Aug. 6, 1899: At least 20 people drown and more than 50 are injured at Hancock Point when a movable slip leading to a steamship collapses, dropping about 200 boarding passengers 15 feet into the ocean.
The people in the water are hemmed in on three sides by dock pilings and on the fourth by the steamer, and mass panic ensues.
Most of the victims are from eastern Maine.
When the accident happens, the steamer Sappho is waiting to carry the passengers on a Sunday excursion to Bar Harbor, 8 miles away on Mount Desert Island.
Many of the travelers were trying to go to the island to see the warships of the Navy’s North Atlantic squadron, which are at anchor off Bar Harbor. A train that rolls onto the wharf has just delivered hundreds of people just a few steps from the spot where they would board the steamer.
The dock features no gate or fence to protect people who might find themselves pushed by a crowd or to encourage them to wait until passengers in front of them board the steamer.
The Maine Central Railroad train that brought the passengers had left Bangor at 8:25 a.m. – 15 minutes late – and arrived at the ferry landing at 10:25. A large crowd of people had been left standing on the train platform in Bangor because the train was full, like others before it that day.
When the train arrived, the disembarking passengers, fearful of being left without a seat on the already crowded boat, began bypassing a gangplank and going down the slip to board. The crowd surged forward, moving as one.
Then the slip, built only two months earlier, breaks, plunging the crowd into a watery, rectangular enclosure about 40 feet long and 12 feet wide.
Many people still standing on the wharf play a role in hauling out those who fell, especially Chester W. Robbins, of the Oldtown Enterprise newspaper, who strips off his clothes, goes into the water and rescues about 30 people, according to witnesses.
The jury at a coroner’s inquest rules on Aug. 8 that the slip’s construction was defective.
Presented by:
Joseph Owen is an author, retired newspaper editor and board member of the Kennebec Historical Society. Owen’s book, “This Day in Maine,” can be ordered at islandportpress.com. To get a signed copy use promo code signedbyjoe at checkout. Joe can be contacted at: jowen@mainetoday.com.
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