u/The_Public_Historian

According to Bowling Green State University’s Historical Collections of the Great Lakes, Northern No. 34 was built in 1919 by the Manistee Shipbuilding Company in Manistee, Michigan. The vessel was 246.58 feet long, 43.42 feet wide, with a depth of 26.16 feet, gross tonnage of 1,646, and net tonnage of 1,840. The Northern Barge Corporation owned the vessel, or rather, the “Northern Transportation Co.,” which is painted on the side of the schooner barge in these photos; it was registered as Vessel No. 218663.

Since a wooden launching dock is visible in the background of one of the images, I assume these images were taken shortly after construction on Northern No. 34 was completed.

In the photo looking toward the stern of the vessel, one crew member can be seen leaning against the taffrail while another is walking down the stairs from the wheelhouse. Two more crewmen are visible standing on the bow.

On 5 Feb. 1924, while hauling between 1,500 and 3,000 tons of coal, No. 34 broke free of the tug Norfolk during a storm and ran aground off the coast of Sandy Hook, New Jersey. It broke in half and sank soon after. No lives were lost, as Capt. Fred Williams and two crew members abandoned the vessel before the towlines snapped.

All of the newspaper clippings transcribed below were published in the wake of Northern No. 34’s stranding.

[1.] The following was published in the 6 February 1924 issue of the Asbury Park Press (Asbury Park, NJ):

“Coal Laden Barge Destroyed at Sea - 1,500 Tons of Fuel Lost as Waves Batter ‘Northern 34’ - Crew Saved: Battered by a heavy sea during the night, the barge "Northern 34," carrying 1,500 tons of soft coal, lay practically entirely demolished a half mile off False Hook, near Sandy Hook, this morning. The giant combers had torn the barge to pieces, sweeping the coal to the bottom of the sea. The barge, en enroute to New York City and believed to have left Philadelphia several days ago, broke away from its tow near Seabright yesterday. Carried by high seas, the vessel drifted north toward Sandy Hook, finally impounding on the beach at False Hook. Coast Guardsmen of the Sandy Hook Station, under direction of Keeper Loren Tilton, immediately put out to the stranded barge. Investigation revealed that the crew of three men had been taken aboard the towing tug before the last strands of the tow line broke. A search for another barge, reported to have broken its tow, was being made by the Coast Guard in this section today. Up to an early hour this afternoon, no word as to the disabled boat had been received by any of the stations along the shore. The stranded barge, carrying an enormous load of coal, was about 200 feet long. As she struck False Hook, the high seas began tearing away the woodwork, and in a few hours, beams and other heavy woodwork were being carried on the beach. Salvage of the coal is impossible. The coal is valued at approximately $7,500. At the local office of the Fifth District United States Coast Guard in the post office building, it was said today that the shipping record did not carry the Northern 34. It was explained that possibly the name of the barge had been changed within the past few weeks and thus no data as to the identity of the barge was available.”

[2.] The following was published in the 7 February 1924 issue of The Day (New London, CT):

“Capt. Fred Williams May Have Been Lost: Fears have been expressed for the safety of Capt. Fred Williams, commander of barge Northern 34, which broke in half on the New Jersey coast in the heavy seas on the night of Feb. 5, as no word has been received as to the fate of the skipper and crew of two men. The Northern 34 was operated under the same ownership as the Northern 8, which sank off Long Branch, N.J., Jan. 16, after breaking away from the tug Harold, owned by the Thames Towboat Co., of this city. Captain Williams, although a native of Maine, is well known along the local waterfront and had many times been a visitor in this port while on various craft. He was about 65 years of age.”

[3.] The following was published in the 7 February 1924 issue of The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA):

“Barge Northern No. 34, loaded with coal, went ashore on Thirteen Foot Knoll, and is a total loss; the barge has broken in two.”

