As he listened to the storm raging around the City of Houston on 16 August 1871, John Schouler may have thought his luck had finally run out. Caught in a hurricane, even a sailor as experienced as Schouler could be forgiven for wondering whether he would remain afloat until the ordeal was over. Battling the elements was bad enough, but before long Schouler found himself dealing with the captain’s poor decisions as well.
Born in Massachusetts, the 24-year-old lieutenant commander was the son of William Schouler, an immigrant from Scotland who had risen to prominence in his adoptive country, counting among his accomplishments work as a writer, service in the state legislature, and as Massachusetts’ Adjutant General. Appointed to the Naval Academy in the fall of 1861, the younger Schouler graduated in just over three years and entered active duty in the closing days of the Civil War. In August 1871, Schouler was assigned to the ironclad Terror, of the South Atlantic Squadron, though official business had temporarily taken him away from the vessel.1
Also on board the City of Houston that afternoon, and probably even more worried at the ship’s heading, was Pennsylvania native Charles A. Schetky, in command of 59 enlisted sailors headed for Key West. Schetky, also the son of a Scottish immigrant, was nearly 20 years older than Schouler and had entered the Navy as a volunteer in 1863. Despite his experience, he did not join the regular Navy until 1868, when he was finally commissioned as a lieutenant.2
Although she carried a sizeable contingent of active-duty members of the Navy, the City of Houston was a civilian ship. Built at the Reaney Iron Works for C.H. Mallory & Co., she was launched in April 1871 and placed on Mallory’s New York to Galveston route, which included a stop at Key West. “She is expected to prove an extraordinary fast boat,” commented one announcement of her launch, adding that “her accommodations for passengers are of the first order.” Another writer noted that she had been “built of the best material, in the most thorough manner, and for strength and durability is believed to be unsurpassed by any iron steamer built in this country.” The City of Houston measured between 228 and 285 feet (reports vary as to her exact length), and, like many contemporary vessels, was equipped to operate under either sail or steam.3
Accounts of the Incident
The City of Houston pulled away from her dock at Pier 20 on the East River on Saturday, 12 August 1871, for her first run to Galveston. All seemed well, with the brand-new pride of the Mallory fleet sailing calmly under experienced mariner Captain Leander H. Partridge, another veteran of the Union Navy.
On Tuesday, the three days of good weather enjoyed by passengers and crew were replaced by the ominous signs of an oncoming hurricane. As winds increased and seas rose, those on the City of Houston spotted waves breaking on the shoals off Cape Canaveral. Though the immediate danger was averted, weather conditions continued to deteriorate. Eventually, the steamer was brought about too quickly, and lost her mainsail. By this time, it was completely dark, and a worried John Schouler, no doubt still thinking of the shoals the vessel had managed to avoid before nightfall, recalled several days later that Lieutenant Schetky approached him at this point, saying the pair needed to speak with Captain Partridge and “insist” he take steps to send the City of Houston further out to sea. In Schouler’s words, “we went forward and found the captain so much under the influence of liquor or narcotics as to be unable to command his ship.” Schetky, however, said that Partridge had allowed the City of Houston to come too close to the reef, and thereby “betrayed his incapacity.” In his version, written the day after the near disaster was over, the two officers were summoned to the pilothouse after dark by the first mate, a crucial point which shifted all the responsibility for Schouler’s subsequent assumption of command onto the shoulders of a man who had the authority to request such assistance.
