January 2014 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 25. HISTORY FROM THE PAST - Bangor Daily Commercial - Early 1900s Wrecked Off Boston Light


Three-Master C. C. LANE Struck on the Ledges in Monday Night’s Storm Capt. P. W. Alley of Ellsworth


Was in Command, and He and His Crew Reached Land in Safety – The Vessel Will be a Total Loss. Boston, March 20. – The treacherous


ledges off Boston light, where many vessels have been lost in the history of New England shipping, claimed another victim Monday night when the New Haven schooner C. C. LAKE, bound from New York for Portland with a cargo of clay, seeking shelter from the high northeasterly gale struck fairly on the rocks.


After Capt. P. W. Alley and his crew


of fi ve men had worked for four hours in an effort to save their vessel, they gave up the fi ght, and succeeded in attracting the attention of the keeper of Boston light who put out to them with his crew and brought them safely to the island on which the light is located. The weather was so thick, a blinding snow storm being in progress that the schooner was not sighted by the life savers at the Stony Beach station until shortly after daylight. They launched their boat and after a stiff row through the tremendous seas they reached the scene. Nothing was known as to the fate of the crew of the stranded vessel until the life savers returned to their station at about 9 o’clock.


The C. C. LANE, working her way up the coast Monday night in the heavy storm struck a ledge about two miles and a half below Boston light. Fortunately she did not sustain a serious leak but a little water being allowed to come in and several great seas boarded the vessel. Capt. Alley decided to seek shelter and headed the vessel for Boston light.


The men were able, without great


diffi culty to keep the schooner clear of water but losing his bearing in the thick snow. Capt. Alley brought his vessel too near the light and at about 8 o’clock in the hull and the crew could make no headway against the water. The thick weather gave no chance of signaling the Stony Beach station for assistance, but the men made known their position to the keeper of the Boston light. The keeper of the light with the small crew of men on the island entered their boat and quickly reached the fast sinking vessel and Capt. Alley and his crew of fi ve were taken safely to the lighthouse.


Soon after daybreak, the snow having ceased, the Stony Beach life savers sighted the wrecked schooner. Knowing nothing as to the fate of the crew they at once launched the surf boat. After a hard row, they reached the light and found the men from the schooner safe ashore. A passing tug was hailed and putting into the island cove, tools the shipwrecked men on board, proceeding to Boston. The lifesavers then returned to their station. Capt. Alley lives in Ellsworth, Maine. Aside from some exhaustion from their hard work and exposure the crew was none the worse for their experience.


When the life savers returned they stated that the vessel which was then completely submerged, only the masts showing above the waves, would be a total loss. The three masted schooner C. C. LANE was built at East Haven, Connecticut, in 1873. She registered 243 tons net and was owned in New Haven, Connecticut. Portland, March 20.


21 March 1906 3 Days Without Food or Water


Terrible Experience of the Crew of St. John Vessel in a Recent Storm Boston, March 21 – For 72 hours


without food or water, the captain and crew of the schooner ADELENE of St. John, N. B., succeeded in surviving the storm and cold of the ocean in a dory until they were picked up Monday by the fi shing schooner MARGARET DILLON. They were brought here Wednesday on the fi sherman and the narrative of rescued seamen contains many of the elements which serve to construct a thrilling story of hardship. The ADELENE was abandoned last


Friday off Duck island on the coast of Maine, waterlogged and without sails. The crew were rescued 60 miles off Fipponies bank. The rescued included:


Capt. Henry Smith, St. John, N. B.; Mate Edward McDermott, St. John, N. B.; Steward Eevin Sabine, Hampton, N. B. Crew, Leonard Ferguston, St. John, N. B.; Milburn Sabine, Hampton, N. B.; Wm. A. Martin, St. John, N. B. The ADELENE sailed from St. John


on Tuesday of last week, bound for New York, loaded below and above deck with laths. She was a three-masted schooner and carried about 50,000 laths on the deck alone. Wednesday was fair but about 4 p.m. Thursday snow began to fall and by night there was a fi erce gale which drove the snow before it in sheets. Soon afterwards the schooner commenced to leak and all hands had to man the pumps as well as care for the sails.


The vessel strained badly in the gale and the water gained steadily below deck. By 2 a.m. on Friday there was several feet of water in the cabin and every sea that struck the schooner appeared to open up seams in the hull. By 3 p.m. the water in the cabin was breast high and all the food in the galley became watersoaked and useless. While all the men had been at work below upon the pumps the deckload of laths had been washed overboard and the sails had been blown away.


Capt. Smith had turned his vessel seaward as he was only ten miles off shore, fearing that in the dense snow storm he might strike on some of the dangerous ledges on the Maine coast. Previous to this Seamen Martin and Sabine nearly lost their lives while out on the bowsprit trying to stow away the jib which had been torn when the gale broke. They were submerged with the bowsprit in a huge sea and badly bruised but managed to cling to their position and later make their way into the cabin. After lashing the wheel of the ADELENE Capt. Smith’s men tumbled into the schooner’s jolly boat and left the schooner to her fate.


Then began a long row in the stormy sea with absolutely no sustenance. During the fi st night out a steamer was sighted about a mile away, but although all the men shouted at the top of their voices, their cries were not heard. All day Saturday and Sunday the men got into a stupor through cold and hunger, but were kept awake by their companions. Finally on Monday morning the schooner MANUAL R. CUZA which arrived at Provincetown, Tuesday. The ADELENE was then waterlogged and abandoned about 60 miles east of Highland light. * * * * *


Many Vessels Were Wrecked The Big Storm, Did Much Damage – Six Lives Reported Lost. The wrath of New England’s storm of March 19 and 20, was vented apparently on the coastwise fl eet, the record in Boston, Tuesday night standing 12 wrecked or damaged, and six lives lost. That the list will be augmented during the next few days seems probable, in view of the size of the fl eet which was off the coast when the storm was at its height.


