DEl'TELL, E. V.." >ew York, store keeper; left wrist broken.
COLE,. JAMES, no residence; riveter; three fingers blown off.
' COXNOMA, HARRY I., Ridley street; rivet heater; fractnre of
left arm necessitating amputation at the shoulder.
GIBSOX, ROBERT, 125 Sooth Fark; boiler maker; fracture of
both, bones of right and. left leg; barn* and severe shock.
H.OSEX, HETER, Sailors' Home; snip carpenter; right leg frac
tured and abrasions.
HIGGIXS, MAURICE J., 1275 Pacific; driver chemical engine Xo.
3; .left shoulder lacerated.
KANE, EDWARD, 3«13 Broderick street; rivet, holder; fracture
of right foot and leg; burns and severe shock.
- McGILL, HUGH, 517. Folsom street; bollermaker; scalp ivonnds,
burns, broken wrist and contused back. 3Iay lose sight of both eyes.
McXERXEV, GEORGE, 1OA Harrison avenue; riveter; burns, la
cerations and contused back. -
VAX TASSEL, WILLIE, a boy residing at 38 Eighth street; con
tusions and abrasions about left hip and both thighs.
THE INJURED.
CAZ5TTE, JOHN, electrician; no residence.
DOW, HOWARD, sailor; no residence. \
GLENN, CHARLES A., quartermaster; Philadelphia.
GALLAGHER, DANIEL, rivete • ; Potrero.
HACKSTON, JOHN, fireman j no residence.
LABELLLE, WiLLIAM, riveter; no residence.
MAGUIRE, JAMES, -riveter ; Potrsro.
McGREGOR, COLIN C, foreman drillers; 1206 Mission street*
NLLSON, EDWARD, riveter; Eighteenth* and Minnesota.
REX, JOSEPH, quartermaster; 640 Chestnut street.
SPARKS, E.R., first assistant engineer; 712 Folsom street.
SI RAND, JOHN, fireman; 1123 York street.
THE DEAD.
" £ T*^9 UDDENLY,r; swiftly and without warning twelve men were hurled T into. eternity and
fe^^- several others severely injured .'yesterday morning. by ¦ a mysterious explosion on
|; board' the freight steamship; progreso. The vessel was moored to the .wharl of the
¦'¦jL^ • Fu lt. on Iron Works at- the foot- of Broderick street, where ! it ' nad \ been ; lying/fof the
past^three months undergoing conversion^into ah oil 'burner ; and. , oil -carrier. • This
.; work was already nearly completed wlien the disasteV came. \: In;addition\ to! the fuel
tanks for the steamer's own use eight others of i860 barrels capacity had been : . built 'in under
Lloyd's regulations and approved by experts of that company. On Monday - last six of these tanks
had been tested/ found^satisfactory and partly" filled; with oil,: about 400; barrels in all, it is believed.
I Yesterday morning the work of testing the two remaining tanks was begun, as '. it was de
sired to/get the vessel ready for sea in' a-few days. ; In addition to trie officers and creiv of twenty
men about:forty experts/ machinists, boiler-makers/ riveters and helpers were on board working
like beavers to get everything in ship-shape for the cqmihg voyage to the* Atlantic coast Some
•were scrubbing down the decks or cleaning paintwork/ and the rest were^ scattered throughout the
i,hip • in engine-rooms; fire-room and even down in the black, .•ill-smelling hold, driving bolts, fas-,
tening rivets' and working at. tanks or, furnaces; : , ; *.
About 9:20 a. m. this peaceful scene of bustling, noisy industry was suddenly, shudderingly
shattered by a tremendous explosion deep down in the bowels of ;the ship that sounded to those
within" earshot like the splitting ofa planet. AVith it the. vessel^ forward upper deck, began to
heave and bulge, and then tlie officers' 'xabins were; swept over the' side into the bay as though
by giant hands> \yhile' the pilot-house \yas shattered into a thousand fragments. ; r
At the same instant a Volcano of flame and inky smoke belche'd forth, from the hatchways
and jagged openings; in the broken . ; leaping two } hundred or ; more ; f eet . into the heavens:
Broken pieces of timber and metal flew ,in all directions, and: gifeat; spars' looseneid by the shock,
came tumbling and rattling down from above. A .very bedlam of shrieks; and T hornd: sounds
"greeted ¦the" dar,"and death reigned ;• .every \vh^ere -k as 'the' flames grew fiercer ' and v hotter and '-'the
great clou^" of blacky imperietrable, suffocating smoke rolled out ; and spread its blinding, asphyx
iatihgpall pver allthe : 'scene.' ,'.-; : "./.; - . .'../;, : :.
