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Photo # NH 89081:  Removing the dead from USS Bennington following her boiler explosion, at San Diego, California, 21 July 1905

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- EVENTS -- The 1900s -- 1905

Boiler Explosion on USS Bennington, 21 July 1905

At about 10:30 a.m. on 21 July 1905 the gunboat Bennington suffered one of the Navy's worst peacetime disasters. She had arrived at San Diego, California, just two days earlier, after a difficult seventeen-day voyage from the Hawaiian Islands. Though both the ship and her men could have used a rest, they were soon ordered back to sea to assist the monitor Wyoming, which had broken down and needed a tow.

While steam was being raised, much of Bennington's crew, having completing the hard and dirty job of coaling, were cleaning their ship and themselves. Below decks, an improperly closed steam line valve, oily feed water and a malfunctioning safety valve conspired to generate steam pressures far beyond the boilers' tolerance. Suddenly, one of them exploded. Men and equipment were hurled into the air, living compartments and deck space filled with scalding steam, and the ship's hull was opened to the sea. But for quick work by the tug Santa Fe, which beached Bennington in relatively shallow water, the gunboat would probably have sunk. As it was, she was so badly damaged as to be not worth repairing. Even worse, more than sixty of her crew had been killed outright or were so severely injured that they did not long survive.

The number of casualties overhelmed the then-small city of San Diego's hospitals, and badly burned Sailors had to be cared for in improvised facilities largely staffed by volunteers. Local morticians were hard pressed to prepare the Bennington's dead for burial. On the 23rd of July, the great majority were interred at the Army's Fort Rosecrans, located on the Point Loma heights overlooking the entrance to San Diego Harbor and what would, years later, become the North Island Naval Air Station.

Despite the awful death toll, which far exceeded that sustained by the Navy in the Spanish-American War, and sometimes lurid rumors of misconduct on the part of some members of Bennington's engineering force, official investigations concluded that the tragedy had not resulted from negligence. Eleven surviving crewmen were awarded the Medal of Honor for " extraordinary heroism displayed at the time of the explosion". USS Bennington was raised, but remained inactive and unrepaired until sold in 1910.

This page features, and provides links to, all the views we have concerning the 21 July 1905 boiler explosion on USS Bennington (Gunboat # 4).

For more images related to the USS Bennington boiler explosion and its aftermath, see:

  • Boiler Explosion on USS Bennington, 21 July 1905 -- Part II;
  • USS Bennington Monument, San Diego, California; and
  • USS Bennington Monument, San Diego, California -- Part II.

    For pictures and information concerning the ship's last Commanding Officer, and a sailor who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his conduct at the time of her boiler explosion, see:

  • Rear Admiral Lucien Young, USN, (1852-1912); and
  • Seaman Edward William Boers, USN, (1884-1929).


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the Online Library's digital images, see: How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions.

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: NH 89081

    USS Bennington
    (Gunboat # 4)

    Removing the dead from the ship, following her boiler explosion at San Diego, California, 21 July 1905.
    Photographed and published on a stereograph card by C.H. Graves, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
    The inscription published on the reverse of the original card is provided on Photo #: NH 89081 (extended caption).

    Courtesy of Commander Donald J. Robinson, USN(MSC), 1979

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 105KB; 605 x 675 pixels

    A stereo pair version of this image is available as Photo # NH 89081-A

    Online Image of stereo pair: 63KB; 675 x 360 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 100929

    USS Bennington
    (Gunboat # 4)

    Halftone reproduction of a photograph, published as a postal card by Wood's Print, Los Angeles, California, showing the ship partially sunk in San Diego harbor following her 21 July 1905 boiler explosion.
    Note the sailboats in the foreground, among them one named Nellie.

    Courtesy of H.E. ("Ed") Coffer, 1986.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 83KB; 465 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 102778-KN (color)

    USS Bennington (Gunboat # 4)

    Fine-screen reproduction of a photograph showing the ship partially sunk, soon after her 21 July 1905 boiler explosion in San Diego harbor, California. It was published on a postal card by the Special View Company, Los Angeles, California.

