The Ill-Fated Maiden Voyage of the Texas

By Kevin Kinney, Rosenberg Library Archivist

Rosenberg Library’s Galveston and Texas History Center has the log book to the steam dredger Texas of New York, captained by James Alexander Minot of Galveston. Built at a cost of $250,000, the ship was to have been employed in the grade raising of Galveston Island, an effort to protect the island from catastrophic flooding that began several years after the 1900 Storm. The Texas was the largest and most powerful of a fleet of four dredges that had been contracted to dredge a canal through Galveston. The other dredges were the Holm, Galveston, and Leviathan. Texas had an engine of 1,900 horsepower and a container capacity of 1,500 cubic yards, which would have helped with carrying large quantities of material dredged from the canal.

Photo of Steam Dredger Texas. Texas Steam Dredger Log Book, MS32-0066. Rosenberg Library, Galveston, Texas.

Texaslaunched from Danzig, Germany in late November 1904 and was expected to arrive in Galveston in early January 1905. But according to newspaper reports compiled by Edmund R. Cheesborough, secretary of the Grade Raising Board of the City of Galveston, the ship was reported passing south of the United Kingdom with at least two of her propeller blades broken and was in need of repairs on December 12. Twelve days later on Christmas Eve, the ship had wrecked off the northwest coast of Scotland. After the sinking, Captain Minot and his crew took to two lifeboats; the captain and twelve men in one boat and twenty-one other crewmen in the other boat. Tragically, the second lifeboat sank almost immediately and all its occupants drowned. According to the log book, Captain Minot's boat had been out at sea for almost two weeks after the sinking of Texas, with all provisions and water completely consumed after only five days. The widespread hunger became so intense that two of the crew members reportedly had to be restrained for the safety of everyone else. On January 4, 1905, an Australian seaman aboard the boat died from starvation and exhaustion, and was soon buried at sea.

One day later, the remaining men were sighted and rescued by the crew of an Italian ship named Mercedes. They were then transferred to another ship, Zeno, which finally brought them to Waterford, Ireland on January 11, 1905. According to a letter sent to Rosenberg Library by Captain Minot's granddaughter Rebecca Bell Hodson, Captain Minot returned to Galveston after the sinking and lived to be 96 years old. Meanwhile, the grade raising in Galveston resumed with the other three dredges and was finally completed in 1928.

Front cover of the Texas Steam Dredger Log Book, MS32-0066. Rosenberg Library, Galveston, Texas.

Log book entry from December 24, 1904, containing an account of the sinking. Texas Steam Dredger Log Book, MS32-0066. Rosenberg Library, Galveston, Texas.

Log book entry from December 24, 1904 to January 5, 1905, containing an account of the events after the sinking, including the rescue of her captain and crew. Texas Steam Dredger Log Book, MS32-0066. Rosenberg Library, Galveston, Texas.

The log book of the Texas was donated to Rosenberg Library by Alice Minot, daughter of Captain James Minot on January 11, 1932. It documents crew activities aboard the ship as well as wind and weather conditions during its doomed voyage, including its sinking and the eventual rescue.