[4.] The following was published in the 9 February 1924 issue of The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA):

“Barge Northern 34 Sinks Off Sandy Hook: The barge Northern 34, which left Norfolk last Saturday in tow of the tug Norfolk, is sunk off Sandy Hook. The Norfolk had the Northern 34 and Northern 21 in tow when she left this port bound for Boston. When off Sandy Hook Tuesday, the three craft ran into a severe northeast blow, and Northern 34 broke away from the tug and was sunk. The crew was taken off by the Norfolk. This is the second barge of the Northern fleet that has been lost this winter. Northern 8 was lost off New Jersey about four weeks ago. Northern 34 was loaded with three thousand tons of coal and went to sea almost simultaneously with twelve other barges in tow of tugs.”

[5.] The following was published in the 12 February 1924 issue of The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA):

“Cutters Will Destroy Sunken Barges Shortly: Coast Guard cutters this week probably will destroy two barges wrecked off the Virginia and New Jersey coasts. The cutter Manning recently destroyed the barges Fort Fierce and City of Orleans, wrecked off Cape Charles, and will soon destroy the Marion O’Boyle, which sank off Fenwick Island about two months ago. The barge Northern 34, which went down off the Jersey coast last week while being towed to Boston by the tug Norfolk, will be destroyed this week. All of these barges were loaded with coal from Norfolk and sank at various times during the winter when caught in severe storms.”

The following is written on the back of the photograph:

"This is Geo., the wheelsman and I. The one with the cross is myself, but I have my working clothes on, and will send you a good one when I have some taken. I have some large ones, but you would not want __ __ we were going to __ __ see."

I welcome any input on the portions I was unable to transcribe, as well as any additional information someone could glean from the photo.

The life rings are stenciled with “Str. Sir Henry Bessemer, Duluth." As such, this image was taken before October 1928, when the vessel's homeport changed from Duluth, Minnesota, to Cleveland, Ohio.

Additionally, the gravity chutes of an ore dock appear to be visible in the left background.

The following is written on the back of the photograph:

"This is Geo., the wheelsman and I. The one with the cross is myself, but I have my working clothes on, and will send you a good one when I have some taken. I have some large ones, but you would not want __ __ we were going to __ __ see."

I welcome any input on the portions I was unable to transcribe, as well as any additional information someone could glean from the photo.

The life rings are stenciled with “Str. Sir Henry Bessemer, Duluth." As such, this image was taken before October 1928, when the vessel's homeport changed from Duluth, Minnesota, to Cleveland, Ohio.

Additionally, the gravity chutes of an ore dock appear to be visible in the left background.

The first three images are probably the best photos I’ve ever been able to get of one of these guys.

Two videos of him slithering away can be found below as comments.

John Curtis “Jack” Burn was born on 19 February 1919 in Atlanta, Georgia, the only child born to John Paul Burn and Edna Josephine Curtis. Around 1930, he and his mother relocated to Denver, Colorado. Burn graduated from Denver’s Manual High School in 1937; he was a member of the National Honor Society, Glee Club, Prom Committee, Chorus, and Blue Jackets.

In 1939, Burn began attending the University of Chattanooga in Tennessee, where he appears to have excelled, making the Dean’s List several times. He was also a member of the Xi chapter of the Alpha Lambda Tau fraternity and the International Relations Club. On 5 February 1941, Burn was awarded an advanced flying course scholarship from the Civil Aeronautics Administration, which allowed him to complete 108 hours of ground school and 50 hours of flight training. He graduated from U.C. with the Class of 1943.

In Fall 1942, Burn began training as a junior pilot with the Atlantic Division of Pan American Airways, and by early 1943, lived in Jackson Heights, New York City.

On 22 February 1943, Burn was the Fourth Officer of Pan Am’s Yankee Clipper, a B314 flying boat, which was on the last leg of a U.S.O. flight that had begun in New York, and after stops in Bermuda and the Azores, would soon land on the Tagus River in Lisbon, Portugal; Captain Robert Oliver Daniel Sullivan, pilot flying, and First Officer Herman Stanton Rush, pilot monitoring. There was a total of 39 souls aboard, 12 crew and 27 passengers.

While the aircraft was making a pass over the river before landing, at an altitude of approximately 400 feet and airspeed of 140 knots, John Burn was standing at the top of the staircase immediately behind the cockpit. Suddenly, Yankee Clipper began to turn left and dive toward the river. The left wing tip struck the water first, and the aircraft broke into several pieces, sinking beneath the surface of the Tagus River in ten minutes.

