Otto H. Bean Sr.
1st Assistant Engineer
SS Tuscarora
Entered the Service from: New Jersey
Died: December 1917
Introduction
Otto Bean Sr. lived in this home at 445 Berkeley Street in Camden NJ — Photo December 8, 2002
Otto H. Bean Sr. was born in Maine around 1878. He worked as an engineer on merchant ships. He married his wife Margaret, and they lived in Maryland in November of 1909, when their son Otto Jr. was born. The Beans later moved to 445 Berkeley Street in Camden NJ, the home of Margaret’s sister Lydia and her brother Harry Stahl, a Camden police officer.
Otto Bean Sr. signed on as the First Assistant Engineer aboard the steamship SS Tuscarora, operated by the U.S. Shipping Board. The Tuscarora sailed from New York on December 9, 1917 bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Tuscarora had been built by the Globe Iron Works in Cleveland, Ohio in 1890 and had spent most of its active life plying the Great Lakes. She was sold to the shipping board for off-Lakes service in 1917, probably soon after America entered World War I. The last heard of the vessel was when it passed Farther Point on the St. Lawrence River. It was initially believed that the Tuscarora was dashed to pieces on the rocky coastline near Halifax. All hands were lost. The wreck of the Tuscarora was later found off St. Paul Island, where at least ten other ships have been lost over the years.
Otto Bean Sr. was 39 when he was lost at sea. He was survived by his wife, Margaret, of Camden NJ, and his son Otto Jr.
SS Tuscarora
SS Tuscarora, 1890
Tuscarora Missing
New York Times —
TUSCARORA AND CREW BELIEVED TO BE LOST
Lifeboat Picked Up Off St. Paul’s Island Near Newfoundland—12 Americans on Board.
HALIFAX, N. S., Dec. 26.—A lifeboat from the American steamer Tuscarora, believed to have been lost with all hands, was picked up today by the lightkeeper on St. Paul’s Island.
Wreckage found near by indicated that the steamer was dashed against the cliffs in a storm last week. There was no trace of the crew.
St. Paul’s Island lies between Cape Breton and Newfoundland, and many ships have been wrecked on its rocky shore.