Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2013, All Rights Reserved U.S. Data Repository Please read U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on this page: Submitted by Linda Talbott for the US Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ ========================================================================= U.S. Data Repository NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization. Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the consent of the transcriber prior to use. Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. ========================================================================= Formatted by U.S. Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== VESSEL NAME: A. S. Field OTHER NAME(s): - OFFICIAL NO: - REASON: Explosion DATE OF LOSS: 6 July 1860 LOCATION: Detroit, MI RIG TYPE: Propeller, tug HULL TYPE: Wooden BUILDER: L. Lavayea, Toledo, OH - 1853 OWNER(S): Capt. Stephen Grummond (at loss) Keeler & Butterfield (when built) MASTER: Capt. Stephen Grummond TONNAGE: 115 t LENGTH: BEAM: DEPTH: CASUALTIES: 5 SURVIVORS: 2 (not including Capt. Grummond) A. S. FIELD arrived at noon on Friday, July 6, 1860, at Detroit with the dismasted schooner BAY STATE in tow, and tied up at the dock be- tween Bates and Randolph streets. All appeared to be normal later that evening as Captain Grummond instructed one of the fireman to go and wake the engineer. They were to start out in a few minutes to pick up the GREAT WEST a short distance down the river. Within moments, at about 8:30 p.m., as Captain Grummond sat in the store of Wilcox, Trowbridge & Co., the city, for several blocks around, was shaken by the explosion of the A. S. FIELD'S boiler, the force hurling debris a distance of three to four hundred feet from the dock. A wheelbarrow from the tug was flung onto the roof of Trowbridge, Wilcox & Co., while the safety-valve from the tug's engine, weighing 75-80 lbs, was found 500 feet away where it had passed through a two-inch plank sidewalk and was embedded in 18 inches of dirt. Initially Captain Grummond thought that the tug could be raised and rebuilt but the damage was far too extensive. On July 29 the A. S. FIELD was replaced by the Canadian tug, DISPATCH at the cost of $8,500 - the schooner CREVOLA being given over in consideration of $4,000 valuation. At the time of the explosion there were seven people aboard the tug. Remo Dumont, Mate (deceased) Wm. McKenzie, Wheelsman (badly scalded but survived) Easton or Eton Owen, Engineer (deceased) George Abbott, fireman (deceased) _____________, fireman (had just come aboard the day before - deceased) Mrs. Morey, Cook (survived) Hoover (a negro boy), (deceased) ======================================================================== Sources: - New York Times, July 7 & 11, 1860