When shipbuilding was one of the prime industries in Milford, launches were almost a holiday in the town. Schools closed and the entire town went to the shipyard where the ship was to be launched. Scaffolding was constructed to allow those in attendance to see the launch clearly. This was the case when the Charles J. Dumas was to be launched from the Abbott Shipyard on September 27, 1904.
On that date, a four-masted schooner, the Charles J. Dumas, was to be launched from the shipyard. The ship was a freighter constructed at the shipyard established by James W. Abbott in 1869 and operated by his son, William, starting in 1883. The yard was on the south side of the Mispillion River at the foot of McColley Street next to the Vineyard Shipyard.
On September 27, 1904, the shipyard was prepared to launch the Charles J. Dumas with hundreds turning out to watch the ship as it sailed down the Mispillion River to the Delaware Bay. A scaffold had been built and there were over 200 people standing o it when a spike gave way and the entire structure fell.
“The moans of over 200 maimed and suffering victims, hurled by a broken scaffold to the ground, nearly 30 feet below, silenced the sweet strains of the national anthem sung yb a school of children guests as the new schooner, Charles J. Dumas glided from the ways of the Abbott yard, on the banks of the Mispillion River today,” an article in the News Journal read. “With the awful crash came a panic, which the absence of death seemed almost a miracle. The victims, mostly women and children, were pile din heaps among the falling timbers.”
About 25 people were severely injured and 100 more suffered cuts and bruises. The most seriously injured included Alfred Miller, 12, with a back injury; William Roff, an employee of the shipyard, who suffered a crushed foot and side; Alfred Nutter, internal injuries; Allison Gillis, bad facial cuts, broken nose and internal injuries; George Davis, serious chest injuries; Thomas Simpson, internal injuries; Marshall Townsend, broken wrist and scratched face; Ralph Simpson, internal injuries; John Davis, head and back injury; George Ross, smashed foot and leg fracture; Neal Marvel, sprained ankle; Erie Davis, chest and back injury; John Jump, head contusion; Nehemiah Matthews, ankle injury; Herman Griffith, sprained wrist and internal injuries.
The scaffold had been erected for children to stand on while viewing the launch and to sing the national anthem. The gang plank leading to the ship was crowded and the scaffold was elevated 30 feet. Fearing an accident could happen, orders were given that no more people could get on board and this led 200 people to rush back on the plank, causing the underpinning to give way and the scaffolding to fall just as the vessel guided into the water.
On October 8, 1904, the Middletown Transcript reported Ralph Simpson, the son of Steward Simpson and grandson of W.L. Simpson, died of his injuries on October 1.
Ralph Simpson, son of William Seward Simpson, a farmer, died yesterday from injuries he received Tuesday afternoon at the launching of the schooner Charles J. Dumas,” the News Journal wrote. “Young Simpson was the most seriously injured of the score of school children who were hurt by the falling of the staging, which collapsed without warning. He was injured internally. Yesterday, Dr. DaCosta of Philadelphia operated in hopes of saving his life. The little sufferer survived the operation only five minutes.”
The Charles J. Dumas was doomed from the start as it was lost in a shipwreck in 1911 off Pea Patch Island.
