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Page 22. MAINE COASTAL NEWS October 2011 THE WRECK OF THE DAVID H. TOLCK OF MILBRIDGE By Amos Boyd


During the cold night of February 26, 1879, the 445-ton schooner DAVID H. TOLCK was under full sail far off the coast of New Jersey when she suddenly struck with full force something underneath the water. The powerful shock did great damage to the TOLCK and seriously injured both Captain Irving Sawyer and his wife Ida. Their 18- month old baby daughter Geneva was not hurt.


Captain Irving Sawyer, at the age of 29 years was already an experienced ship master, and became the first captain of the schooner DAVID H. TOLCK when she was launched on October 28, 1872, in Milbridge, Maine from the shipyard of his father, Captain William Sawyer. His father had retired from the sea and had become a successful ship builder and well to do owner with a $2,500 interest in the DAVID H. TOLCK. The schooner, valued at the time at $15,000 was owned mostly in New York by Zitlosen and others.


After striking at sea, the damaged schooner was driven by the tide toward Barnegat, where treacherous shoals and sandbars had caused many disastrous wrecks. By three a.m. the TOLCK had stranded about 130’ from the beach, and breaking waves were washing over her decks. The crew could get fore and aft only by walking the icy booms above the deck. The suffering of the badly injured captain and his wife was intensified by the cold and drenching spray, and he was unable to continue in command of the schooner. It was under the direction of first mate Francis Peterson that the crew carefully but with great difficulty carried the captain and his wife and the baby high into the wet and icy rigging where they were securely tired, safe for the moment out of reach of the breaking heavy waves. The TOLCK was already beginning to break up and the danger was increasing every moment.


Besides being the wife of a sea captain, Ida Sawyer was also from a seafaring family, and a daughter of Captain William Allen of Prospect Harbor, Gouldsboro. Since she and


her husband were already in great pain, she realized that the baby Geneva was the only one likely to survive the wreck, and with great effort she dressed her baby girl in the warmest clothing she could find. Men had been watching the stricken vessel from the beach, and about an hour after she stranded, they got a line aboard the TOLCK, but were not able to attach a breeches buoy until nearly noon. First mate Pederson wanted the captain’s wife to go ashore in the breeches buoy with the baby, but she refused to leave her severely injured husband. Peterson then ordered the second mate, Emanuel Larson, into the buoy with the child in his arms, with orders to hold onto the child at all cost. Geneva had been wrapped in flannels with a hood over her head, a comforter around her neck and knitted socks on her little feet.


From the icy rigging the captain and his wife watch dimly through the flying spray as the breeches buoy carrying their tiny daughter pitched and swung on the line. The baby, wrapped in a small blanket, and tightly held by Larsen, could hardly be seen. The mate himself had little but the thinnest clothing, and was soaked to the skin and although half frozen, clutched the baby with desperation as the breeches buoy bounced and swung through the surf to waiting hands on the shore.


When little Geneva’s wraps were loosened, her blond ringlets clung damply to her face, and she stared wide eyed at the unfamiliar bearded men, and began to cry. She had stayed warm and dry in her coverings, with no idea of the hazards through which she had come. She was given to the care of a kindly woman, who put her near the kitchen stove and slowly gave her food. After a time little Geneva’s dimples appeared and she began to prattle her own baby words and on her unsteady feet, followed the woman by clutching the woman’s long heavy skirts.


On board the TOLCK, the men had become exhausted and numbed by the cold driving wind and spray. The effort of holding onto the slippery rigging became too much


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for Henry Johnson, one of the elderly members of the crew, and he dropped silently from the captain’s side into the surging dark waters.


Captain Sawyer and his wife were barely alive, but dimly aware that their little daughter was safe on shore. For a time Ida Sawyer seemed free of pain and sang softly to herself before she died, and the captain died a short time afterward.


Before dark another attempt was made to save the weakened survivors, but this time the breeches buoy was swept away by heavy seas, and two seamen, Frank June and Richard Groton, were drowned. About eight o’clock that night a final attempt was made to rescue those remaining on board the wrecked vessel. This time, all were brought safely to shore; Francis Peterson, first mate, Edwin Pantlock the cook, and seamen Alfred Cockrane and Lewis Everett. Once on shore, Peterson said he could not have lasted an hour longer.


