Brooklyn Bridge: A Saga of Determination

John Roebling resolved to prove his detractors wrong, and to make the bridge stronger, he decided to use steel, instead of the traditional iron, to construct the bridge.

John Roebling’s untimely death

Just as work was beginning on the bridge in the summer of 1869, John Roebling severely injured his foot during survey operations in a freak ferry/dock collision accident. He died of lockjaw within two weeks, and his son Washington Roebling became chief engineer of the bridge project.

Washington Roebling, was just passionate about the project as his father was, having been directly trained by him. He worked double and triple shifts checking on the project’s minutiae, which is why he could find out the misdemeanors of the contractor J. Lloyd Haigh’s use of flawed steel. Indeed, father and son were both a little insane about the bridge.

Caissons and the compression sickness

To dig the foundations for the bridge’s enormous stone towers, inflatable structures called caissons — enormous wooden boxes with no bottoms — were sunk in the river. The caissons stretched from the surface to the sea floor and blocking out the water, allowing the workers to dig into the rocks without any scuba gear. Compressed air was pumped into them, and men inside would dig away at the sand and rock on the river bottom. The stone towers were built atop the caissons. This job was terribly dangerous, and the workers suffered from “compression sickness”. Compression sickness, or the “bends,” is caused by the appearance of nitrogen bubbles in the bloodstream that result from rapid decompression.

Source

Being a believer of “leading by example“, Washington spent more time than others under water in the caissons and as a result, suffered its debilitating effects. In the spring of 1872, he was taken from the job, unconscious. He suffered brain damage, which left him immobile. He could neither walk nor talk or even move.

The nay-sayers had a field day, branding the father and son crazy and foolish. They raised an uproar demanding scrapping the construction project. But Washington had faith in his vision, and sought the help of his wife, Emily Roebling. 

Washington started using his only moving finger to communicate to her. He developed a code to make her understand his communication. Emily Roebling had perhaps been groomed by fate for this very purpose. As it happened, Washington had discussed detailed blueprints with her and knew of every decision he had made. Henceforth, Emily started taking his instructions to the bridge site everyday and became its virtual Chief Engineer.

Detractors once again raised their objections saying Emily had no credentials for the job. A board of inquiry questioned the competence of the Roeblings and reported to the American Society of Civil Engineers that Mrs. Roebling was competent in managing the work. What an example of the importance of communication in team work!

The bridge was finished in 1883, and costed about $15 million, more than twice what John Roebling had originally estimated. In 1898, the city of Brooklyn formally merged with New York City and a few other towns, forming Greater New York.

Perhaps this is one of the best examples of a never-say-die attitude that overcomes a terrible physical handicap and achieves an impossible goal. The Brooklyn Bridge shows us that even “impossible” dreams can be realised with determination and persistence.

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