V- Sailors toppled fromUhe: rigging, mtp; the, sea oKplu'nged ihealllongiirtGrthe/yortex of
AWFUL DISASTER BURSTS UPON ITS VICTIMS
WITH APPALLING SUDDENNESS.
PHOTOGRAPH OF STEAMER PROGRESO TAKEN SHORTLY AFTER THE FATAL EXPLOSION AT THE '• FULTON IRON WORKS YESTERDAY MORNING.
UNITED STATES INSPECTOR
BULGER THINKS EXPLOSION WAS
CAUSED BY GAS IN FUEL TANK
It was persistently rumored yesterday afternoon that the ex
plosion was caused by some members, of the. crew searching for a
leak wltlt a light and- that the «•«*«•« from the petroleum -were thus
Ignited. It is said also that ,1ft cold weather. when crude petroleum
flows sluggishly oil of a lighter gravity is sometimes mixed with
the petroleum In order to increase / Its fluidity, and that this
lighter gravity oil may have generated the gas that worked as an
engine of destruction o I the Progreso.; ' , ; '.''•¦. f'.*?" r '. c . - <• -
"The boilers were brand new," said Inspector Bulger, "and
had withstood a 3CO pound test, and at the time of the accident
there w»s only a pressure of forty-three pounds on. The explosion
was, caused probably by gas generated by the oil In the fuel tank,
bat in what particular manner I have been unable to learn. The
fuel tenk had rt capacity of IDlo barrels, or 81,480 gallons, and con
tained only 30O barrels. Between the fuel tank and the boilers are
two bulkheads, three feet apart, forming a coffer-dam, which was
filled with water. Beyond this coffer-dam i» an air space of ten
feet before the boilers are reached. This gives a space of thirteen
feet, plus the thickness of two bulkheads, between the fuel tank
and the boiler*. . x -
i«Tbe United states local Inspectors have nothing to. do with
the cargo or the kind of freight, that a freight , vessel may carry.
She may carry dynamite so far as our duties ere concerned. We are
responsible for the boilers mid the hulls of vessels, and if a mem
ber of t!ie crew xhould set «re to a cargo of dynamite that is not
our affair. The matter of burning oil or any other substance is
placed by Inw in the hands of the Secretary of the Treasury and
we can neither prohibit nor recommend.' The steamer Pasadena
running between Eureka and Paicadena, has been burning oil for
the past sixteen years, and the George Loom!* has been ' using the
MUM kind of fuel for eight or nine years, while the George Har
drMiit, a wooden vessel, burned oil for eighteen years. The'Pro-
KTfKO was a collier and had Just been transformed into an oil carl
rylncr vessel. The plans and the location of the oil tanks were
submitted to Supervising Inspector Bermingrhnm and approved br
him and then received the approval of the Secretary of the Treas
cry. There arc in all one hundred and ten steamers In thin dls"
(rict utitiiz oil* Petitions for permission to use petroleum as fuel
are written on printed forms in blank spaces and addro««<.d ««
the Secretary of the Treasury." -uuressea to
w- y KITED STATES INSPECTOR BULGER arrived at the Fulton
S I Iron Works during the early part. of : the forenoon. -The
t& § tire was then raging fiercely and dense volumes of smoke
S J were rolling skyward from the doomed steamer. He said
*\ "S that "It : might be some days before lie -would be able
to .personally inspect the wreck. -. He said that the .fuel
oil tanks o* the Progrreso, as well ns her boilers, had
been recently Inspected by him and they were up to requirements.
