January 13

On the night of the 13th in 1840, the side-wheeled steamer Lexington, the fastest vessel operating on the run from Manhattan to Boston, caught fire and burned to the waterline two miles off Eaton’s Neck on the north shore of Long Island resulting in the loss of all but four of the 143 passengers and crew. The survivors were Chester Hilliard, the only passenger to survive, the ship’s fireman Benjamin Cox, Stephen Manchester, the ship's pilot, Charles Smith, one of the ship's firemen, and David Crowley, the second mate.