Dear Lou56,
Here is a good article Johnny Dynamite.
Dynamite Johnny
By Marian Betancourt
The Cuban struggle for independence and the remarkable Irishman who helped.
http://www.irishabroad.com/irishworld/irishamericamag/decjan03/hibernia/olstory.asp?article=1884989
I sent off an email to the author of the article asking if she knew if
Johnny ?Dynamite O?Brien worked for the Alaksa Steamship Company on
the Mariposa.
Marian replied that he did not work for the Alaska SS Co. or on a ship
called Mariposa. She believes that it?s a strange but real coincidence
that there are two guys called Dynamite Johnny. The one she?s writing
about died in 1917.
According to the following citation from the Tacoma Public Library,
the captain of the Mariposa was Captain C. J. O'Brien on October 8,
1915.
Mariposa (liner)
?The Alaska Steamship Company liner Mariposa, while steaming north
through the sharply winding channels at the upper end of Fitzhugh
Sound, struck a rock ledge, tearing a hole in her bottom forward. She
had departed Seattle in charge of Capt C. J. O'Brien with 95
passengers and a full cargo of freight for southeastern Alaska and
Cook Inlet ports. The Border Line Transportation Company's passenger
and freight steamer Despatch, Capt. S. B. Brunn, intercepted the
Mariposa's distress call while passing north through Milbank Sound and
was at the scene of the stranding, near the entrance to Lama Pass,
within an hour and 45 minutes. Two minutes later her boats were over
the side and on the way to the beach, where the passengers of the
stranded liner had taken refuge. They were removed to the Despatch and
landed at Ketchikan. The Esquimalt salvage steamer Saluor refloated
the steamer, which had remained with her bow on the reef and her
upperworks, from the funnel aft submerged at high tide, and she was
drydocked at?
Citation: Tacoma Public Library
http://www.cimorelli.com/cgi-bin/magellanscripts/ship_bio1.asp?ShipName=Mariposa+(liner)
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S.S. Mariposa. October 8, 1915.
?This Alaska Steamship Company steamer was built in 1883 at
Philadelphia. While on a northbound voyage from Seattle to Cook Inlet,
the Mariposa struck a rock ledge on upper Fitzhugh Sound. The impact
tore a hole in the ship's bottom forward, and it was stranded near the
entrance of Lama Pass. The 95 passengers aboard were safely landed on
the beach and the freight steamer Dispatch took them to Ketchikan. The
salvage steamer Salvor later refloated the Mariposa, and, along with
the William Jolliffe, towed it to a drydock in Seattle for repairs.?
http://www.lib.uaa.alaska.edu/archives/Photographs/PhotoExhibits/SteamshipsInTrouble.html
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This is an HTML version of the original government document, Important
Events in Radiotelegraphy [C11.72:R11].
October 8, 1915
--The steamship Mariposa grounded and sank on rocky shore in Llama
Passage, off Pointer Island, British Columbia. The SOS call was heard
by two vessels. The Despatch, being within 30 miles, responded and
safely carried off the 139 persons on board.
http://earlyradiohistory.us/1916impt.htm
------------------
An article in The New York Times dated Jan 10, 1913, states that
Johnny O'Brien was retiring.
JOHNNY O'BRIEN RETIRES.:Too Old, He Says, to Take a Ship to Venezuela
-- Talk of Filibusters.
Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES.. New York Times. New York, N.Y.:
Jan 10, 1913. pg. 3, 1 pgs
----------------
Another article dated April 3, 1915 states that DYNAMITE JOHNNY
O?Brien was ill with pneumonia.
DYNAMITE JOHNNY" ILL.:O'Brien, Who Ran Spanish Blockade, Laid Up with Pneumonia.
New York Times (New York, N.Y.: Apr 3, 1915. pg. 5, 1 pgs
----------------
Given the above information, it would appear that "Dynamite Johnny"
O'Brien was not the same Captain C. J. O'Brien, Master of the Mariposa
on October 8, 1915.
If you find that this information answered your question, just let me
know and I will gladly post it as the official answer.
Sincerely,
Bobbie7 |
