Captain Hammond's Little Miscue By Gladys O'Neil O VER the years, many stately ves- residents were in the habit of wandering also a glass-enclosed promenade d sels have paid visits to Bar Harbor. down to the wharf to watch elegantly at- with shuffleboard lanes. The impress One recalls the battleship Texas, the Ger- tired rusticators disembark, closely fol- vessel was under the command of C man luxury liner Kronprinzessin Cecilie, lowed by retinues of servants and porters tain Walter Hammond, former skippe J.P. Morgan's imposing Corsair, and, carrying trunks and all manner of house- the Florida and a man known for his a more recently, the majestic Queen hold goods. Before automobiles were al- ity to navigate the foggy waters of Elizabeth 2. But no maritime event has lowed in Bar Harbor in 1913, the steam- New England coast. generated quite the stir caused by the ships frequently disgorged strings of July, 1936 visit of the passenger liner handsome carriage horses to fill the sum- S.S. Iroquois, which wound up high and O N the afternoon of July 12, 1936, mer folks' stables. Iroquois arrived in Bar Harbor dry on Bald Porcupine Island in full view By the 1930s, however, the era of its third trip of the season. While she of the town. steamboat travel had all but come to an at anchor that night, a thick curtain of The picturesque white steamboats of end, due to the increasing use of the auto- settled over the harbor. Early on Sun the Eastern Steamship Company and of mobile. Even so, the Eastern Steamship morning, people living near the sh the Maine Central Railroad were familiar Company, in the belief that people would were awakened by repeated short bl: sights on Frenchman's Bay during the still enjoy a pleasant summer boat trip to of the Iroquois' whistle, and, later summers at the turn of the century. Bar Harbor, chartered the S.S. Florida, obscure sounds drifted toward the wa Maine Central boats greeted travelers at a good-sized ship with 222 staterooms, front from offshore. When the fog li Mt. Desert Ferry (on Hancock Point) for weekend cruises from New York. The after dawn, bystanders on the shore W train station and shuttled them across the reasonably priced one-way fare of $13.50 shocked to see the bow of the li bay to Bar Harbor. The Eastern Steam- made the excursion popular, and in 1936 grounded on the rocks of Bald Porcup ship fleet provided service to Bar Harbor the Florida was replaced by the even Island a half mile away. from Boston - an overnight trip that in- larger and more luxurious Iroquois. This The Iroquois, which had weighed cluded numerous ports of call along the 10,000-ton, 408-foot-long transatlantic chor amid the dense fog at three-thirt Down East coast. liner could carry 607 passengers and the morning, had been brought to g Whenever an approaching steamboat boasted a dance floor, music room, card by an unusually strong ebb tide that whistle was heard in Bar Harbor village, room, and several lounges. There was pulled her onto the shore of the island 100 fore she could get underway. Despite the Narmada alongside the Iroquois and At about four in the afternoon the tide urgency of the whistle blasts emitted by began ferrying the 144 passengers had risen enough to allow Captain Ham- the Iroquois, those aboard other ships in ashore. There had been no injuries, and mond to start up the propellers of the the harbor thought Captain Hammond everyone, apparently adopting a holiday Iroquois, while at the same time the Owl was simply trying to determine his posi- mood, accepted the situation good- began tugging on the towlines attached to tion by means of the echo. Aid was not naturedly. Some had been awakened by the liner's stern. Ten minutes of churning forthcoming until several hours later, the sound of the ship's engines starting activity and the Iroquois swung free, when the radio operator aboard the yacht up just before the accident, but, after accompanied by the cheers of the Queen Anne heard his counterpart on the going on deck in their night clothes to see gathered throngs. She had been stranded what had happened, most had returned for fourteen hours. An inspection by offi- liner signaling the Coast Guard. First to respond was the Owl, a U.S. Navy mine- unconcernedly to their cabins; others had cials of the Bureau of Navigation and In- sweeper stationed in Bar Harbor to serve simply slept through the commotion. The spection determined that the Iroquois as a base for the seaplanes that would general feeling seemed to be that the mis- was still sufficiently seaworthy to make accompany President Franklin Delano hap was an exciting, if premature, way to the passage back to New York, where she Roosevelt on an upcoming cruise along end an otherwise ordinary trip. Later in spent less than two weeks in dry dock be- the Maine coast. The Owl was later joined the morning, the passengers were taken fore returning to Bar Harbor on July 24. by a Coast Guard cutter, and the crews of to the St. Sauveur Hotel in Bar Harbor On September 6, the Bangor office of the two vessels constructed a pile of logs for a sumptuous breakfast and then were the Bureau of Navigation and Inspection driven by bus and taxi to Bangor, where held a thorough inquiry into the cir- beneath the Iroquois' raised bow to pro- vide the leverage that would enable her they boarded trains for Portland and cumstances of the Iroquois' little miscue. to float free at high tide. Timbers were New York. Although the bureau's final report exon- also placed across the gaping, eight-foot- As word of the accident spread, roads erated Captain Hammond of blame and into Bar Harbor became jammed with au- attributed the accident principally to the long and three-foot-wide hole that had tomobiles carrying the curious, and many excessive tide and thick fog, it did make been opened in her bow when she rammed against the shore. spectators crowded Shore Path, an excel- note, in passing, of "perhaps a little over- In the meantime, Captain Charles lent vantage point from which to view the confidence on the part of Captain Ham- Parker of Bar Harbor brought his launch spectacle in the bay. mond " 101