According to Schouler, a handful of enlisted sailors already were on the bridge, trying to assist the City of Houston’s quartermaster, but Schetky’s account made no mention of these men. At this juncture, the two accounts largely converge again. Schetky asserted that the civilian sailors essentially were useless: “The commander had turned in; the crew proper of the steamer (with the exception of first and second officers and assistant engineer) were frightened and would do nothing.” Calling the rest of the Navy contingent from their bunks, Schouler ordered them to set two other sails to tack, both of which were blown away. For reasons never explained, the City of Houston’s first mate was elsewhere, and appeared only after the sails Schouler had set were destroyed. He was, fortunately, in possession of his faculties, and Schouler stepped down, allowing the civilian to take charge. Oddly, considering subsequent events, the first mate’s name was never given.4
Outside, the hurricane continued in full force. In the small hours of the morning, the tiller chain broke, and the boiler room had flooded enough to put out the fires on which the engines depended, with one boiler breaking loose from its fastenings. The winds were now blowing the City of Houston away from shore, though she was completely helpless and still taking on water. Near dawn, Master R.E. Carmody of the Navy suggested the mainmast should be cut away. Meanwhile, others on board either were bailing or cutting loose wood to provide fuel as they restarted the fires. According to Lieutenant Schetky, all the bailing or pumping necessary for the initial attempt to light boiler fires was done by Navy sailors—probably no exaggeration since there were 59 of them, although it reflects badly on the civilian crew. Not until the afternoon of 17 August did the City of Houston’s engine roar back to life, only to be halted again by a cracked steam pipe. Hours later, the other boiler broke loose.5
The battered ship, her sails destroyed and steam mechanism damaged, was at the mercy of the sea for two days. When conditions were calm enough, a temporary repair allowed the City of Houston to cover the remaining 53 miles to Fernandina, Florida, where she docked on 20 August. Schouler, in reporting his harrowing experience to the Secretary of the Navy, was pleased to note the good conduct of his subordinates and said the two civilian mates “did their duty well and faithfully until completely prostrated by fatigue.” Captain Partridge had kept (or possibly had been kept) to his quarters for nearly the entire duration of the emergency. Schetky also spoke well of the conduct of his men, mentioning several by name in complimentary terms, along with one passenger. As for Partridge, he wrote scathingly that “from 9 p.m., 16th [not long after the tiller chain broke], until 7 a.m., 17th [after the mainmast was cut away], the commander was in his room, or at least, not attending to his vessel.” It is not hard to picture the exasperation with which he added that the City of Houston lacked extra sails, and had “no means whatever for signaling at night, as required by law.”6
The Aftermath
Secretary of the Navy George M. Robeson, in responding to the reports, stated his whole-hearted approval of the actions undertaken by Navy personnel on the City of Houston. Lieutenant Commander Schouler and Lieutenant Schetky each received an official letter of commendation. Ten days after the weary City of Houston came into port, Leander Partridge was still in Fernandina, on suicide watch and supervised by both a doctor and a representative of the New York Board of Underwriters. He was said to be “crazy.”7
The City of Houston was repaired and once again headed for Texas no later than October 1871. Her bad luck continued, however, for about two and a half years later, she collided with and sank a tugboat on the Mississippi below New Orleans. Two of the tug’s crew were drowned, while the survivors were picked up by another vessel as the City of Houston “proceeded on her course.” Another hurricane in late October 1876 drove the steamer ashore at Key West, though all passengers were saved. The final blow for the ship came when she sailed straight into the hurricane of October 1878 and sank off North Carolina’s Frying Pan Shoals. Her passengers were rescued by the nearby Margaret and put ashore in Fernandina.8
Partridge soon returned to the maritime trade, though he never recovered—professionally or perhaps personally—from whatever occurred off Cape Canaveral. In 1872, he arranged for the purchase of a share in the Potomac River steamer Lady of the Lake and began working as her captain. In 1874, she collided with the USS Gettysburg. An official investigation later found that the pilot of the Gettysburg was in error for not continuing on his side of the river. According to Partridge’s own statement, he was “quietly enjoying his supper” at the time, with the navigational duties then in the hands of the pilot. A witness on board the Gettysburg alleged Partridge had shouted oaths in response to an offer of help from the other vessel’s surgeon, an accusation he denied. Fortunately, there had been no injuries for the surgeon to attend. If anyone at this time connected the Lady of the Lake’s skipper with the possibly intoxicated City of Houston captain three years earlier, the fact escaped mention both by the investigation board and contemporary newspapers. A news correspondent who sailed on one of the Lady of the Lake’s excursions in the weeks following the collision with the Gettysburg wrote a glowing report of his entire trip and commented that Captain Partridge was “as courteous a gentleman who ever walked a deck or gave an order.” Leander H. Partridge died unexpectedly on 1 January 1875 at his home in Washington, DC.9