    Donation of H.E. ("Ed") Coffer.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 58KB; 740 x 485 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 85695

    USS Bennington
    (Gunboat # 4)

    Salvage party at work on the partially sunken ship, in San Diego harbor, California, after her 21 July 1905 boiler explosion.

    Donation of William L. Graham, 1977.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 91KB; 740 x 525 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 85694

    USS Bennington
    (Gunboat # 4)

    Partially sunk in San Diego harbor, California, after her 21 July 1905 boiler explosion.

    Donation of William L. Graham, 1977.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 68KB; 740 x 515 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 105306-KN (color)

    USS Bennington (Gunboat # 4)

    Partially sunk in San Diego Bay, California, two hours after her 21 July 1905 boiler explosion.
    This fine-screen halftone photograph, with a commemorative message, is printed on a postcard published soon after the tragedy by Sewards' Post Cards, Los Angeles, California.
    For a view of the reverse of the original postcard, see: Photo # NH 105306-A-KN.

    Courtesy of Harrell E. ("Ed") Coffer, 2007.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image size: 98KB; 740 x 500 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 105306-A-KN (color)

    USS Bennington (Gunboat # 4)

    Reverse of a postcard published circa mid-1905 by Sewards' Post Cards, Los Angeles, California, commemorating the 21 July 1905 boiler explosion that killed many of USS Bennington's crew members.
    For a view of the front of the original postcard, featuring a photograph of Bennington taken shortly after the tragedy, see: Photo # NH 105306-KN.

    Courtesy of Harrell E. ("Ed") Coffer, 2007.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image size: 88KB; 740 x 500 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 105307-KN (color)

    USS Bennington (Gunboat # 4)

    Partially sunk in San Diego Bay, California, following her 21 July 1905 boiler explosion.
    This fine-screen halftone photograph, with a commemorative message, is printed on a postcard published soon after the tragedy by Sewards' Post Cards, Los Angeles, California.
    The reverse of the original postcard is essentially identical to that seen in Photo # NH 105306-A-KN.

    Courtesy of Harrell E. ("Ed") Coffer, 2007.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image size: 93KB; 740 x 495 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 95245-KN (color)

    USS Bennington (Gunboat # 4)

    Partially sunk in San Diego Bay, California, soon after her 21 July 1905 boiler explosion.
    This fine-screen halftone image was published on a postal card by Wood's Print, Los Angeles, California.

    Courtesy of H.E. ("Ed") Coffer, 1983.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 64KB; 740 x 485 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 85696

    USS Bennington
    (Gunboat # 4)

    Salvage party at work on the partially sunken ship, in San Diego harbor, California, after her 21 July 1905 boiler explosion.
    Bennington's National Ensign is flying at half staff.

    Donation of William L. Graham, 1977.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 79KB; 740 x 530 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 56383-B

    USS Bennington
    (Gunboat # 4)

    Halftone reproduction of a photograph, showing the ship as her engine room was being pumped out, soon after her 21 July 1905 boiler explosion at San Diego, California. Note her National Ensign flying at half-staff.

    Donation of Rear Admiral Ammen Farenholt, USN (Medical Corps), November 1931.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 102KB; 690 x 660 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 56383-C

    USS Bennington
    (Gunboat # 4)

    Halftone reproduction of a photograph, showing the ship half sunk and beached at San Diego, California, soon after her 21 July 1905 boiler explosion.
    A steam launch from Bennington is in the foreground.

    Donation of Rear Admiral Ammen Farenholt, USN (Medical Corps), November 1931.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 78KB; 740 x 355 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 56383-A

    USS Bennington
    (Gunboat # 4)

    Halftone reproduction of a photograph, showing the ship's starboard side, amidships, as she was beached at San Diego, California, soon after her 21 July 1905 boiler explosion. A disabled six-inch gun is in the center of the image.

    Donation of Rear Admiral Ammen Farenholt, USN (Medical Corps), November 1931.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 98KB; 740 x 585 pixels

     

    For more images related to the USS Bennington boiler explosion and its aftermath, see:

  • Boiler Explosion on USS Bennington, 21 July 1905 -- Part II;
  • USS Bennington Monument, San Diego, California; and
  • USS Bennington Monument, San Diego, California -- Part II.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the Online Library's digital images, see: How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions.


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 4 March 2005
    New images added 4 December 2007