A partial collection of people, places and events that have made
Chesapeake City the unique and desirable location that it has become today.
Most of the following information was
contributed by Joe White, an employee
of the salvage firm responsible for the removal of the Hayes after the fire was
extinguished. He was 17 years old at that time.
I was 13 and remember seeing the badly
burned hull of the Hayes
being towed westbound through the canal on her way to Baltimore.
It was a significant event for this area. Lee
The Middletown Transcript - May
15, 1952
Tanker Blows Up Near Summit Bridge - Vessel With 600,000 Gals. Gas
Aboard Collides With Other Freighter
Explosion Halts Traffic
The motor tanker F.L. Hayes carrying more than 600,000
gallons of high octane gasoline, exploded and caught fire in the Chesapeake and
Delaware Canal today after it was reported to have collided with another ship
near Summit Bridge.
Six injured crewmembers, including the tanker's captain, were
rescued and taken to the Delaware Hospital, Wilmington. Four other members of
the crew still were missing at 5:15 a.m.
The tanker captain, Roger Sears of New York, said the
explosion occurred after his craft was struck by the freighter Barbara Lykes.
The latter ship apparently was not damaged.
Bigger Explosion Feared
Only part of the tanker's cargo went up in the initial
blast, which occurred a few minutes after midnight. Two other explosions
followed within an hour. As the flames raging through the vessel threatened to
set off another explosion, which police said carried the danger of death over a
radius of half a mile, all traffic across the Summit Bridge was halted.
Cars were blocked from roads in the vicinity for a distance of one mile. However, state police reported Summit Bridge was opened to traffic at 4:45 a.m. Police said that the boat was still burning, but that the fire had subsided somewhat.
The collision and explosion occurred at a point about a quarter of a mile east of Summit Bridge. Immediately after the blast, C.B. Brown, superintendent of construction at Summit Bridge, notified state police, and fire companies were rushed to the scene from Delaware City and New Castle.
Excerpts from U.S. Coast Guard Report Dated December 11, 1952
The board made the following Findings of Fact:
1. The tanker F.L. HAYES and the freighter BARBARA LYKES were involved in a collision in the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, at a point just east of Canal Light #30, at about 0013EDST on 15 May, 1952. As a result of the collision, the HAYES' side was punctured, permitting high test gasoline in her cargo to spill into the canal, a circumstance which resulted in fire and explosion about three or four minutes later. Shortly after the HAYES exploded, the SS ANGELINA passed through the area of burning gasoline and she sustained fire damage to her rigging and gear above decks. Four crew members of the HAYES are missing and presumed dead, and those who survived sustained injury of varying extent, none seriously. Two crew members of the ANGELINA also sustained injury while fighting fire, but neither of these cases were serious. None of the crew of the BARBARA LYKES were hurt and the damage to her hull consisted of a slight scoring of her hull plating in the way of the port bow.
2. The missing and presumed dead from the HAYES:
George Carter, N. Dartmouth, Mass., 2nd Mate
Richard Oakes, Franklin Square, L.I., 1st Assistant Engineer
Whelan C. Ellis, Weddington, N.Y., 2nd Assistant Engineer
Ole A. Lande, Brooklyn, N.Y., Deck Hand
3. After the HAYES, a burning wreck, had been abandoned by her crew, she drifted with the tide in the canal, finally grounding on the south bank about one-half mile west of the Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge, her bow on the bank and her after part submerged. She burned for about three weeks and is presumed a total loss.
4. The M/V F.L. HAYES, official No. 249281, is a diesel driven tank-type vessel of 1,103 gross tons, 1,200 h.p., 240.8' long, built of steel at Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1946. She is certificated for the coastwise trade and is owned and operated by the Tank Barge Hygrade Co. Inc., of 500 5th Avenue, New York City. At the time of the disaster, she was under the command of Roger W. Sears, Master's License No. 230088, of 3206 87th Street, Jackson Heights, N.Y., who was acting under the authority of his Coast Guard License as master and pilot. Captain Sears validated Merchant Mariner's Document was lost in the fire and he did not remember the number.