John Schouler and Charles Schetky both enjoyed long Navy careers. Schouler completed his tour on board the Terror and made his way to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, where he at various times taught Spanish, Seamanship, Naval Tactics and Naval Construction, and later served as head of the English Studies, History and Law department. In 1891, Commander Schouler was appointed to the Bureau of Navigation; four years later, he was Chief of Staff of the North Atlantic Station. For his final tour, he supervised coast signal stations during the Spanish-American War. Schouler retired with the rank of Rear Admiral in 1899, and died on Christmas Day, 1917. Schetky served on board the Vermont in 1873, and the Saint Louis for much of the 1880s. He retired as a commander in 1889, and in his old age moved to Oregon, where he died in 1927.10
Uncovering the Truth
What really happened on board the City of Houston? Schouler, Schetky, and Partridge all had years of experience at sea and records of honorable Navy service. Partridge appears to have satisfactorily carried out his other seafaring duties, both military and civilian, up until 1871. Yet, it is almost inconceivable that Schouler and Schetky could both misidentify a man who was under the influence. A newspaper account, relying heavily on Schouler’s report but possibly also incorporating information from other unnamed sources, had Captain Partridge standing on the bridge, “giving incoherent and absurd orders to the quartermaster at the wheel” when he was discovered. Furthermore, in the one statement attributed to him about the near-wreck, Partridge is said to have remained below until the morning of 20 August, when he claimed to have been on duty continuously from about the afternoon of the 14th until they approached Cape Canaveral, “and that in taking stimulants to sustain himself he had exceeded a proper limit”—an admission that makes it even more unlikely alcohol was not involved on some level.11
Both Schouler and Schetky also included the phrase “or narcotics” in their official statements, making it probable the pair not only detected alcohol but believed another substance was also likely present. The report of 30 August, that Partridge was under the supervision of a doctor, would tend to corroborate this supposition. No further mention appears of Captain Partridge’s suffering from mental illness, and it is possible that the report originated with Mallory Line officials seeking to avoid bad publicity. There is, however, another possible explanation—that Partridge was in withdrawal when he allegedly attempted suicide, and apart from his drug problem was otherwise in stable mental health. With known allegations of substance abuse, Partridge’s outburst following the Lady of the Lake collision makes more sense, if indeed it occurred—the board of inquiry, after all, did not find fault with his conduct in their official report. In addition, the rheumatism mentioned in his obituary provides motivation for obtaining a medicine laced with narcotics.12
One further set of circumstances must be considered. Schouler and Schetky’s reports agree to a large extent in their account of the events that led Schouler to assume command of the City of Houston, an unsurprising feature usually taken to reinforce the veracity of such statements. What is notable is their use of nearly identical wording to describe Captain Partridge’s condition. Although they took proper, decisive measures to prevent shipwreck, they also had to explain why active-duty Navy personnel travelling on official business took over a civilian vessel. The reports give the impression that Schetky came away with a less than favorable view of nearly all the civilians who manned the City of Houston. It is possible that, exasperated by the ineffectiveness of measures taken thus far, Schetky decided to place matters in more authoritative hands. Once the hurricane passed, he may have realized that displacing the officers of a civilian vessel could have spelled trouble for his career and altered his report to show the first mate requested assistance from Navy personnel. Regarding the most crucial point, that of the captain’s incompetence, Schouler and Schetky would have had time and cause to ensure their stories matched. They had definite motive to present Partridge in the worst possible light or risk censure and potential judicial action from the maritime community. The fact that no one, military or civilian, is known to have come forward and alleged misconduct on their part casts doubt on this explanation, and is a strong indicator that on 16 August 1871, Leander Partridge was as incapacitated as Schouler and Schetky suggested.
If narcotics did indeed play a role, as seems probable, his story might have gone something like this: Plagued by joint pain, the captain sought relief in laudanum, and eventually grew dependent. On the afternoon of 16 August 1871, he took too much or mixed the substance with alcohol, clouding his judgment just when his ship most needed a competent guiding hand. As various parties investigated after the hurricane was over, his access to laudanum was restricted, causing him to go into withdrawal and resulting in a report that he was insane and suicidal. Although he was never charged with wrongdoing, his career as captain of an oceangoing steamer was over, and he tried to start again on the Potomac River. It is worth noting that his obituary attributed his sudden demise to rheumatism. With no further evidence to go on, laudanum cannot be conclusively named as the culprit in the City of Houston incident, though it remains a distinct possibility. Happily, thanks to the actions of Schouler and Schetky, and the able assistance of their subordinates, those aboard the City of Houston did not become unwitting victims in her captain’s own personal tragedy.
