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Amidships it was hit, and turned the smaller boat up on its side, as if lifted by a hand, sending everyone on the Frolic into the cold inky water of the Maumee. Bearing down on them was the bow of the tugboat, and not more than a second or two later, the front end of the Arthur Woods hammered into the side of the Frolic like a giant iron fist.

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A marching song, but before their voices could reach the next verse of the song, their voices cracked with horror. The position of the boats as described by Captain Joe Hepburn of the Frolic LaunchĪs the Frolic entered the harbor, the girls on the boat were still in a jovial mood from their long day on the water. As the tug cut across the channel, Fitts says he saw nothing, nor did he have any indication that any thing or any boat might be in his heading. Little did he know that her presence on the Woods would become an embarrassing scandal for himself and the crew.Īs the Woods progressed downriver and drew closer to the Ironville area near the mouth of the river, Captain Fitts ordered the helmsman to make a starboard turn to the right towards the slip and docks at Ironville. It was not a customary practice to carry passengers for transport,aboard the tug, but for some reason, Fitts agreed and she climbed aboard.

A woman who had asked Captain Fitts for a ride up to Ironville. They were headed that spring evening for the slip at Ironville on the east side of the river where they were to dock and drop off a passenger. At the helm of the Woods was Captain Robert Fitts. But it had been working the area of the Toledo docks for about three years pulling and guiding the larger vessels in and out of the docks and slips on the busy shipping channel. It was not a huge tug, 55 feet in length and 35 feet at the beam. The young passengers, by all accounts, had enjoyed their excursion and by 10:00 o’clock that Wednesday evening, Captain Joseph Hepburn was on a heading back to Toledo, steering the Frolic inbound near the mouth of the Maumee River.įurther upstream, a well known tugboat, the Arthur Woods, of the Great Lakes Towing Company fleet, was making its way outbound, or downstream. Clasped in each other’s embrace as day ebbed to night and a darkness set in over the waters. They sat close to each other, staring into each other eyes as young lovers do. One couple, William Pfanner and Eulalie Ricard of Toledo, were engaged to be wed. And a brother and sister, Art and Clara Marx, was family with whom Captain Hepburn lived on Locust Street. Two of the girls, Grace and Edna Lowe were sisters. Seven young women and girls, all in their teens, several still in high school. A man experienced at the helm of the craft who often took people on these excursions to Maumee Bay and the lake. There were 11 people on board the Frolic, including the Captain and owner of the launch Joseph Hepburn. It was to be a late afternoon-into-evening cruise with the bonus of a wonderful crimson sunset over the water. A perfect day for a picnic on one of the nearby islands just beyond the bay in Lake Erie. Sometimes a false peace, easily shattered by a sudden spasm of nature that breaks apart a city’s habitat of homes, or shattered by a foolish blunder of man that triggers a tragedy so great, it can break a city’s heart.Īnd so it was on the night of May 7th, 1902.Ī group of Sunday School students, most of them teenagers, from First Baptist Church on Cherry Street in Toledo, climbed aboard a steam powered naphtha launch called the “Frolic on the Maumee River. So too the ephemeral mood of gaiety and gladness. The sweetness matched only by the chatter of children.īut as always with springtime, the weather can be unruly and restless. The heady fragrance of the lilacs hung like a mist, inviting all to breathe deeper from the well of spring. In East Toledo, at Navarre Park, the trails and walkways on the gentle green slopes were filled with the sounds and scents of the season. Toledo Maumee Riverfront circa 1900Īt Armory Park in downtown Toledo, the seasonal rites of baseball were well underway and the Toledo fans had reason to smile. The trees and flowering shrubs were clothed in a bouquet of color, the Maumee River was freckled with a variety of boats and ships, while along the riverbanks, hopeful anglers stood vigil waiting not just for a the pull of a fish or the meal it provides, but for the sheer joy of catching one. After another long and cold winter, the sun’s warmth cast its spell over the city, in a perennial promise of life renewed. The first week of May in 1902 brought a breath of springtime to Toledo.