: ,-r"The shock of the explosion broke the ship In two forward of
the boilers, and only an exploration will disclose the real cause.
This, however, cannot^be done for many days yet until the anil
cools off." ¦ -
"I -was half dazed at the time and cannot now remember very
clearly what followed. But somehow < I- managed to scramble out
into the passageway, where it was as black as pitch.' In the con
fusion of • the moment I had completely lost my bearings and could
not tell in that darkness n-hich . way to go, but after feeling around
a bit,- by the greatest good fortune I soon ¦track the iron ladder
leading to -the main deck, and eroped way up. jj
i "There I w=« appalled by the Jiebt of. a great column of flames
reaching up into the sky 'and a lake > of fire enclreling the ship,
while huge ntasses 'of sooty. smoke floated around and over all. In
that one > swift glance '.'I also saw that .the -vessel's back 'was
broken and that the -water was rushing, in through her shattered
sides. : Then the maddened, despairing shrieks ~ of the 'imprisoned
victims below reached. my ears and quickly awakened nay dazed
nen«e» to a realization of my danger. I groped my way asnore, fol
lowed by several balf-stnnned men, Jnst as another . mass of as
phyxiating smoke belched up from the burning hold. It wits an aw
ful indescribable sight and one that will haunt me all my life.
.* "I am positive that the boilers did not explode or in anyway
contribute to the cause of the disaster. Neither did the explosion
come Jrom the section of the ship 1 was. in. If occurred .well for
-ward of , amidships^ V The angle : of the break at the pilot house Is
convincing: proof that the boiler* had nothing to do with the acci
dent. 1 ' Crude; oil cannot be exploded. Some other material was the
cause of the trouble.^ ,
m HONG the manr hair-breadth escapes at the fatal explo-
JSL . sion of the steamship Progreso perhaps' the luckiest as
/ IS well ns the narrowest was that of It. B« Hetraon of COS
X""' l3 Oak street.* Mr. Hewion is an expert enclneer connected •
JL JBL ? with the flrm ot Cliarles C. Moore <& Co., and he '-visited
the ship yesterday morning to inspect the furnaces and see
/ that everything? wn« right before. the vessel left the wharf.
"About 9 o'clock," said he, "I put on my overalls and went
down into the lower hold where the furnaces are located. After >
testing the furnaces' which -we had contracted to plaee in the ship 1
grot down on my hands and knees and crawled nnder the ash pan of
the center furnace to inspect It. I had not been there more than
half a minnte when I felt a . sudden ' shock, followed by a lond,
muffled roar apparently above 'me. I -was thrown prostrate with
great force nml n shower of fine black dust fell all around me, set
tins: into my. eyes and throat and nearly smothering? me, while the '
atmosphere seemed to be pressing me down. .
CA UGHT UNDER A FURNA CE
EXPERT HEWSON HAS NARROWS
ESCAPE FROM DEATH IN HOLD
Continued on Page 4, 'Column 1.
PRICE FIVE CENTS.
volume -xcni-Nb. 4.
SAN FBANCISCQ, ; THUKSDAY^ DECEMBER 1902.
HTWELVE mm Tvcre killed and a large mimber morel or less sroerely' injured shortly Progreso at the wharf of the Fulton Iron
•*¦ Works. ; S"i>/;y men were wprfcing on board at the time and many hairbreadth escapes 'are reported. The cause of [the disaster^ is not definitely known, but 'the most' favoredtheory > is that of gas combustion in the partly filled oil fuel tanks.
The ship is a total wreck and still burning fiercely. The 'loss. is. estimated at $250,000, which is fully insured. * C ¦¦¦¦:¦:?¦¦'' y J '[- : :- : ;\. : ...--,-/V ,"'. ¦¦' .¦¦.'•.. ¦ V ¦ . " N -
STEAMSHIP PROGRESO IS DESTROYED AND TWELVE MEN LOSE
THEIR LIVES AS THE RESULT OF A TERRIFIC EXPLOSION ON
BOARD VESSEL WHICH WAS LYING AT FULTON IRON WORKS
The San Francisco Call.