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Unloading lighters, the Plaza, San Juan, 1900. Caravelones (traditional watercraft) at San Juan Harbor’s old embarkation site in 1901. This area is now the site of Darsenas Square across the street from the Federal Court House.
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passengers with leprosy. The cuttermen isolated the patients and crew and pumped out the schooner, which, with some juryrigged repairs, was deemed safe enough to continue and sailed on to Saint Kitts. The boarding party’s quick action prevented their own exposure to leprosy and its spread to the rest of Puerto Rico. In 1914 political upheaval erupted during the Dominican Republic’s infamous Revolucion del Ferrocarril. The conflict cut off the flow of goods to the north side of Hispaniola, creating a local humanitarian crisis. Hundreds of residents in Monte Cristi and Puerto Plata, many of them Puerto Rican laborers and their families, were trapped with no food or water. Algonquin was sent to evacuate the refugees and deliver them to Puerto Rico. The cutter completed several evacuation runs in June and July, sometimes under fire from shore, transporting hundreds of Puerto Rican men, women, and children to San Juan. Algonquin’s crew also served as firefighters on more than a few occasions. On the hook in San Juan Harbor on 2 May 1913, the cutter’s lookout spotted a fire across the harbor in the village of Catano. A detail with axes and firefighting equipment deployed in the ship’s lifeboat under the command of the boatswain. Upon their arrival, the men saw that the fire was spreading quickly. In a town where most of the buildings were made of wood, fire posed a real threat to the community. The boatswain led the local residents in forming a bucket brigade and in digging a trench as a firebreak. The flames were soon contained and eventually extinguished without any fatalities. In the early morning hours on Sunday, 7 February 1915, the cutter’s crew spotted a blaze on Puerta de Tierra wharf, right in downtown San Juan. An officer with a detail and firefighting equipment responded, joining forces with the Puerto Rico Regiment and local firefighters. The combined force battled the flames, demolished walls, closed off gas mains, evacuated residents, and removed valuable property. It was two days of exhausting and dangerous work before the men finally extinguished the flames, to the great relief of San Juan’s officials and residents. The City of San Juan issued an “Official Resolution of Thanks” to the Algonquin crew
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