The beginning
By James Heinz
Wikipedia describes the origin of the fireboat thusly: “The first recorded fire-float was built in 1765 for the Sun Fire Insurance Company in London. This was a manual pump in a small boat, rowed by its crew to the scene of the fire. As early as the late 1700s, the New York Fire Dept. used hand-pumpers mounted on barges and large rowboats, prior to leasing a tug boat in 1866. The first purpose built steam driven boat was introduced by the Boston Fire Department in 1873.”
In 1892, Milwaukee Fire Chief James Foley proposed that the city buy a used tugboat and mount a used land engine pump on it. Instead, the city of Milwaukee decided to buy a custom built fireboat.
WMHS files show that Milwaukee’s first fireboat was called the CATARACT. She was built at Sheboygan by Rieboldt and Wolter in 1889. She was 130 gross tons and had a 485 hp steam engine. The CATARACT was originally stationed at Water Street and was last stationed on the Kinnickinnic River.
The book “American Fireboats” by retired Milwaukee firefighter Wayne Mutza says that she was designed by Frederick Starke, whose father built the first tug in Milwaukee in 1858. Mutza describes her as 107 feet long and 24.5 feet wide, with an 11 foot draft. Her hull was white oak plated with iron for ice breaking duty. She could pump 5,000 gallons per minute, driving a four inch stream of water 400 feet.
The CATARACT had a crew of five: pilot, engineer, stoker, and two fire company officers, along with three firefighters. She was accompanied by a “boat wagon”, a two horse drawn wagon that carried 3,000 feet of hose and would often arrive at a fire and lay out the hose before the boat arrived.
According to the book “Beertown Blazes” by James S. Haight, in her first full year of service, the CATARACT answered 52 alarms, travelled more than 81 miles, and spent 82 hours fighting fires. The following year she answered 136 alarms and spent 200 hours fighting fires. The City decided to buy another fireboat.
In 1893, the fireboat JAMES FOLEY went into service. She was almost a copy of the CATARACT, which is not surprising since she was built in the same yard. WMHS files show that she was 136 gross tons and was 99 feet long, 24.5 feet wide, and drew 10 feet of water, and had a 485 hp engine that could pump 4,500 gallons per minute. She was stationed where Water Street crosses the river. Chief Foley was so pleased with the performance of his two fireboats that he said they were worth 15 land fire engines.
Two fireboats were not enough. Chief Foley asked for a third fireboat in 1896. WMHS files show that part of the problem was the 12,000 vessels that cleared the port of Milwaukee in 1892. The Milwaukee River was a beehive of activity and that activity clogged the rivers, slowing down fireboat response.
Ice in the winter also slowed down the fireboats response. Ice, as much as 30 inches thick, could slow down their movements even though they made daily ice breaking patrols up and down the rivers. Although their hulls were sheathed in iron, the wooden construction of the boats took a terrible beating.
The most common form of delay for the fireboats were the bridges across the rivers. At that time almost every street that reached the river had a bridge across it. Much of riverfront industry was in the northern end of the Milwaukee River, and there were six bridges between the fireboat station at Water Street, where it crosses the river, and that end of the river.
All of the bridges in those days were swing bridges. The bridge pivoted on a set of pilings set in the middle of the river to enable ships to pass on either side of the opened bridge. The bridge was opened by a bridge tender using a capstan to crank the bridge open or closed by hand. The bridge tenders were allowed to sleep at night in the bridge houses.
Unfortunately, Milwaukee had a habit of hiring sound sleepers as bridge tenders. They frequently slept through all attempts to awaken them. In 1890, Chief Foley had the bridge houses wired with alarms that would be triggered from the fireboat quarters. However, the bridge tenders continued to sleep away, their slumber untroubled by the fireboats’ steam whistles blowing a few feet away. Frequently, a passerby had to enter the bridge houses and waken the tenders to get them to open the bridge.
In 1895, the CATARACT attempted to pass through the Cherry Street bridge but the bridge tender slept through the shrieking of the steam whistle. The boat crew could see the bridge silhouetted against the flames of a truly huge fire, involving a lumber yard, a coal yard, a tannery, and other buildings. In desperation, the boat’s captain attached a hawser to the bridge and prepared to pull the bridge off its foundation. Chief Foley himself came by at that moment and conscripted a passerby to open the bridge.
Rather than hire more alert bridge tenders, which would seem the easiest solution, the city decided to buy a third fireboat. On May 15, 1897, the fireboat AUGUST F. JANSSEN went into service. Built at Sturgeon Bay, Wis., by Rieboldt and Wolter for $32,800, she was 133 gross tons, 100.5 feet long, 24.7 feet wide, and drew 10 feet of water. She was named for an assistant fire chief killed in the line of duty at a fire. She could pump 4,500 gallons of water per minute and responded to 55 alarms in 1897.
By 1901, the fireboats were showing their age. The CATARACT had required one thousand man hours of repairs to replace her boilers, engine, and pumps in 1897 and the FOLEY was showing dry rot in her upper works. So, the city purchased a fourth fireboat, this one made of steel.
So ends Chapter 2 of: THE BOATS THAT KEPT MILWAUKEE SAFE
- Once there were over 250 of them
- The beginning
- What’s its name again?
- Out with the coal, in with the diesel
- Gone but still around
Photo at top of page:
CATARACT being launched at Sheboygan 1889
Other photos:
PHOTO CREDIT: Great Lakes Marine Collection of the Milwaukee Public Library and Wisconsin Marine Historical Society.
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James Heinz is the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society’s acquisitions director. He became interested in maritime history as a kid watching Jacques Cousteau’s adventures on TV. He was a Great Lakes wreck diver until three episodes of the bends forced him to retire from diving. He was a University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee police officer for thirty years. He regularly flies either a Cessna 152 or 172.