Although 19 passengers and 5 crew were killed, there were 15 survivors, with Burn among them, having been thrown approximately 85 yards from the crash site and sustaining a fractured spine and head injuries. While clinging to floating debris, Burn came across one of the passengers, actress and singer Jane Froman, who had been severely injured in the crash; she sustained a compound fracture of her right leg, a nearly amputated left leg, and her right arm, three ribs, and several other injuries. Burn held her head above water for 40 minutes as they waited for rescue, later recalling that the cold water numbed the pain of their injuries. Both Burn and Froman were hospitalized in Lisbon, during which time the pair grew close.

After recovering, Burn resumed flying for Pan Am, now as First Officer. He often visited Froman in a New York City hospital, where she underwent several operations to ensure she would walk again, sending flowers frequently and speaking with her on the telephone when unable to see her in person.

Five years after the crash of Yankee Clipper, John Curtis Burn and Ellen Jane Froman were married on 12 March 1948 in Miami, Florida; the pair’s romance was later depicted in the 1952 film “With a Song in My Heart.”

On 11 April 1952, Burn was Captain of Pan Am Flight 526A, a Douglas DC-4 known as Clipper Endeavor, which departed San Juan, Puerto Rico, at 12:11 P.M., bound for New York City with a total of 69 souls aboard, 5 crew and 64 passengers, many of whom were traveling for the Easter holiday. Burn was the pilot flying while First Officer William Thomas Hutchins was the pilot monitoring and Second Officer Jack R. Laubach was the flight engineer. By this time, Burn had accumulated 6,920 flight hours,4,000 of which were in the DC-4, and made 200 flights on the New York-San Juan route.

The aircraft took off without any issues, but mechanical problems began to occur as Clipper Endeavor climbed through 250 feet above the Atlantic Ocean. Hutchins informed Burn that the oil pressure of the aircraft’s No. 3 engine was decreasing and oil temperature steadily rising. Captain Burn then advised San Juan air traffic control of the problem, informed them that they were returning to the airport, and requested that emergency equipment be present. Although Burn throttled back the No. 3 engine, when he increased the power of the No. 4 engine to compensate, it backfired several times and was unable to sustain any power increase. By 12:17 P.M., with Clipper Endeavor still miles away from the airport and steadily losing altitude, he throttled the No. 1 and No. 2 engines to takeoff thrust and instructed Laubach to begin dumping fuel. At 12:19 P.M., Burn had the Second Officer inform the cabin crew and passengers that the aircraft would be ditching as he throttled back the engines, set the flaps to five degrees, closed the fuel dump valves, and lowered the landing gear.

At 12:20 P.M., Clipper Endeavor impacted the sea at an approximate speed of 104 knots and rapidly began to sink in rough seas, as the aircraft’s tail had broken off at the rear cabin bulkhead.

Although Second Officer Laubach successfully launched a liferaft via the right emergency exit, First Officer Hutchins was unable to launch a second raft and had to abandon the aircraft through one of the cockpit windows; the liferafts were stored behind the captain’s seat in the cockpit.

By this time, Captain Burn had exited the cockpit into the passenger cabin and began to evacuate the passengers. He later testified that he first “helped two panicky women with children put on life jackets, all the time calling to passengers to abandon ship. However, he added, his orders produced no noticeable results. Some remained in their chairs, their seat belts still fastened, and no amount of shaking could dislodge them. ‘But I kept yelling… Then I went to the main cabin door and began forcibly throwing passengers into the sea. Suddenly a swell hit the door and slammed it shut. I grabbed it by the handle and just then another swell hit the door violently, the door shot open, and I was thrown into the sea.’” Due to the rough waves, Burn was unable to return to the sinking aircraft.

Although most of the passengers appeared to have survived the ditching, many did not evacuate the aircraft out of fear of the heavy seas and sharks, and, as stated by the Air/Sea Heritage Foundation, “with no safety briefing provided, a significant language barrier, and no coordinated evacuation procedure in place, passengers faced chaos, confusion, and heavy seas as the aircraft flooded and sank in less than three minutes,” with the loss of 52 passengers, 39 of which were never recovered.

