ship Death Toll Reaches 32.” 8-19-1925, p. 13.)
A fraternal organization had chartered the steamer to take 60 Providence children on an excursion down Narragansett Bay. (Fitchburg Sentinel, 19Aug25, 13; Lowell Sun, MA. “Steamer Mackinac Explosion in Which 40 Lost Their Lives.” 8-20-1925.)
“The excursionists arrived at Newport shortly after 1 o’clock and toured the town during the afternoon. The departure was made from Newport at 5:40 and 15 minutes later, when the first mile had been covered, the explosion happened.”
There were a total of 677 passengers on-board as well as the ship’s complement of eight officers and twenty seamen. (Fitchburg Sentinel, MA. “Excursion Ship Death Toll Reaches 32.” 8-19- 1925, p. 13.)
Aug 19, AP: “Newport, R.I., Aug 19 (AP) – A scalding boiler explosion, which brought to a sudden close the outing of a boat load of 677 excursionists as they were leaving Newport harbor aboard the steamer Mackinac last night…The explosion occurred at 5:55, as the Mackinac was passing the naval training station for Pawtucket….The majority of the dead and injured were trapped on the first and second decks when the boiler exploded. No report was heard as the boiler in the engine room gave way, the first warning being clouds of escaping steam, which the victims were powerless to escape. The accident happened within a stone’s throw of the naval hospital, less than 100 yards from shore, otherwise the casualty list would have been trebled, passengers on the boat said today. The excursionists, most of them from Pawtucket and Providence were returning from a vacation voyage to Newport.
….
“A patch on the boiler, which had been placed there just before the departure of the boat, gave way, exploding the boiler…Capt. Thomas McVey of Pawtucket, skipper of the stricken vessel, said the boat was traveling 15 knots an hour, its fullest speed and was loaded to its capacity.
….
“A distress call was immediately sent out by the wireless operator and launches from the naval ships at anchor in the cove rushed to the scene….Those who saw the disaster ashore described a large burst of black smoke which shot from the steamer. This was followed by the steam, which enveloped the ship to such a degree that she could not be seen from shore.” (Fitchburg Sentinel, MA. “Excursion Ship Death Toll Reaches 32.” 8-19- 1925, p. 13.)
….
“Capt. Charles E. Riggs, commanding officer at the hospital…summoned every available navy physician, as well as priests and ministers from the naval vessels in the harbor. Inside the hospital two wards were prepared to receive the victims. So swiftly did they come that many were placed on the floors outside as every member of the base’s hospital corps as well as the naval nurses worked with feverish haste to relieve them. The majority of those who died at the naval hospital were in such shape, physicians said, that they could only try to make their last moments as painless as was medically possible.[2]
….
“Washington, Aug. 19 (AP) – An investigation by the government’s steamboat inspection was ordered today into the disaster aboard the steamship Mackinac. [Commerce] Secretary Hoover personally instructed George Uhler, Inspector General of the service, to proceed immediately to Providence to go into all phases of the accident and its possible causes and to report back on the results of his inquiry.”
Also on the 19th George J. Kelley, general manager of the Mackinac’s owners, the Blackstone Valley Transportation Company, issues a statement to the effect that it was not the main boiler that burst, but a large pipe or “mud drum” in the bottom of the boiler that burst. “Inspection, he said, revealed no weaknesses there or anywhere else in the boiler. He said that no passengers were permitted to board the boat…until a thorough examination had proved everything…in excellent condition. Mr. Kelley said that Chief Engineer John Grant of East Providence informed him in the morning that slight repairs to the boiler would be necessary before the boat left the dock…and not until a close examination had revealed everything all right were passengers allowed to go on board.
….
At the Naval hospital “physicians found new deaths in the accident wards on almost every visit.” (Fitchburg Sentinel, MA. “Excursion Ship Death Toll Reaches 32.” 8-19- 1925, p. 13.)
Aug 20: “Captain George McVay, and who was also in command of the steamer Larchmont when it sank off Block Island in 1907, with the loss of 125 or more lives, was terribly affected by the tragedy. He told city officials that almost immediately after he felt the concussion of the explosion, steam began to seep through every crevice from the boiler room, shrouding the ship in a fatal [scalding] cloud and making it impossible to see the nearby shore. Fearing that the Mackinac was so badly damaged that she would sink, he sent the pilot to the hurricane deck to determine the direction of land. Guided by the pilot’s directions, he said, he blindly turned the Mackinac towards shore and her momentum carried up on the beach. The next few minutes were filled with agonized activity as he and members of the crew strove to avert panic among the passengers. The swift arrival of launches from navy vessels nearby [Newport Naval Training Station] prevented the badly injured from becoming panic stricken, it was believed. While a few leaped overboard, most of them remained on the ship until the launches could carry them to the Naval hospital….
….