1. William Schouler in 1860 census, Essex County, Massachusetts; William Schouler, A History of Massachusetts in the Civil War (Boston: privately printed, 1871); Obituary for Rear Admiral John Schouler, Army and Navy Register Vol. LXII No. 1954, 29 December 1917; “Lieutenant-Commander John Schouler,” in Lewis R. Hamersly, The Records of Living Officers of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1878), 199; U.S. House of Representatives, Reports of the Secretary of the Navy and of the Postmaster General (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1871), 313.
2. Reports of the Secretary of the Navy, 313–15; Charles A. Schetky in 1880 census, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania; “Lieutenant C.A. Schetky,” in Hamersly, Living Officers, 210.
3. Untitled item in “Miscellaneous,” Chicago Tribune, 25 April 1871; “Shipping Notes,” New York Herald, 8 August 1871; “Foundered off Frying-Pan Shoals,” Wheeling [WV] Daily Intelligencer, 26 October 1878.
4. Reports of the Secretary of the Navy, 313–16.
5. Reports of the Secretary of the Navy, 314, 316.
6. Reports of the Secretary of the Navy, 313–18.
7. Reports of the Secretary of the Navy, 315, 318; “The Captain of the Steamer ‘City of Houston’ Crazy,” Evening Star (Washington, DC), 30 August 1871.
8. “Minor Telegrams,” Wheeling [WV] Intelligencer, 16 October 1871; “Collided and Sunk,” Wheeling [WV] Intelligencer, 15 May 1874; “Key West,” Wheeling [WV] Daily Register, 23 October 1876; “The Stranded City of Galveston,” New York Herald, 24 February 1876; untitled item, Evening Star [Washington, DC], October 26, 1878; “Foundered at Sea,” Daily Globe [St. Paul, Minn.], 26 October 1878; John Harrison Morrison, History of American Steam Navigation (New York: W.F. Sametz & Co., Inc., 1903), 467–68, 492–93. At least one report confused the City of Houston, bound for Galveston, with her wooden-hulled Mallory sister City of Galveston, which had run aground in the Bahamas two years earlier. However, contemporary reports seem to bear little or no mention of the City of Galveston after 1876, while Morrison’s History of American Steam Navigation states unequivocally that the City of Galveston was a total loss in the Bahamas.
9. “Personal,” Alexandria Gazette, 20 January 1872; “Death of Captain Partridge,” Alexandria Gazette, 2 January 1875; “The Recent Collision,” National Republican [Washington, DC], 4 June 1874; “Letter from Piney Point,” National Republican [Washington, DC], 4 July 1874; U.S. Senate, Reports of Committees of the Senate of the United States for the First Session of the Fifty-Second Congress Report No. 964 (Washington: GPO, 1892), 4. Partridge never paid for his share of the vessel and it was returned to its previous owner, evidently by consent.
10. United States, Register of the Commissioned, Warrant, and Volunteer Officers of the Navy of the United States (Washington: GPO, 1875), 86; Register of the […] Officers of the Navy of the United States (Washington: GPO, 1881), 90; Register of the […] Officers of the Navy of the United States (Washington: GPO, 1888), 76; Obituary for Rear Admiral John Schouler, Army and Navy Register; Register of the […] Officers of the Navy of the United States (Washington: GPO, 1891), 84; House of Representatives, Report of the Secretary of the Navy […] to the Two Houses of Congress (Washington: GPO, 1873), 268; Register of the Commissioned, Warrant, and Volunteer Officers of the Navy of the United States (Washington: GPO, 1880), 13; Register of the Commissioned, Warrant, and Volunteer Officers of the Navy of the United States (Washington: GPO, 1886), 18; Charles A. Schetky in 1920 census, Hood River County, Oregon; Oregon Death Index, 1898–2008, accessed via Ancestry.com, 19 May 2019.
11. “Narrow Escape of the City of Houston,” New York Tribune, 26 August 1871.
12. Reports of Committees of the Senate Report No. 964, 4; “Death of Captain Partridge.”