Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2014 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== Toledo Weekly Blade Thursday, 23 May 1907 FOUR CREMATED IN SHIP --------------- Steamer NAOMI Burned on Lake Michigan --------------- Fire Was Discovered by Passing Vessel Captain Last to Leave --------------- Grand Haven, Mich., May 21. - Four coal passers were burned to death and one passenger, J. M. Rhoades, of De- troit, was fatally burned when the Crosby line steamer NAOMI, formerly the WISCONSIN, was burned to the water's edge early today in the middle of Lake Michigan. Fifty passengers and all of the crew except four coal passers were taken off in small boats by the steamer KERR and the NAOMI'S sister ship, the KANSAS, which was en route from Milwaukee to Grand Haven. The loss on the NAOMI, which was in com- mand of Captain Thomas Traill, is esti- mated at $225,000. After the passengers and crew were rescued a barge, which had been attracted to the scene by the fire, put a line on the burning hulk and towed her into port. The fire started in the vicinity of the kitchen, between decks, and spread so rapidly that the whole ship was a seeth- ing furnace before the crew could get the fire apparatus working. Fire swept the whole length of the ship, and the up- per works burned like tinder. It is con- sidered miraculous that the passengers all escaped. Many of them were taken in their night clothes, while scarcely anyone was more than partially clad. The fire was not discovered by any of the NAOMI'S crew, but was first seen by the lookout on the steamer KANSAS, which was proceeding in the opposite direction from Milwaukee to Grand Haven. The KANSAS made directly for the NAOMI, and in the meantime the passengers of the ill-fated boat were being awakened. Captain Thomas Traill was the last man to leave the steamer alive, and his clothing was almost burned from him. The four coal passers who perished were below in their bunks, and are be- lieved to have been penned down there by the flames. They are believed to have shipped from Milwaukee. It is said by the passengers that the screams of the dying men in the hold were heard, but that it was impossible to reach them. ===========================================================================