Columbus Porter Watts, Fireman First Class, USS Delaware

Location:
Johnson Cemetery
Fairmount, Gordon County, Georgia
N 34° 26.625 W084° 41.972

Date of Visits: October 3, 2009

Tombstone Inscription:

Columbus Porter Watts
Born
Jan 21, 1883
Died
Jan 17, 1911
Died on USS Dellaware First Class Fireman
Discussion:

Columbus Porter Watts, the son of Pleasant Marion Watts and Willie A. Mansell of Fairmount, Georgia, was a Fireman First Class assigned to the USS Delaware. The sixth version of the USS Delaware (BB-28) was a battleship that had been launched at Newport News by the Newport News Shipbuilding Company on February 6, 1909. On the morning of February 17, 1911 the Delaware was in route to Hampton Roads, Virginia from Guantanamo, Cuba. The Delaware was to pick up the remains the Chilean Minister Cruz and transport them home to Chile. An explosion occurred and Watts was killed. The incident was described in the New Your Times:

WARSHIP EXPLOSION KILLS EIGHT SEAMEN.
THEIR BODIES ARE DRAGGED FROM THE DELAWARE'S STEAM-FILLED BOILER ROOM ANOTHER DYING. STORY TOLD BY WIRELESS.
BATTLESHIP WAS SAILING TO HAPOTON ROADS FROM CUBA TO CONVEY THE CHILEAN MINISTER'S BODY HOME.
Washington, Jan. 17. -- Eight men met instant death and one man was so badly burned that he probably will die as a result of a boiler explosion aboard the battleship Delaware at 9:20 o'clock this morning, the cause of which is as yet unexplained, according to a wireless message tonight to the Navy Department from Capt. GOVE.The Delaware was on her way to Hampton Roads from Guantanamo, Cuba, and had been designated to transport the body of Senor Cruz, late Chilean Minister to the United States, back to Chile, instead of the South Carolina, whose propeller met with a mishap. The nine victims were on duty in the boiler room when the accident occurred. A terrific shock sent the crew scurrying below and nine bodies were dragged from the cloud of hot steam that hissed through the hold.Capt. GOVE'S message to the Navy Department reads:"At 9:20 A.M., Jan. 17, three backheaders, Nos. 8, 9, and 10 of Boiler "0" in Fireroom 4 blew out explosively, killing eight and injuring one, who will probably die, these being all the men on duty in the fireroom. Board of officers appointed immediately to investigate and report. Not yet reported. Extent of damage is ten backheaders injured in Boiler "0". Cause not yet placed."The dispatch also stated that details of the accident would be telegraphed to the department when the vessel arrived at the Norfolk Navy Yard.The dead are:CHARLES HENRY HARP, fireman.WILLIAM MORRIS WHITE, fireman.COLUMBUS PORTER WATTS, fireman.HERBERT ANDERSON BREWER, fireman.LEWIS ADDISON WHITE, coal passer.CLARENCE DE WITT, coal passer.CHRISTIAN JENSEN, water tender.An unknown man.EUGENE PHILLIPS, a fireman, was badly injured.HARP came from Violet, Ky., and had been in the navy some three years.WILLIAM MORRIS WHITE, who had been in the service one year, was from Vicksburg, Miss., where his father, S. P. White, lives. WATTS was a resident of Fairmont, Ga., and leaves a father, Pleasant M. Watts, there. He had been in the service about three years. BREWER was a native of Hermitage, Tenn., and had been in the service one year. His next of kin was India Brewer, an aunt, of Hermitage. LEWIS ADDISON WHITE was from Beaver Dam, Wis., where his uncle, Charles White, lies. He had been in the service one year. DE WITT was a resident of New Florence, Penn., where his mother, Mrs. Kate De Witt, survives him. He had been in the service less than four months. JENSEN was from Brooklyn, N.Y., where his father, Andrew Jensen, lives. He had been in the naval service about two and one-half years. PHILLIPS, the fireman, who was badly injured, was from Washington, D. C. He had been in the service eight years and ten months.The boiler explosion on the Delaware, which belongs to the first division of the Atlantic fleet, recalls a similar accident that occurred on the North Dakota, a sister ship of the Delaware. In a four hours' endurance test in November, 1909, when a seven-inch tube in one of the boilers burst as the vessel was off Cape Ann, speeding at over twenty-one knots an hour. Two firemen, a coal passer, and a water tender were badly scalded, but no lives were lost. On Sept. 7 last there was a more serious mishap on the North Dakota, three of her crew being killed and thirteen badly injured through the ignition of fuel oil in one of the compartments when the vessel was near Old Point Comfort, Va.The worst boiler accident in the history of the navy was that which came near destroying the gunboat Bennington on July 21, 1905. This explosion was due to the excessive pressure in one of the boilers. Sixty men lost their lives. The boiler was hurled back upon another boiler, causing that one also to explode.On April 13, 1906, two officers and eight enlisted men of the battleship Kearsarge were killed in a gun explosion. This accident was similar to the one that killed three men on the battleship Iowa a few years before.On July 14, off Cape Cod, Mass., a powder charge in one of the 8-inch turrets of the battleship Georgia prematurely exploded, killing eight officers and men. One of the officers was Lieut. Caspar Goodrich, a son of Rear Admiral Goodrich. These are not all of the accidents that have beset the navy in recent years, but they are the most serious.The accident on the Delaware, occuring on the return from Europe of the fleet, brings the number of vessels disabled during the homeward voyage to three, the others being the dreadnoughts Michigan and South Carolina, both of which lost propellers and were compelled to head for Hampton Roads for repairs instead of proceeding as scheduled for the drill grounds off the southern coast of Cuba.The Delaware was expected to arrive at Hampton Roads tonight, but she was delayed by fog, and probably will not report there until tomorrow. She was spoken indirectly by wireless and reported "hung up in the fog."



