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Capt. Charles Houston (A55 – 24)
1817-1856
"The Steamer Belle Tragedy"
By John Bettencourt
(As told on tours of the Sacramento Historic
City Cemetery)
This story about the life of a Sacramento Historic City
Cemetery Resident was written and presented on tours by
the late John Bettencourt. Mr. Bettencourt was a
founding member of the Old City Cemetery Committee.
The Belle was the pride of the California Steam
Navigation Company, being the best and fastest of the
line, and her master, Capt. Charles Houston, one of the
ablest of his profession on the river.
She was a state-of-the-art, shallow draft stern-wheeler,
75-ton burthen, with the finest passenger
accommodations, equal to any of her competitors plying
the river at the time. Yet, some forty-five minutes
after slipping her berth at Sacramento and churning
upriver, one half of those who took passage on the
ill-fated "Belle" were either dead, seriously burned and
injured, or missing.
She was barely away and churning up the Sacramento on a
routine run from Sacramento to Red Bluff when the
tragedy struck. It came suddenly and without warning.
Her upper decks were blasted into kindling, and all but
forty feet of her lower aft section sank almost
instantly into the river. Within seconds, the pride of
the California Steam Navigation Company was gone, taking
with her six of her officers and crew and seven of the
twenty-five passengers believed to be onboard. Behind
she left a score of scalded, burned and mangled victims
who would later recount the "Belle's" last gasp.
At precisely 7:45 A.M. on the morning of February 5,
1856, at a point some 11 miles above Sacramento, the
"Belle's" boiler suddenly burst and instantly the river
was strewn with mangled bodies and debris. A
conglomerated mass of shattered fragments testified to
the havoc reaped by the force of the tremendous
explosion.
The steamer "General Reddington," on a downward run from
Colusa, happened upon the scene at about eight o'clock,
some 15 minutes after the blast, and immediately took on
survivors. Upon receiving news of the disaster, the
Company dispatched two ships to the scene of the tragedy
to render assistance and salvage what could they could.
Back in Sacramento, crowds lined the levee anxiously
awaiting news of friends and loved ones on the Belle,
fearing the worst. It was only the year before that the
steamer "Pearl" suffered a similar fate, that disaster
claiming some seventy-five lives. The painful memory of
that day was still fresh in the minds of those who
waited.
The "General Reddington" was the first ship to reach
Sacramento with victims of the “Belle.” As nearly as
could be ascertained, there were forty passengers and
crew on board at the time of the explosion.
The "Gem" and the "Cleopatra," the Company's two rescue
and salvage ships, continued the search for survivors
and victims until 1:30 P.M., when the body of the ship's
master, Capt. Charles Houston was finally found, leaving
only one passenger, Leonadis Taylor, of St. Louis, still
missing. The search and rescue operation was stopped and
the ships returned to Sacramento with their cargo of
salvage, survivors, and victims.
With the mournful toll of the church bells ringing in
their ears, survivors disembarked, rushing into the arms
of loved ones. They had been spared. Those less
fortunate were taken from the boats and laid out in the
Water Works building to be identified and later buried
in City Cemetery.
Capt. Houston's body was taken to the store ship
"Antelope", where in the funeral services were held.
It was said that none mourned the loss of Capt. Houston
more than his faithful Newfoundland dog, who had
apparently been on board, somehow escaped the disaster,
and anxiously paced the bank of the river, refusing to
eat or be comforted. Then, as if sensing the fate of his
master, he lay quietly down, placed his muzzle between
his front paws and whimpered.
He kept his constant vigil, refusing to leave the site
until the body of his master was recovered from the
water and taken away. All who watched could not help but
to be moved by this noble gesture of devotion.
At the inquest, few questions were answered. The "Belle"
was a good ship and her capable master, Capt. Houston,
an experienced officer. Her engineers were regarded as
sober and competent men. The ship was fully capable of
more speed than she had undertaken before the blast.
Surviving officers and crew testified that the "Belle's"
gages read well under the 80 lbs of pressure considered
critical, and that there was no sign of a problem prior
to the sudden and disastrous explosion. There being no
evidence otherwise, the blame was affixed to a defective
boiler.
With the burial of her victims here in City Cemetery,
the tragic story of the ill-fated "Belle" came to an
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