5. The BARBARA LYKES, Official No. 245964, is a dry cargo vessel of the C-2 type, 6,108 gross tons, 438.9" long, 6,000 h.p., turbine driven, built at Oakland, California in 1944. She is owned and operated by Lykes Brothers, S.S. Co., of Whitney Bank Building, New Orleans, La. At the time of the collision she was under the command of Maxwell J. Woods of 2515 Leonidas Street, New Orleans, La. Captain Woods holds a master's license No. 134914 and a validated Merchant Mariner's Document, No. 035457. The BARBARA LYKES was being piloted through the canal by Edwin C. Marshall of the Delaware Bay and River Pilots Association, who was acting under the authority of his Coast Guard License No. 67142. Captain Marshall holds a validated Merchant Mariner's Document No. 981281.
6. The ANGELINA, Official No. 244344, is a dry-cargo vessel of the Liberty type, 7,176 gross tons, 422.8" long, 2,500 h.p., triple-expansion steam engine, and was built at Baltimore, Md., in 1944. She is owned and operated by the A. H. Bull Co. of 115 Broad Street, New York, N.Y. and at the time of the fire was under the command of Thomas O. Ranier of Blake, Virginia. Captain Ranier holds Master's License No. 70577 and C.D.B. No. 24168. The ANGELINA was being piloted by Milbourne Willis of R.D. #1, Chadds Ford, Pa., acting under the authority of his Coast Guard License.
7. The HAYES was equiped with radar, as was the ANGELINA, but neither was in use. The BARBARA LYKES was not equipped with radar.
8. The weather before and during the collision was fine and clear with a light southwest breeze. The sea was smooth and the canal was lighted. An easterly tide was running with a velocity of about two to three knots.
9. The BARBARA LYKES sailed from Baltimore, Md., on the evening of 14 May, 1952 bound for New York via the C&D Canal. All her navigating gear was tested satisfactorily before leaving and functioned perfectly while enroute. She was partially loaded with general cargo to a draft of 23.09 forward, 24.01 aft, and proceeded uneventfully to the western approaches of the canal where pilot Marshall boarded her before midnight. She was one of several eastbound vessels proceeding one after the other at about a mile interval, and she passed the Summit Bridge at 0001 EDST. As she cleared the bridge at slow speed a westbound vessel was sighted at the Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge showing a green side light and a range light. The oncoming vessel was then observed showing both side lights as she cleared the bridge and she was then momentarily lost from all sight due to the formation of the canal. The engines of the LYKES were put at half speed as she passed the obstruction buoy which marks the constriction of the canal just east of Summit Bridge, and a one blast passing signal was blown to the approaching vessel. No answer was heard to the signal which was repeated twice again as the oncoming vessel was again sighted showing a red side light on the LYKES' port bow.
10. As the vessels closed, the pilot of the LYKES slowed his vessel and noticed that she had smelled the bank and was slowly sheering to the left. It also appeared to the LYKES' witnesses that the approaching vessel, afterwards learned to be the HAYES, was close to the north bank, and that her stern seemed to project into the channel. As the LYKES broke her sheer and the vessel began answering her right rudder, she struck the HAYES on the port after section a light bump that was barely noticeable to those on board. The LYKES proceeded on her way towards the Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge, and when close to it an explosion was heard heard from the HAYES, by then some distance astern. A blaze of fire immediately followed, apparently covering the entire surface of the canal. Witnesses from the LYKES also testified that they heard a one blast passing signal from the eastbound vessel immediately astern of them, the ANGELINA, followed by a four blast danger signal from the HAYES just before the explosion. The LYKES then proceeded through the canal and anchored off the western entrance.