Sources:
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, www.history.navy.mil

GenDisasters http://www3.gendisasters.com/virginia/13480/old-point-comfort-va-shore-battleship-explosion-jan-1911?page=0%2C1

The New York Times New York 1911-01-18

Side Panel of CP Watt’s tombstone in Johnson Cemetery.

Historical Marker: Euharlee Creek Covered Bridge

Location: Euharlee, Bartow County, Georgia
N 34° 08.556 W084° 55.851

Date of Visit: March 5, 2009

Transcription:

In 1886 the county contracted with Washington W. King, son of feed slave and noted bridge builder Horace King, and Jonathan Burke for the construction of this 138 - foot bridge. It was adjacent to a mill owned by Daniel Lowry, of which the foundation is still evident. The bridge replaced several previous structures, the last having been built two years prior. Construction in Town lattice design, the bridges web of plank crisscrossing, at 45- to 60- degree angles are fastened with wooden pegs, or trunnels, at each intersection.

Yondering Across North Georgia

October 10 - 11, 2009

We left Saturday morning headed to Baby Land Cabbage Patch Hospital in Cleveland. Georgia. Getting a late start Luke was immediately hungry and wanted lunch. We stopped to get a cache at fruit and barbecue stand at the intersection of Highway 52 and Long Branch Road east of Dahlonega. I think Almost Famous Barbecue could become famous!! It was mighty good. They made real French Fries from Irish potatoes right there in thegrease! Of course they were also selling mountain apples, boiled peanuts, and all kinds of jellies, jams, and fruit juices. We found Baby Land just has we left it many years before when we took Hannah and Luke. Isaac went in saw a Cabbage Patch Baby be born via an "easy-ottimy", asked where were the boy toys, and proclaimed he was ready to go. It is obvious that Isaac was not impressed by Xavier Roberts’s creations. We continued our eastward trek to Tallulah Gorge. We stayed at a new resort hotel called The Lodge. Very nice accommodations. Our children were impressed with the suspension bridge down in the Gorge. I was much more impressed with the fact that we walked all of those steps down into the gorge and walked back out. However, later in the evening we visited to most exciting place visited all day. Goats on the Roof is a general store of sorts between Clayton and Tallulah Falls on Highway 411. The attraction here is that there are really goats running around on the roof of the buildings. There are also chickens up there, but the goats walking over the rope bridge and eating food sent up little conveyer belts was just too cool. It was so cool that we went back Sunday morning and partook in roasting marshmallows in the early morning coolness. Sunday morning found me sore legged as we rolled out of bed to start our way back to Calhoun. Our goal was to find a Pumpkin Farm without going back to Burt’s Farm in Dawsonville. Bad idea!! Garminey got lost and then we got lost!!! We found a pumpkin farm, but we were not impressed so we struck out across the mountains for Dawsonville and Burt’s. Before this leg of the trip we did see the petro glyphs at Track Rock near Blairsville. Our route carried us across Blood Mountain and the Appalachians Trial. We arrived at Burt’s at 4:05 with about four thousand other people as another four thousand folks attempted to leave with their treasure trove of pumpkins and gourds of different size, shape, and color that were headed to elaborate fall displays in front years, doorways, and store fronts. We joined in with most of north Georgia in the fall fun, took a hay ride, bought a bunch of stuff destined to rot in the front year, and went went to Amicalola Falls. Once again we hiked off down into a gorge to see a water fall ad tumble over rocks. Once again we had to walk up whole bunch of steps wondering why we ever walked down. Thus ended our weekend yondering trip!!!