RECOVER BODIES AS ALIQUIPPA FOUNDERS

Vesta Coal Co. Craft Goes Down Near Plant For Which It Is Named, Below Pittsburgh – Seek Members of Crew

STEEL KEEL THOUGHT FLOODED SUDDENLY

Boat Believed To Have Struck Snag While Maneuvering With Big Tow of Coal from California Mine, Early This Morning

Divers searching for bodies of 3 persons missing when the towboat Aliquippa overturned in 18 feet of water in the Ohio river at Aliquippa, Pa., early today, recovered the body of CHRISTINA DENLOCK, 19, a chambermaid, shortly before noon. Advices did not state where the body was found, but it was presumed it was recovered from her room inside the overturned craft.

A diver searching the hill of the boat came upon the body of JAMES GORDON, 39, Denbo, Pa., a deck hand this afternoon, making the second body recovered. WILLIAM ATKINS’ body was found later.

The steamboat Aliquippa overturned early this morning while maneuvering in the Ohio river. Three of the 23 persons aboard the river craft are believed missing while 20 were rescued or swam ashore.

The persons believed missing are:
Christina Denlock, chambermaid on the boat.
William Atkins, watchman.
Unidentified deckhand.

The Aliquippa, which was a steel towing steamer was maneuvering in mid-stream preparatory to picking up a tow of barges loaded with 6,000 tons of steel at the time of the accident.

A pipe break which flooded the forward compartment is believed by officers of the Aliquippa to have been the cause of the upset.

The accident occurred opposite the Aliquippa plant of the Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation. The steamer was one of the steel company’s fleet of tow steamers.
Panic reigned as the boat careened sideways and turned completely over, bottom up. Many of the crew aboard the steamer were hurled into the river.

While members of the crew rushed madly for life preservers as the boat listed in the water, Captain Norman “Bucky” Jones with a few of his assistants attempted to arouse the two chambermaids. They succeeded in throwing a life preserver to one of them before the boat finally hurdled up side down.

Immediately following the upset, rescue brews made their way to the overturned steamer in an effort to locate the three missing persons. Plant employees of the Jones & Laughlin Corporation started to drag the river.

Efforts were also being made to raise the capsized vessel by boring holes through the keel to admit air.

The Aliquippa, which holds the record for steel towing from Pittsburg to Memphis is 164 feet long with a beam of 32 feet.

The Charleroi Mail, Charleroi, PA 30 Aug 1928

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DOUBLEPROBE UNDERWAY IN SINKING OF STEAMER ALIQUIPPA

Pittsburg, Aug. 31. – With a double investigations under way today to learn the cause of the capsizing of the towboat Aliquippa, funeral arrangements were made for the burial of the three victims. Preparations were also made to raise the steamer.
One investigations is being made by the government with two federal ship inspectors carrying the task. The other is being conducted by the ships owners, Vesta Coal Company, subsidiary of the Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation. It is believed a water pipe burst flooding and overloading one side.

The body of CHRISTINA DUNLAP, 20, chambermaid on the boat, will be buried from her home at West Brownsville, WILLIAM ADKINS, 39, the watchman, will be buried at Henderson, W. Va., and JAMES GORDON, 38, deckhand, is expected to be buried at Denbo, Washington county.

The Charleroi Mail, Charleroi, PA 31 Aug 1928

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VESTA STEAMER TO BE RAISED TODAY BY DREDGE MUNALLU

An effort is being made today to raise the steamer Aliquippa of the Vesta Coal Company with the aid of the U. S. Dredge Monallu which was dispatched to the scene of the wreck last night in charge of the steamer John F. Kline, Captain Richard Hiernaux of North Charleroi. The sunken steamer is in fifteen feet of water near Aliquippa on the Ohio river, where she sank last week with the loss of three lives, one woman and two men.

The steamer Titan, formerly of the Vesta Company’s line of steamers, recently purchased by the Morgan Davis Company, has been chartered and today is again in the service of the Vesta Co., delivering capacity towns of six barges both up and down stream. The Vesta Company is very much handicapped for transportation facilities at present for local service.

The Vulcan is now on her way to Memphis, Tenn., with six cabin barges loaded with Pittsburg manufactured products; the Henry A Laughlin is undergoing extensive repairs to hull and machinery and will be out of commission for a week or ten days longer; the wrecked Aliquippa will have to be practically rebuilt after she is again righted and docked. The illfated [sic] steamer was to have taken a town of eight barges of manufactured products from the Jones & Laughlin Steel Mills in the Pittsburg district and consigned to southern markets.

The sidewheel [sic] steamer Julia Belle is scheduled to leave Pittsburg September 17 on a manufacturers and distributors trade extension exhibit tour visiting all important cities and towns on the Monongahela, Allegheny and Ohio rivers, extending over a distance of more than 460 miles. It is considered the most unique tour that ever started out of Pittsburg, since the boat will carry the various products manufactured in the Pittsburg district. The entire dance floor will be given over to manufacturers and distributors whose product originate in the three valleys.
The boat is scheduled to leave Fairmont with daylight stops at Morgantown, Masontown, Brownsville, Charleroi and Monongahela City on the Monongahela river. On the Ohio river the trip will start at Huntington, 307 miles below Pittsburg, stopping at Gallipolis, Pomeroy, Parkersburg, Marietta, Wheeling, Steubenville, East Liverpool and Rochester. On the last day of the tour a trip will be made up the Allegheny river to Freeport. The trips in between towns will be made at night. Approximately 19 days will be required to make the tour. Products from the two leading factories in Charleroi will be among the collections on display, and several businessmen may accompany the delegation.

The Charleroi Mail, Charleroi, PA 4 Sept 1928
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Transcribed by Jenni Lanham. Thank you, Jenni!