The list of disasters and accidents at 10


o’clock Monday night was as follows: SCHOONERS.


LADY ANTRIM of Boothbay, total wreck at Marblehead, fi ve lost. ROSA MUELLER of Boothbay, ashore at Cape Pogue, Massachusetts, crew escaped.


MARION DRAPER of Boothbay,


ashore, but fl oat at Hyannis. WINNIE LAWRY of Boston, sunk


off South Yarmouth, Massachusetts, crew escaped.


C. C. LANE of New Haven, ashore at Boston light; six men rescued. SARAH A. REED, of Calais, ashore at Jonesport, Maine, crew escaped. MANUEL R. CUZA, of Boston, escaped from a dangerous position, inside of Cape Cad with sails blown away. MALCOLM BAXTER, JR., of Perth


Amboy, damaged by collision at Boston. GRACE A. MARTIN of Bath, damaged by collision at Boston. HARRY MILLER of St. John, ashore


in that harbor, with crew on board. Barge Number 14, N. E. Transportation Co., sunk at New London; woman lost. Canal boat H. C. FRENCH, wrecked at New Haven, three men rescued. In addition the British bark EDNYFED was damaged in Boston harbor, the fi sh commission’s launch PHARLAROPE nearly foundered off Nantucket and an unknown schooner was warned off Jerry’s Point.


The most distressing disaster, was the wreck will all on board, of the schooner LADY ANTRIM, at Marblehead Neck. Two bodies were found during the day, one high on the beach and the other tumbling about in the surf, from which it was dragged by a searching party. Boothbay’s fl eet seemed to be singled out by the storm for beside the LADY ANTRIM the ROSA MUELLER was sunk and the MARION DRAPER damaged. As usual there were thrilling rescues amid tumbling seas and a thundering surf. The crew of the WINNIE LAWRY were taken from the rigging of their sunken vessel off Bass river by Capt. Jos. Allen, who happened to be on shore leave from the Pollock Rip Shoal lightship. The keepers of Boston light, the oldest on the continent, rescued the crew of the C. C. LANE, which was pounding on the rocks of the Little Brewster in Boston harbor. A barge sank in New London harbor and carried down a woman, while a little launch clearly foundered while trying to enter Nantucket harbor.


There was a mixup in Boston harbor while the storm was at its height and several of the largest coasters were damaged. The storm did not leave the continent


without infl icting some damage to provincial vessels, one of them being blown ashore in St. John harbor.


The disturbance was almost beyond the range of the weather bureau, far down to Newfoundland.


WRECK OF THE MAINE SCHOONER LADY ANTRIM Small fragments of the little Boothbay schooner LADY ANTRIM were found Tuesday, strewn along the outside of Marblehead Neck, off which she was wrecked in Monday night’s storm with the probable loss of all hands and among the broken pieces of the vessel were recovered the bodies of two of her crew.


The vessel was so completely smashed up that it was some hours after the wreckage had been discovered that her identity was learned from a portion of one of her sideboards. The fi rst body was found high up on the


beach about noon while the other was hauled out of the surf about 5 o’clock Monday afternoon.


The LADY ANTRIM sailed from Provincetown with a cargo of sand for Rockland, Maine. She was manned by fi ve men.


The LADY ANTRIM was one of the oldest coasters in the service, having been built in 1857. She was owned and commanded by J. H. McClintock of Boothbay Harbor, Maine, and it is believed that he was one of the victims of the wreck. The fi rst body to be recovered was that


of a man about fi ve feet nine inches in height, weighing 180 pounds, with dark hair on the side of his head, the upper part being quite bald. His moustache was red and a notable feature was that two front teeth of the upper jaw which were spread so as to leave a triangular space with the apex at the gum. There was a signet ring on one of the fi ngers and on it was engraved in old English the letter “M”. The body was clothed only in a shirt.


The second body was that of a man apparently about 40 years old, fi ve feet seven inches in height, weighing about 160 pounds. On the third fi nger of the left hand was a plain gold band ring. The hair and moustache was dark, the nose was small and decidedly turned up. The body was clothed in two undershirts, a pair of overalls and an oilskin.


From the distribution of wreckage along the Neck, it was thought Tuesday night that the LADY ANTRIM struck either on Tom Moore’s rock or Tinker’s island late Monday night, but that she did not go to pieces until early Wednesday. The heavier portions of the vessel were found inside of Tinker’s island, fl ung high up on the beach on the south side of the Neck, where they would naturally have been carried by Tuesday morning’s fl ood tide. The lighter portions were strewn along the rocky beaches and ledges from Hotel Nanepashemet to Castle Rock on the eastern side of the Neck, where they would have been blown when the wind shifted to the southwest just before dawn. The scene of the wreck was very near that of the steamer NORSEMAN some years ago.


The LADY ANTRIM, was a two- master centerboard schooner, 83 tons net burden. She was built at Edenton, North Carolina, in 1857, rebuilt in 1880, and surveyed in 1890. She was 81 feet long, 23 feet wife and six feet depth of hold. During late years she has been engaged in lumber trade between Maine ports and Boston and New York.


Capt. Lewis of the schooner C. M. GILMORE of Boothbay Harbor, said in Portland Tuesday night that the LADY ANTRIM was commanded by Capt. Campbell of Boothbay and that his brother was with him in the schooner. He did not know their full names or anything of their families.


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