Fireboat "S.C.-428" / "Cascade"

Baltimore's Fireboats

..The 110 foot, 2,800 g.p.m. motor fireboat, “S.C.- 428" / "Cascade”, served the Baltimore City Fire Department Marine Division for 39 years from 1921 to 1960. This all wood vessel was built for the U.S. Navy in 1919, as a Sub-Chaser, and given on loan to the City of Baltimore in 1921 for conversion to a “Scout” type fireboat to cover shallow areas of the Harbor not accessible to the larger steam fireboats.

Below is a list of the Company assignments and locations of the "S.C.- 428" / "Cascade" during her service with the Baltimore City Fire Department.

June 27, 1921 - Placed in service with Engine Co. 49, temporarily located at quarters of Engine Co. 16,
...........................Pier 7, foot of President St., pending completion of their new house.

December 16, 1921 - Re-located to new quarters with Engine Co. 49, at the B & O Railroad Sugarhouse Wharf, foot of
...................................Benhill Ave., Curtis Bay.

June 21, 1949 - S.C.- 428 officialy turned over to the City of Baltimore as a gift from the Federal
...........................Government and re-named "Cascade"

September 16, 1956 - Re-assigned to Engine Co. 48, Pier No.3, Lower Canton

October 28, 1960 - Removed from service, de-commissioned and delivered to the Montford Yard on Boston Street,
................................disposition unknown.

The charcteristics of the Fireboat "S.C.- 428" / "Cascade" are as follows:

Builder - Mathis Yacht Building Co., Camden, NJ.

Commissioned - ( by Navy ). January 8, 1919.............by Baltimore as Engine 49, June 27, 1921.

Cost - ( U. S. Navy ? ). on loan to the Fire Department, converted to fire boat for $24,035.

Official number - .?

Construction - all wood

Length overall - 110 feet

Extreme beam - 14 feet 8¾ inches

Depth of hull - 8 feet

Full load draft - 6 feet

Tonnage - Net .? ,. 65 Gross

Fuel capacity - 1,500 gallons of gasoline
--------------------..1947 - now listed as 1,162 gallons of diesel fuel

Maximum speed - 17 m.p.h.

Propulsion - twin screw, two (2) Standard Engine Co., 6 cylinder, air starting, direct reversing gasoline engines,
-----------------.rated 220 H.P. each.
-----------------.1947 - converted to (2) Viking 8-cylinder, in-line marine diesel engines, rated 230 H.P. each

Fire pumps - two (2) Mid-West Engine Co., 3 stage centrifugal pumps, rated 1,400 g.p.m. @120 p.s.i., each driven by
----------------.. a 6 cylinder Van Blerk, electric starting gasoline engine.
------------------.1944 - converted to (2) Superior 6-cylinder, in-line marine diesel engines, rated 170 H.P. each

Discharge gates - twelve (12), 2½” inch, six under forward monitor, and six under aft monitor

Monitor pipes - two (2), Andrew J. Morse & Son of Boston, one on forward deck, and one on aft deck,
--------------------..1941 - aft monitor platform replaced with a 15 foot steel tower

Hose - 1,200 feet of 2½” inch, .( added 1946 ) 200 feet of 1½”

May, 1921

..A detail of Fire Department personnel under the command of Fire Board Secretary P.W. Wilkinson departed Baltimore by train from Union Station on May 10, 1921, bound for Philadelphia to take possession of Subchaser No.428, and bring it down to Baltimore.
..On May 16th, the U.S. Navy officially signed over, on loan to the City of Baltimore, the Subchaser No.428, with permission to convert same into a fireboat.
..A last minute mechanical problem with an engine delayed the departure by a day, with the boat getting underway from the League Island Navy Yard for Baltimore on May 17, 1921.

Conversion to Fire Boat

..The Fire Board was authorized on May 24, 1921, to spend $24,035 for the purpose of equipping the subchaser as a fireboat, with the money to be taken from the appropriaton for the new fireboat "Torrent", then being built at Locust Point.

..S.C. – 428 underwent the following alterations to convert the vessel from a sub chaser into a fireboat. Except for some bottom work done on the marine railway, most of the alterations and repairs were performed by members of the Fire Department Repair Shop, and members of the Marine Division detailed to the boat.

  • Boat hauled out on marine railway and bottom scraped, cleaned, painted and re-metaled where necessary.

  • Installed (2) 8” sea chests, one forward, and one aft, for the fire pump intakes.

  • Main deck stripped of military mast, and funnel stack installed aft of the pilot house.

  • Bulkhead in forward hold, together with all berths and other equipment in compartment removed in its entirety so
    as to provide space for heater which has been located in a separate compartment at the bow, fire and vapor-
    proofed.

  • After steel bulkhead between engine room and ward room, together with equipment of galley removed and re-
    floored in entirety so as to provide for the installation of a pumping unit.

  • Wooden skylight over engine room enlarged and provided with hinged top and (8) port holes for ventilating
    purposes.

  • Metal deck house erected over the pumping unit aft.

  • All equipment and appliances removed from room formerly used as a brig.

  • Companionways provided for forward, engine room, and aft compartments.

  • Metal bulwarks provided for bow of boat, extending about a distance of 20’ aft.

  • Pipe rail provided around deck of boat.

  • Amidship propelling engine, together with shaft and propeller removed in entirety.

  • Flooring in engine room replaced in its entirety.

  • Install two (2) gasoline driven, three stage centrifugal fire pumps, 1,400 gpm. each at 120 psi., complete with
    electric starters and necessary batteries. The pumping unit in forward compartment is mounted on heavy wooden
    timbers, securely bolted to ribs of vessel, and the pumping unit aft of engine room is mounted on a cement
    foundation.

  • Fuel tankage for 1,500 gallons of gasoline provided, with piping arranged for all propulsion and pumping engines to
    be supplied at all times.

  • Each pump fitted with manifold above, on deck with six (6) 2 ½” discharge outlets.

  • Two (2) Morse monitor pipes, one mounted on top of forward and one on top of aft manifold stand pipes.

  • Installed Six (6) 35 gallon soda-acid chemical tanks.

  • Boat equipped with hose, and appliances for firefighting service.

..At a very moderate price, the City of Baltimore now had a fast, shallow draft infighter to back up the heavier, all-steel main units of the marine fleet, that by their very bigness could not operate in water less than 14 feet deep.



S.C.-428 / CASCADE CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE