The boat accident that almost saved a president's life
Charles Guiteau shot 20th US President James Garfield in 1881. However, the assassin nearly died while travelling by ship to New York City the year before.
Image: Just over a year before he shot President James Garfield, Charles Guiteau almost died in a ship collision | Public Domain
It’s not hard to reel off a list of famous shipwrecks from history. Obvious examples include the supposedly ‘unsinkable’ RMS Titanic and Tudor warship the Mary Rose.
However, the sinking of the SS Narragansett in 1880 might just be the most historically influential maritime disaster you’ve never heard of. The vessel sank off the northeastern US coast after colliding with the SS Stonington - a ship carrying future assassin Charles Guiteau.
Guiteau’s shooting of 20th US President James Garfield in 1881 is dramatised in a new Netflix series, Death by Lightning. However, here at Sky HISTORY, we couldn’t help wondering if Guiteau had died at sea before Garfield’s inauguration, how much would history have changed?
Who was Charles Guiteau?
Illinois native Charles Guiteau was born in Freeport on 8th September 1841. He was brought up largely by his father Luther, as Guiteau’s mother Jane passed away only seven years after his birth.
Guiteau shared his father’s admiration for John Humphrey Noyes, founder of utopian religious sect the Oneida Community. As a young man, Guiteau joined the group himself, but was repeatedly mocked and rejected there, even being disparagingly branded ‘Charles Gitout’.
Guiteau eventually left the Oneida Community, but struggled to find his true calling. Despite failed spells as a lawyer, bill collector and insurance salesman, Guiteau continued to be driven by an intense religious zeal. It was still very much with him when, in the 1870s, he sought to carve out a high-flying political career for himself.
A fateful trip on the Connecticut River
In June 1880, the Republican Party nominated James Garfield as its candidate for the US presidential election set to be held the following November. Guiteau hoped that, by helping Garfield to triumph at the ballot box, he would be rewarded with a position in the new administration.
On 11th June 1880, Guiteau boarded the SS Stonington. This passenger steamship was bound for New York City, where Guiteau intended to meet up with other Republican campaigners. However, while en route to the Big Apple that evening, the Stonington unexpectedly struck sister ship the SS Narragansett.
The crash occurred at around 11:30pm in Long Island Sound, near the mouth of the Connecticut River. A heavy fog had descended that night, preventing the Stonington’s crew from being able to clearly see the dangerously close Narragansett (and vice-versa). The matter hadn’t been helped by inadequate signalling between the two vessels.
Surviving against the odds
The collision left the Narragansett with a large gash in her hull’s starboard side. While seawater poured into the vessel, it had also caught fire, as its gas boiler had been struck.
This left many passengers of the ship jumping overboard in desperate attempts to swim to safety. It is estimated that the Narragansett’s sinking claimed about 50 lives.
As for the Stonington, it incurred surprisingly little damage compared to the Narragansett. Not a single passenger or crew member on the ship perished. As far as the fanatically religious Guiteau was concerned, his own survival was a sign that God had saved him for a special purpose.
In the run-up to the election, Guiteau delivered a speech in support of Garfield. When Garfield went on to win the election, Guiteau was convinced that he had played a big part in that victory.
A peek into an alternate timeline
Guiteau repeatedly pushed for an ambassadorial role in the Garfield administration, but these efforts came to nothing. Believing that the new Vice President, Chester A Arthur, would be more sympathetic to his plight, Guiteau assassinated Garfield later that year.
This did elevate Arthur to the White House, but he distanced himself from Guiteau by refusing to pardon him for Garfield’s murder. Arthur also abolished the patronage system that had motivated Guiteau to shoot Garfield in the first place.
Had Guiteau died at sea in June 1880, rather than the gallows in June 1881, the patronage system might have lingered somewhat for years. Garfield might have been reluctant to touch it too much for fear of annoying the pro-patronage ‘Stalwarts’ within his own party.
Garfield’s progressive attitude (by the standards of the time) towards African Americans could also have led him to provide new educational opportunities for this demographic.
It’s amazing how much an overlooked moment can significantly change history. To see more examples of that, why not subscribe to the Sky HISTORY newsletter? We’ve got plenty of engrossing new documentaries coming up.