11. The ANGELINA sailed from Baltimore, Md., on the evening of May 14th, with Captain Willis on board as pilot. Her navigating gear had been tested satisfactorily before sailing and she was loaded with general cargo, to a draft of 14' .04" forward, 20' .04" aft. She proceeded uneventfully to the western approach to the C&D Canal and she passed through the Summit Bridge at 0007. The HAYES was sighted by the ANGELINA shortly after she passed through the Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge, and when the vessels were in plain sight of each other it was noticed that the HAYES was very close to the north bank, as if she had pulled over to permit the eastbound vessels to pass. A one blast signal was blown by the ANGELINA as the vessels closed, and a danger signal of four blasts was heard in answer. Another one blast signal was sounded by the ANGELINA, and by this time the two vessels were close aboard. As the ANGELINA undertook to pass the HAYES, an explosion occurred which covered the entire surface of the canal with a sheet of flame, enveloping the ANGELINA from stem to stern. The pilot ordered a full astern bell, which was prompted countermanded by the master, who ordered full ahead. The ANGELINA drew out of the fire area and successfully extinguished the fires aboard her. She proceeded through the canal, thence to Philadelphia.
12. The M/V F.L. HAYES entered the eastern entrance of the canal and proceeded through the Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge at 0004 hours. Radioed orders had been given her to keep clear of the eastbound traffic, and these orders were acknowledged over the voice radio by her master. An approaching vessel, identified as the LYKES, was sighted as she passed through the Summit Bridge, a one blast signal was heard from her and promptly answered by the HAYES. The master was not sure whether he heard a second one blast signal from the LYKES, but he again blew a one blast signal. After the HAYES was clear of the Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge she was pulled over close to the north bank on her own right-hand side, and it was noticed that the approaching LYKES, by then in plain sight, was sheering towards the HAYES. According to the master of the HAYES, his vessel was actually aground on the north bank when the LYKES struck the HAYES a glancing blow on the port wing of the bridge, carrying away the side light. He was not sure of other damage, and sent the second mate to the main deck to inspect for hull damage. His engines were stopped at the time and all way off the ship.
13. As the men were inspecting the damage, an explosion occurred aft, at or in the galley section, and flames immediately enveloped the stern of the HAYES. The general alarm was sounded and various members of the crew jumped overboard to avoid being burned to death. Five went over the bow and the cook jumped over the stern; all making their way to the canal bank. They had just climbed the bank when more explosions followed, with debris raining down. Later the survivors were were transported to Wilmington, Delaware Hospital for treatment. Four men were found to be missing and their bodies have not yet been recovered.
14. The HAYES continued to burn and explode; burning gasoline continued to cover the canal. However, probably lightened somewhat by the consumption of her cargo she drifted away from the north bank, and with the changing tide came to rest on the south bank, where she burned for over three weeks.
The Evening Sun - Baltimore, Maryland - Thursday, August 28, 1952 - 104 Days Later
A Marylander Risked $1,000 A Day To Do A Job - And Triumph In Stirring Fight Against The Sea
By William Blair
(Reporter)
A man got mad and stuck his chin out - and won fame and sizeable fortune.
He took a long shot gamble, after two others had tried and given up, and staked
his shirt on the outcome.
Today, as a result, The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal is clear again, after 104
days, and Richard W. Stasch of Rivera Beach, is the owner of the 400-ton costal
tanker F. L. Hayes.
Most of Hull submerged - Here is the story:
Three and a half months ago, ten minutes after midnight on May 15 the Hayes
collided in the darkness with the seagoing freighter Barbara Lykes about midway
through the C&D Canal. Seconds later, there was an explosion, and the
gasoline-laden tanker burst into flames and slowly sank. When she came to rest
on the bottom, only the bow and parts of the superstructure showed above water.
But the gasoline escaping through the gash in her side burned for three weeks
before the fire burned out. The ship came to rest almost squarely in the middle
of the canal, blocking the busy waterway to all but the smallest traffic.
Feels Itch of Interest
Before long, port interests in both Baltimore and Philadelphia were howling for
relief. The wreck had shut off a major flow of business vital to both the big
harbors. In Baltimore, Richard Stasch, as head of a small marine salvage
concern, R. W. Stasch & Co., operating from a yard in Curtis Bay felt the itch
of interest. "But I heard the owners were up there, getting ready to go to work
on her," he says, "so I put it out of my mind." "It didn't occur to me there
would be any particular trouble with the job." There was though. There seemed to
be a jinx on the tanker. In the collision, somehow, four men had died - their
bodies to this day are unrecovered. And the owners, Ira W. Bushey & Sons, of New
York, were finding a more of less routine salvage operation a tougher job than
they'd bargained for. The sunken tanker clung to the bottom like a barnacle on
an underwater rock.
Ship's Owners Give Up
Two lift barges were finally filled with water and sunk on either side of the
Hayes. A cable was laboriously passed between them, under the submerged stern.
Pumps began forcing out the water again from the barges, which were to lift the
tanker - and midway through the operation the lift cables snapped and the ship
resettled. That was the last straw, for the owners, and they abandoned the whole
effort. At the same time they gave up their rights of ownership. That was only
one of two unsuccessful attempts to get her off of the muddy bottom.
The Stasch itch, meanwhile, was getting stronger. To begin with, the Hayes had been a beautiful ship (if a flat nosed tankr can be considered beautiful), in the Curtis Bay man's eyes. "I'd seen one of her sisters - just as clean and trim as a luxury liner," he explains. "They really kept her in shape. I thought about it and began to want her."
Impelled To Take A Look
His curiosity before long was overpowering, and he drove up to the canal to
have a look. There wasn't much beauty showing - just a rusty brown prow,
sticking up crazily from the surface. It hardly looked ship-like. "But I took a
good look - a good long one," Stasch says, and I knew it was my meat. I wanted
the job of raising her, then; I really wanted that ship. "My wife wasn't too
happy, when I got back home and told her where I'd been. She didn't like it at
all." "What did you do that for?" she asked me. "You stay away from that ship!"
Worried Then Excited
"She was worried about the gasoline, of course. Everybody was there at
first. It wouldn't have taken much to set her off - and good-bye salvage boys.
By the time I was really in this thing, she got just as excited as I was. She
really wanted me to get the job herself." But before that stage, Stasch had
resigned himself to watching somebody else haul away the coveted Hayes. "I heard
Merritt Chapman were in on it", he says; "I figured they'd get her up for sure,
so I just crossed it off." Merritt Chapman & Scott, one of the world's big
salvage firms, didn't bring it off, either. The clamor from the ports grew
louder; the army engineers began talking about blasting.
His Final Temptation
For Stasch, that was the final temptation. Two concerns - one of them a giant of
the salvage world - had tried and failed, on a job he thought he could do. He
could have no more stayed away from the project than a bee could stay away from
the hive. So he started to gamble. The engineers decided on one more try. They
invited bids on the job of clearing the canal. They allowed twenty days for
completing the project. When the bids were opened, R. W. Stasch & Co. alone had
offered to bring off the Hayes in half that time.
He's Called "Plain Fool"
"I'd stuck my neck out," Stasch says, smiling. "I heard two different people who
were there at he time call me just a plain damn fool." The engineers found
something wrong with all of the bids, and asked for a new round. All this time
Stasch was arguing desperately with bonding companies. The engineers at first
wanted a $200,000 performance bond as an added guarantee that the winning bidder
wouldn't fail. And the bonding companies wanted no part of it - not after two
big salvage efforts had failed. They thought Stasch was a little crazy, too. In
his final bid he'd asked only for a meager $3,750 fro raising the Hayes. "How
can you make money on that?" they demanded.
Clears Bonding Hurdle
"I explained to 'em carefully I didn't give a damn about the fee,"the salvage
man remarks; "that I wanted the ship". "'Well, how much is the ship worth?'" He
grinned, "I don't know, I had to tell 'em. I only saw one end of her." "How
could I make them feel the way I did - that it's the tough ones that bring in
the rewards." The bonding hurdle was eventually cleared, and Stasch put his neck
on the block. This time the engineers were offering up to thirty days to
finish the job.
Offers To Pay For Privilege
When the second bids were opened , Stasch once again had guaranteed to raise the
tanker in just ten days, subject to a penalty of $1,000 a day for every day over
the limit. And where the other companies were asking for fees ranging up to
$234,000 for tackling the project, Stasch was actually offering to pay for the
privilege - $1,265 cash. Hw won the bid - and the marine world gathered around,
quite prepared to see the winner lose his shirt. "If I hadn't got her up,"
Stasch said yesterday, after he'd watched two tugs tow tow the Hayes away - "I'd
have been cleaned."
