Jan. 10 in Delaware history: Ship smashes into St. Georges bridge, killing 2
This article appeared in the Tuesday, Jan. 10, 1939 Journal-Every Evening. One man died in this crash and another died the next day in the hospital.
SHIP WRECKS CANAL SPAN; ONE KILLED
2 Men in Tower As Bridge Falls At St. Georges
A bridge tender was reported killed and the government inspector injured this morning when the 395-foot freighter Waukegan crashed into the bridge at St. Georges, toppling the steel structure into the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.
The ship, its rudder fouled, smashed into the north tower, tumbling the tower and the center span into the water. The two men were in the control house on the center span.
Robert Quinn, 45-year-old bridge tender of St. Georges, was believed trapped in the tower. His body had not been recovered at noon today.
Man Thrown Clear
William F. Oakes, 45, also of St. Georges, was thrown clear of the control house, and was rescued by a rowboat from the Waukegan after clinging to the partially submerged structure for 20 minutes.
Oakes, with both legs broken, was rushed to St. Francis Hospital in Wilmington for an emergency operation.
Norman Sparks of St. Georges had gone off duty as bridge tender only a few minutes before the accident.
$300,000 Damage to Bridge
Damage to the bridge was unofficially estimated at $300,000. A falling girder tore a hole in the bow of the freighter above the waterline.
Clement Vaughn, a U.S. surveyor working nearby said the vessel apparently went out of control suddenly.
Both anchors were dropped, he added and the engines were ordered full speed astern, but the freighter swept on, jamming into the north tower.
Boat Bound for Baltimore
The tower crumpled, splashing with a roar into the canal, 25 feet deep at that point. It pinned the ship's prow.
With it went the roadbed, lifted like an elevator between the two towers for ships to pass, and the top section with the control house.
The Waukegan, commanded by Capt. John R.L. Reynolds and owned by the Maritime Commission, had entered the canal about dawn, and the accident occurred at 8:30 o'clock.
It was bound for London via Baltimor (sic) with a cargo of grain.
One eyewitness declared "there was a terrible noise, and the whole thing seemed to collapse. The bridge structure fell on the forward part of the ship."
A truck driver said he heard the sound three quarters of a mile away.
Quinn was believed either killed in the crash, or to have drowned as he struggled to free himself.
The two men in the control cabin plunged more than 150 feet down into the water. The bridge when lowered is 50 feet above water level.
Traffic on the DuPont Boulevard was forced to detour. Telephone communication was disrupted when a cable was apparently torn by the wreckage ...
... Automobile traffic will be forced to detour for months, it was said.
The northern end of the span was a mass of twisted girders. The superstructure on the southern end was also twisted.
Replacement of the structure will cost roughly $300,000, said J.W. Fairbrother, engineer of J.A. Bader & Co. He said the superstructure could not be salvaged, but the abutments and piers were still left.
The company did major concrete work on abutments and piers in 1936.
A counterbalance weight of 22 tons of steel and iron crashed down through the ironwork on the southern edge of the bridge. The northern approach and center span were gone, with a noticeable sag in the southern approach.
The Waukegan struck with such force that it moved the bridge 30 feet — its exact width — westward.
The concrete roadbed of the bridge itself must be recovered from the canal bottom before water traffic can be resumed, engineers added.
The steel-plated Waukegan was built under wartime construction by the government in 1919. Its gross tonnage was 6,208. It had a draught of 175 feet.
Town Divided
St. Georges found itself a town divided, with no passage across the river except by small boats.
An engineering employe (sic) said a pontoon bridge might be thrown across the canal for foot and lighter traffic, to join the village now cut in half.
Three blocks from the scene Quinn's wife and children waited in their home, while firemen made plans to drag the canal for his body.
A U.S. Engineering tug, derrick, and smaller boat stood by.
Captain of Boat Silent
Captain Reynolds, leaving his ship about 12:30 o'clock, said he had no statement, but had "profound regrets at the loss of life and injury to the other man because of the accident." ...
... State troopers directed by Capt. Henry C. Ray blocked off the highway for about five miles north of the crossing, diverting traffic by way of Summit Bridge and Middletown.
By early afternoon the prow of the vessel was still aground and caught fast in the tangled wreckage, and engineers said it would not be moved until inspected by the Steamship Inspection Service.
Light rain and overcast skies gave a sombre note as crowds of townspeople flocked to both sides of the canal.
Crowd of 7,000 gathers
Some 7,000 persons jammed the small town this afternoon ... Residents in the vicinity of the bridge said it collapsed like a child's bridge set when stepped on.
Crumpled Like Tissue Paper
"You'd think it was more like tissue paper than steel," one resident told W. Lyle Mowids of Dover, who was one of the first motorists stopped at the south side of the canal's bank after the accident.
Veteran canal men said the tide in the vicinity of the bridge is treacherous and that it was flowing strongly when the accident happened.
John A. Taylor, an eyewitness, declared he could feel the vibration of the collision where he stood 300 feet away on Main Street in St. Georges.
Folded Like Matchwork
"The tower folded up like matchwork. I heard the whistle blow for the bridge to go up, and saw the boat approaching."
Taylor added he was paying little attention until he heard a "crunch" when the ship's prow struck the structure.
J.P. Wilson of near St. Georges, a farmer, ran to the edge of the canal when the bridge toppled, and reached it just as Oakes came to the surface.
Oakes kept calling for help until the rowboat reached him, he said, and then with Earl Schwartz, and Gilbert Carrow, Wilson assisted in taking him from the boat to a light delivery truck.
State police escorted the truck in a dash to Wilmington.
Judge Charles L. Terry, Jr., [future governor of Delaware] described the scene at the bridge as "horrible." He arrived at the bridge about five minutes after the accident occurred, on his way to Wilmington where he is sitting in the Court of General Sessions.
John. W. Carrow, who lives about a block and a half from the bridge, said he was aroused by "the terrific noise" when the accident happened. He said he did not know what had happened and rushed outside. Mr. Carrow is a juryman in the Court of General Sessions.
Frank W. Schroeder, clerk of the House of Representatives, rushed to the bridge from his home in Delaware City. He said that about 2,000 persons were there when he reached the bridge. "It was a terrible sight," he said. "Both towers, the lift and the superstructure were down. The abutment on the north side was completely submerged. There was a mass of entangled steel."
Lester Eye-Witness
Claude N. Lester, president of the New Castle County Levy Court, who had just come out of Fred Sutton's store, about 275 yards from the bridge, said he heard the crash. "I looked in the direction of the bridge and saw streaks of fire, as the bridge went down," he said. "When it struck, the water splashed more than 15 feet in the air. It was a horrible sight." Lester lives at St. Georges.
Quinn is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, and two daughters, Odell, a student at Ursuline Academy, and Mrs. Dorothy Lutz, who lives at his home.
Oakes is married, with eight children: William, a freshman at the University of Delaware, Francis, student at H. Fletcher Brown Vocational High School; Alice, student at Ursuline Academy; Peggy, who attends Delaware City High School; Bobby, Dorothy, and Paul, pupils at Macdonough School, and Teresa, and invalid. His wife is Mrs. Teresa Oakes.
Doctors at St. Francis Hospital operated immediately when Oakes arrived there. His condition was "just fair."
Postscript:
Oakes died in St. Francis hospital early the next morning.
Several of the ship's crew were arrested and held on $5,000 bail on charges of manslaughter and assault and battery.
In February, the Journal Every-Evening reported that a jury held that the shipping company and federal government officials were responsible for the crash. It was unclear what happened to the crew.