“State officials…claim that the catastrophe was due to a defective boiler on the Mackinac….State officials claim that her boiler presents sufficient evidence. It is, they said, an old one, deteriorated by wean and thinned down in certain places and contains signs of discoloration which indicate an old break….It became known here today that the Mackinac’s boilers have never been inspected in the state of Rhode Island. Government inspectors in Providence said that the vessel was last inspected in New York last April. The federal laws controlling inspection of steam vessels demand the submission of such ships to boiler examination once a year….State boiler inspectors who visited the death ship yesterday, stated to The Associated Press that the boiler which exploded was cracked and in weakened condition.” (Lowell Sun, MA. “Steamer Mackinac Explosion in Which 40 Lost Their Lives.” August 20, 1925.)
Aug 20: One of the first rescuers to board the ship was Seaman Harvey Person of Olean NY, who “clad in an asbestos suit and wearing a gas mask…clambered over the side and plunged into the scalding vapor, removing dozens of the moaning victims of the disaster to the steamer’s side. Peterson working in terrible heat, aiding the wounded until the clouds of steam dissipated, when he and others of the small party of asbestos-clad rescuers were relieved by a fresh detail from the [battleship] Wyoming.
….
“Press reports that John J. McCarthy, a boiler expert who was a passenger aboard the boat, will be summoned to tell his story before the federal board which is making one of the four separate investigations to determine responsibility for the blast.[3] McCarthy is quoted as charging that stokers stood in four inches of hot water from a leaky boiler while they fired their boilers before Newport was reached.
….
“Also reported was statement of Rhode Island Assistant Attorney General Oscar L. Heltzen: “If officers of a steamer on which an explosion occurs have been guilty of negligence by acts of either commission or omission they many, where loss of life ensues, be guilty of man-slaughter.” (Quoted in: (Olean Evening Times, Olean, NY. “Olean Boy in U.S. Navy Hero of Disaster.” August 20, 1925, p. 1.)
Aug 22: Some of what survivors and rescuers saw were “scores” of victims, ‘scalded until the flesh hung in strips from their bodies, and one man was literally cooked where he lay on the floor near the boiler.’ In addition to the external scalding many victims suffered scalding of the lungs….
Experienced physicians and naval surgeons said that the sights were the worst that they had ever seen in the long experience with death in all forms.” (Newport Mercury, RI. “More Than Two Score Dead.” 22 Aug 1925.)
Aug 24: “Providence, R.I., Aug 24 (AP) – Chief Engineer John Grant of the steamer Mackinac whose boiler blew up in Newport Harbor last Tuesday…was aware of the dangerous condition of the boiler before the steamer started on the ill-fated excursion according to testimony submitted at the hearing being conducted under the direction of the federal steamboat inspection service here today.” (Fitchburg Sentinel, MA. “Engineer Knew Boiler Dangerous, Inquirers Hear.” 8-24-1925, p. 1)
Aug 26: “Providence, R.I., Aug 26 (AP) – John Grant, Chief Engineer…testified today at a hearing before federal officials that he had not considered a leak which he had discovered on the morning of the disaster serious enough to question the safety of the boiler. Grant gave his testimony over protest of his counsel…who sought to have questioning of his client halted. ‘I am willing to bear the blame with whoever is guilty with me’ Grant told [the commission]…’ Whatever happens to me, I won’t stretch the truth…I found a lot of pin holes in the drum….They looked like a trifling job to me, so I telephoned the Wholley Boiler Works. I told their man to look at the boiler and see if the job could be done. He told me he thought the job could be done, but later he came back and said he did not believe he could do it because of the moisture. Considering the smallness of the leak, I considered the boiler safe. I told him the leak was so small we would make the trip under reduced pressure, dropping the pressure to 40 pounds, so we decided to make the trip. The explosion was in the mud drum….” The Associated Press report also notes the death toll at 50. (Lowell Sun, MA. “Mackinac Engineer Willing to Bear Blame in Disaster.” 8-26-1925, p. 1.)
Aug 27: “Newport, R.I., Aug. 27 — …James McCarthy of Central Falls died of his burns last night, wiping out the entire McCarthy family. Mrs. McCarthy and her three children died several days ago…A body believed to be that of Alfred Breault of Pawtucket, a victim of the boiler explosion…was picked up by a boat man last night.” (Lowell Sun, MA. “Death Toll Now 52.” 8-27-1925, p. 22.)
Aug 29: “Newport, R.I., Aug 29 – Workmen from the [Wholly] Boiler Works said that they warned Chief Engineer Grant that the boiler might blow up….The workmen from the Wholly Works were queried sharply as to why they had not reported repairs previously made, to the inspector of boilers, and said that they did not know that they were supposed to do so.” (Newport Mercury, RI. “More Mackinac Deaths.” August 29, 1925.)