Faces $1,000-A-Day Penalty
On Wednesday of last week, August 20, the Baltimore operator went up to
Philadelphia and signed the contract. He had ten days, starting the next day, to
raise the wreck; from then on, every day would cost him $1,000 - over and above
the many costs of the work. "'Thursday was go day," he says.'" "But it didn't
show much progress. We spent it planning and getting organized." The
actual work didn't start until noon Friday, the second day. The ship wasn't
moved an inch until Sunday, the fourth day. By then the whole crew of a dozen
men, including some friends of the Stasch family who left their jobs or gave up
vacations to help, was working around the clock. At night some would snatch a
few winks of sleep on the hard deck of a barge while others worked on by
floodlights. The swift current impeded their efforts. Once a big dog that had
arrived with the salvagers went overboard, and he was swept downstream half a
mile or more before getting ashore. There were more serious mishaps. One night
the crew's boatman, working in the dark, fell through an open hatch. Once during
dragging, a chain broke, temporarily halting operations. And Monday night, with
several men working aboard the partly raised ship, the Hayes took a frightening
sudden list to port, tossing a six inch pump overboard in the channel while the
workers scurried to get clear. The had to open a forward tank and pump back in
the water so laboriously pumped out earlier to get her righted.
There was something else to worry about too; the thick, odorous gasoline vapor,
which still lay like a gray fog in the holds. Nobody had to be told not to light
a cigarette.
Phones Wife Good News
And then it was over, almost as speedily as the project had followed the signing
of the contract. At noon yesterday, the battered, rust-brown hulk was afloat,
the two gashes like saber cuts in her side above water, and stasch was
telephoning his wife with the good news. The battle was over more than three
days ahead of deadline. The Hayes, worth an estimated $200,000 was now the
property of Richard W. Stauch. 'It couldn't have gone off more smoothly," Stauch
told people who thronged around to congratulate him. "It couldn't have been more
routine. We didn't even have to lift. The plan was to pump, lift and drag. But
we tried it without lifting and it worked, so we just pumped and dragged and up
she came." The dragging had been done by top-powered tractors, using a tackle
which multiplied their pull thirteen times to give a 250-ton yank. The tackle
was anchored to a big "dead-man"-a huge timber buried in a long trench on the
land side of the high bank of the canal. In the course of the raising operation,
the ship was dragged about 100 feet to shore, so that her bow rested on the side
of the canal. Last night late, after seeing the Hayes safely moored at the
Chesapeake City end of the canal and making arrangements for the tow to
Baltimore for cleaning and repairs, Stauch could rest for the first time in
seven days. The man who took a gamble and won a fortune is a short
barrel-chested square-jawed man of 40, who had given up salvage projects some
time ago to rest and concentrate on his wire products business here.
Likes Challenging Tasks
A native of Corning, N.Y., he studied mechanical engineering at Syracuse
University, worked for Bethlehem Steel in the North and, after moving here, was
drawn into the salvage field by an irresistible yen for ships. Raising them
provides a challenge which always stirs him. "With me, the struggle is the big
thing, more than the rewards." he says. "That's why I like to take the jobs
other people have given up, for some reason; It's more of a thrill to bring them
off". "Back in '47 a ship got stuck and half sank off Fort McHenry, and nobody
wanted to touch it. It was a rough one, and everyone thought it would cost a
fortune to get her afloat. "But we took the job, and it turned out to be the
most lucrative project I'd ever handled. The hard ones often turn out that way,
if you can beat 'em."
Set To Fight To Bitter End
Stauch says he was set to fight the Hayes battle out "to the bitter end if need
be." He figures that would have meant about 45 days, if everything went wrong at
every step - meaning $35,000 just in penalties, without counting the expense of
45 days of salvage operations. "I didn't see how it could drag out any longer
than that, no matter what happened." The triumph - the start of the down-canal
trip of the Hayes yesterday afternoon at about 4 - was witnessed by five other
members of the Stauch family. Mrs. Stauch, two of their three children, and Mr.
and Mrs. Stauch, Sr. down from their Upper New York State home since Monday, got
to the scene in time to join in the cheers.
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