The dramatic rescue of the dimpled baby Geneva and the tragic loss of both her young parents and the circumstances surrounding their deaths, attracted widespread attention and sympathy. The story made New York City newspaper headlines, and the printed descriptions of the orphaned baby’s great charm brought forth more than 300 offers for her adoption, many from wealthy New York families. However, news of the tragedy also reached Captain Frank Hopkins, brother-in- law to the deceased Captain Sawyer. Captain Hopkins was master of the large 977-ton barque VILORA HOPKINS which was in the East River loading cargo for Buenos Ayres. Captain Hopkins immediately left the barque for the scene of the tragedy, to look after the baby Geneva and to take care of the bodies of her parents.


Immediately upon the arrival of Captain Hopkins (an experienced but impatient deep sea master of the large barque, accustomed to command) any suggestion of little Geneva Sawyer being adopted by New Yorkers, wealthy or otherwise, was quickly put aside. The baby would of course be taken home to her anxiously waiting grandparents in Milbridge, Maine, and the bodies of her parents taken home for proper burial. Hopkins quickly made his own investigation of the circumstances of the tragedy. He learned from the mates and the other survivors, and from the men on the beach, that the Life Saving crew had no confidence in the captain of the life saving station, whom they regarded as totally


incompetent. Captain Hopkins’ conclusions and those of the New York news men were that all lives could have been saved if proper efforts had been made.


Grief and great bitterness swept the town of Milbridge and the surrounding areas when the bodies of young Captain Irving Sawyer and his wife and seamen of the TOLCK were brought back for burial. Nearly everyone in the small town had known the young captain almost since birth, and those who did not know him well, knew intimately many members of the large and extended family and business. The captain’s wife was not as well known in the community, but had become a much loved and respected member of the family.


Seafaring people are not strangers to tragedy and sudden death, but from all accounts the deaths of the Sawyers and the seamen of the schooner TOLCK had been caused by the inept performance of the Coastal Life Saving service.


More than a thousand people from all over the county tried to attend the funeral of Captain and Mrs. Irving Sawyer, but no church in the town was large enough to hold them all. In spite of the cold weather, the windows and doors of the church were opened wide so everyone could hear the service.


Little Geneva Sawyer, who was about 18 months old at the time of the tragedy, whose dimples and blonde ringlets had charmed everyone who saw her, grew into womanhood and married twice. Her first husband was Walter Millikin and after his death she married Casper Cole.


Ida Sawyer, wife of Captain Irving Sawyer, had also been from a seafaring family. Her father was Captain William Allen of Prospect Harbor, Gouldsboro, and according to an Allen family history, Captain Irving Sawyer and his wife Ida, died in a wreck caused by wreckers lights. The great schooner DAVID H. TOLCK, was almost worthless after the wreck, her hull sold for only $210. Accounts of the wreck were printed at the time in Washington County newspapers, and expressed the opinions of Captain Hopkins and the first mate Peterson of the TOLCK.


In 1983, a New Jersey historical society printed an account of the wreck of the Milbridge-built schooner DAVID H. TOLCK. Their version of the story is different than the story as told and printed in the newspapers of 1879. The newspapers of New York City were not easily available.


Combat Illegal Fishing Continued from Page 12.


culprits to get away with their dirty business.”


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Individually, the United States and the E.U. have already put in place a number of legal measures to combat IUU fishing, such as the U.S. High Seas Driftnet Fishing Moratorium Protection Act that identifies countries engaged in IUU fishing and an E.U. regulation that blocks illegal seafood imports without the required certifications. Both participate actively in international fishery management organizations and promote international instruments to address IUU fishing.


“We will use all the tools at our disposal to clamp down on IUU fishing and prevent illegal seafood from entering our market. With all the sacrifices U.S. fisherman have made, they deserve no less.” Dr. Lubchenco said. “The U.S. and the E.U. share common challenges in fisheries management, so working together will bring us closer to


achieving a shared vision of sustainable fisheries.”


The U.S. is turning a corner in ending overfishing and rebuilding stocks. Landings have increased by more than 200 million pounds and all coastal regions of the country saw increases in total value of these landings in 2010, over last year. Meanwhile, the E.U. is in the process of reforming its Common Fisheries policy designed to rebuild its own fisheries and is looking to learn from the United States’ success stories. Beyond domestic boundaries, there is an increasing need for international cooperation, especially among major fishing and seafood-importing nations, to improve global fisheries management of shared marine resources and to preserve the associated employment and other economic benefits of sustainable fisheries. The document signed today by the United States and the European Union is a building block that will help achieve these goals.


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