Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Item
Title
D7044-8
Date(s)
- 1938-01-27 (Creation)
Extent
Name of creator
(1919-1980)
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
On January 27, 1938, diver George Wayne donned his diving suit and entered the waters of Commencement Bay just off shore from the ASARCO smelter to retrieve the body of ASARCO employee Fred Birkby. Mr. Birkby was drowned that morning when the slag train on which he was riding overturned into the bay. It took diver Wayne about four minutes to locate the body wedged between the slag dump and one of the capsized slag pots in approximately eight feet of water. Recovery of the body was at 3:40p.m. (T.Times, 1/28/1938, pgs. 1 & 18, 1/27/1938, pg. 1)
Copper industry--Tacoma--1930-1940; Smelters--Tacoma; Laborers--Tacoma; American Smelting & Refining Co. (Tacoma); Railroad accidents--Tacoma--1930-1940; Diving; Diving suits--1930-1940;