Sep 3: “Providence, R.I., (International News Service), Sept. 3 – Chief Engineer John A. Grant… pleaded not guilty of negligence when arraigned today before a federal board. Captain George V. McVey of the steamer who will be tried separately was in court.” Also noted death toll now at 53. (New Castle News, DE. “Pleads Not Guilty To Negligence in Mackinac Disaster,” 9-3-1925, p. 1)
Sep 10: “Providence, R.I., Sept. 10 (AP) – The federal license of John A. Grant…was revoked by the local inspectors of the United States Steamboat Inspection Service Thursday [Sep 9]. No decision has been rendered yet in the case of George W. McVay, captain…who was also charged with negligence… George Mullen, assistant engineer of the craft, still in the Naval hospital at Newport, suffering from burns, has been ordered to appear before the Federal inspectors for trial on a negligence charge on Sept. 29….Grant…was charged with negligence in permitting the boilers of the steamer to become in an unfit condition and with failing to report repairs made to the boilers to the local office of the steamboat inspection service.” (Bridgeport Telegram, CT. “Revoke License of Steamer Engineer for Boiler Blast.” Sep 11, 1925, p. 15.)
Oct 2: “Providence, R.I., Oct. 2 (AP) – Indictments charging manslaughter against Captain George W. McVay and John A. Grant…were returned in superior court here today.” (North Adams Transcript (MA), October 2, 1925)
Nov 5: “Providence, R.I., Nov. 5 (AP) – Captain George W. McVay and assistant engineer, George C. Mullen…have been found not guilty by federal steamship inspectors who heard the evidence in their cases charging negligence in connection with the blast…. The federal inspectors ruled that Mullen had reported a leak in the boiler to Engineer Grant before the start of the fatal excursion and that Captain McVay had never been informed of the condition of the boilers.” (North Adams Evening Transcript, MA. “Mackinac Officers Are Indicted Today.” November 5, 1925, p. 9.)
Nov 28: “New York, Nov 28 (AP) – Judge Robert A. Lach in Brooklyn federal court today signed an order approving the sale to A.O. Parsons for $10,200 of the steamer Mackinac aboard which 55 persons were killed in a boiler explosion in Narragansett Bay, August 18. Proceeds from the sale will be apportioned among claimants allowed damages.” (Lowell Sun, MA. “Sell Mackinac to Pay Damages.” November 28, 1925, p. 3)
Sources
Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. Boston: Mariners Press Inc., 1972.
Blanchette. Matt. “Pawtucket Park Honors Mackinac Steamer Tragedy.” Providence Now. 8-14-2014. Accessed 3-21-2025 at: https://www.abc6.com/pawtucket-park-honors-mackinac-steamer-tragedy/
Bridgeport Telegram, CT. “Revoke License of Steamer Engineer for Boiler Blast.” 9-11-1925, p. 15. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=12245470
Fitchburg Sentinel, MA. “Engineer Knew Boiler Dangerous, Inquirers Hear.” 8-24-1925, p. 1). Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=29695720
Fitchburg Sentinel, MA. “Excursion Ship Death Toll Reaches 32.” August 19, 1925. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=29695658
Lowell Sun, MA. “Death Toll Now 52.” August 27, 1925 (AP), p. 22. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=56398942
Lowell Sun, MA. “Mackinac Engineer Willing to Bear Blame in Disaster.” 8-26-1925, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=60852161
Lowell Sun, MA. “Sell Mackinac to Pay Damages.” November 28, 1925, p. 3. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=61657795
Lowell Sun, MA. “Steamer Mackinac Explosion in Which 40 Lost Their Lives.” August 20, 1925. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=60852104
New Castle News, PA. “Pleads Not Guilty To Negligence in Mackinac Disaster,” 9-3-1925, p. 1. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=57035935
Newport Mercury, RI. “More Mackinac Deaths.” 8-29-1925, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=60232574
Newport Mercury, RI. “More Than Two Score Dead.” 8-22-1925, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=60232570
North Adams Transcript, MA. “Mackinac Officers Are Indicted Today.” October 2, 1925, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=62322153
Olean Evening Times, NY. “Olean Boy in U.S. Navy Hero of Disaster.” 8-20-1925, p. 1. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=37985171
Valley Breeze, Lincoln, RI. “Remember the Mackinac disaster Tuesday.” 8-17-2015. Accessed 3-21-2025 at: https://www.valleybreeze.com/news/pawtucket/remember-the-mackinac-disaster-tuesday/article_d3629f0d-c968-5b7a-9d67-d4fb2ca9bad5.html
[1] Shows photo of memorial mark4r “Dedicated to the Memory of the 55 Whose Lives Were Lost.”
[2] “The hospital staff admitted seventy-nine victims, twenty of whom were treated and released. Chief Nurse Esther L. James directed both Navy nurses and countless volunteer nurses who came to help in caring for the severely injured patients….Twenty-eight died before the next morning, forty-six within a few days.” (Godson 2002, 100)
[3] Though not without some contention as the State and Federal investigators each claimed that they were in “full charge.” (Newport Mercury {RI}, 22 Aug 1925)