Amongst the 17 survivors were all five crew members, Captain Burn, First Officer Hutchins, Second Officer Laubach, Purser A. Perez, and Steward R. Torres, and 12 passengers. The Civil Aeronautics Board Accident Investigation Report states that “of the 12 passengers who survived, seven evacuated the aircraft through emergency cabin exits, four through the main cabin door, and one through the right cockpit window.”

While Hutchins, Laubach, Perez, Torres, and 5 passengers made it into the life raft, Burn and seven other passengers floated in the ocean for nearly an hour before being rescued, with U.S. Coast Guard personnel later stating that they had to fend off sharks while rescuing the survivors.

The first and second officers, on the only life raft launched, picked up five passengers as well as the flight purser and steward. A rescue aircraft picked up the captain and seven other passengers who floated in the rough waters from 30 minutes to an hour.”

Ultimately, the investigation found the cause of the crash was inadequate maintenance, and recommended that airlines implement preflight safety briefings.

After surviving a crash for the second time, John Burn returned to flying for Pan Am, retiring in 1979 “as a Captain of the 747 Aircraft running international flights,” with his obituary later stating that in addition to the two known crashes, Burn had also survived a hijacking of an aircraft he was piloting, but the circumstances of this incident are currently unknown.

On 14 June 1956, Burn and Froman were divorced, with the most cited reason being that their careers kept them apart for too long of times.

He later remarried on 29 August 1959 in New York City to Dr. Charlene Lillian Hargrove, a psychiatrist and former model, with whom he had four children.

Additionally, after retiring from flying, Burn “worked for the Flight Safety Committee… [and] received a Master's Degree in social work from NYU and formed the first fear of flying clinic with an associate.”

He later resided in Tenafly, New Jersey, and passed away on 7 February 2009 in Upper Saddle River, N.J.

This carte de visite (CDV) is from my personal collection of Civil War photography. Although the soldier is unidentified, he likely served with the Union Army’s 1st New Jersey Cavalry. However, this is purely speculative. Its backmark reads as follows: “I. G. Owen; Newton; N.J.; Negatives Preserved; Additional Copies from the plate from which this picture is taken can be had at any time if desired.” Beneath the backmark is a blue two-cent “playing cards” tax stamp, canceled with a “Mar. 7, 1865” ink stamp.

The quoted portion of this post’s title is from the personalized "Flight Certificate" he received.

This is one of my favorite photos of him, as he always spoke fondly of this particular flight.

EDIT #1: According to those in the comments below who know far more about aviation than I, the aircraft in the photo is not the Concorde; the napkins also say "Continental." Additionally, while the photo does appear to have been taken in the 1980s, it was not captured on the date listed in the title.

EDIR #2: One of the commenters appears to have identified the aircraft in the image as a Continental Airlines Boeing 747; the photo was taken in the first class section.

The photograph was taken on Memorial Day 2026. Despite my familiarity with the cemetery, I had never paid my respects at Burnell’s grave before, but by happenstance, I met his maternal first cousin at the cemetery that day, who had served in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. I talked with him for quite some time and he spoke very highly of Sam.

[Edit:] SSgt. Burnell was wounded on 6 Jan. 1966 when his patrol was ambushed in Bình Dương Prov., South Vietnam, and died of his injuries on 10 Jan. 1966. I sincerely apologize for the inaccuracy in the post’s title.

His gravestone bears the inscription, "HIS IDEALS - OURS TO LIVE UP TO."

Given the current state of the stone, I intend to clean it with D/2 Biological Solution in the near future.

Last summer, I scrubbed the headstone a few times with D/2 Biological Solution.

The first photo was taken 5 Jun. 2025.

The second photo was taken 20 Apr. 2026.

[Edit] Correction to Title: After further research, I found that TEC4 Erwin Malleis was killed in action outside of the German City of Trier. He drowned when a halftrack that he was riding in as a passenger crashed into the Moselle River due to near-blackout visibility conditions. I sincerely apologize for this inaccuracy.