March 2015 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 25. HISTORY FROM THE PAST - Bangor Daily Commercial - Early 1900s


U. S. S. MONAGHAN helped the crew, of the BURROWS throughout the repairs. As the keel had been broken short off about two feet abaft the scarf of the stem the latter was all clear for removal as soon as the rivets had been cut out of the side plating. The stem was dropped overboard and hauled up on the beach where it was straightened. Owing to the lack of facilities, the stem had to be heated and straightened in spots, the twists being gradually worked out of the stem. This straightening, under the existing circumstances, was a fi ne example of what an American bluejacket can do with little or no facilities or tools at hand.


“The port plating was so badly twisted and torn that none could be saved. The starboard plating was heated by a large blow torch and hauled back into place by tackles. Some of the upper plating on this side had to be renewed. The ship’s frames were so badly crushed that they were thrown away. Working Under Diffi culties In ninety-nine working hours the bow had been entirely cut off and rebuilt. The ship was taken to Hospital Cay at 10 a.m., March 7, 1913, and backed herself off at 1 p.m., March 14, 1913, ready to take her place in the fl eet and run at any speed. “Inquires have been made, and this appears to be the fi rst time in our navy that such a job was ever undertaken by a ship’s company. The crew averaged 13 hours a day in repairing the bow, some of the men working in water half way between their waist and shoulders for hours at a time. With the assistance of the search light, the work was pushed till a late hour every night, when it was possible, and the enthusiasm and cheerfulness of the men was such as to make one proud of the American bluejacket. “During the manoeuvers the day following the completion of repairs the BURROWS ran at high speed into a good sea with no trouble. A month later she entered the quarterly full speed (?) and maintained her previous position on the fast boat. The American public never hears how the young Americans who serve their country in the navy rise to any situation and perform unexpected duties quietly and effi ciently without thanks or commendation – duties which in wartime would attract the attention of everyone in the United States and win for there the thanks of their fellow countrymen.”


6 October 1913 Near Death as Schooner Sunk The HULLONEON From Eastport Goes Down in the Bay of Fundy When Shaft Breaks


Eastport, October 6. Capt. Luther Trott and young assistant of the fishing schooner HULLONEON arrived here Sunday afternoon after a thrilling experience and narrow escape from being drowned in the Bay of Fundy last Friday night.


When two miles off Red Head, Point Lepreaux, N. B., during thick fog and a heavy gale, with all sails set and the two gasoline engines of 15 horsepower each, running her propeller shaft pulled out and water rushed into the two and one-half inch hole so fast that they could not keep her afl oat.


They had only time to jump into the


dory, saving only a compass, and after rowing about in the fog a few hours reached Point Lepreaux light house in an exhausted condition, and were brought here Sunday. The schooner, owned by Lewis D. Clark & Son, canners of sardines in Eastport, sunk stern fi rst and cannot be recovered. She was valued at $3,000, and partly insured. She was built at Boston in 1860, was 50 feet long, 16 feet wide, 6 feet deep and carried


60 hogsheads of herring, but was returning here Friday without a cargo. This is the fi rst Eastport fi shing schooner lost this season.


15 October 1913 Crew of Barge MEAD Rescued by Tug PAOLI


A northeast gale, eluding the vigilance of the weather bureau, swooped down upon the coastwise shipping on the New England coast Tuesday, leaving death and ruin in its wake. Heroic rescues kept the known loss of life to one, that of Capt. Sears Perry of Sandwich, who perished in the wreck of his large seine boat on Scorton Beach. The barge SURANER R. MEAD, one of the tow of the tug PAOLI, from New York for Boston, plied up on the tip of Cape Cod, and her three men were taken off through boiling seas by the skillful seamanship and nerves of those on the PAOLI. The OAKLAND, another of the PAOLI’s string, was in a precarious position near Highland light Tuesday night with her crew signaling for help. Six men were taken off the two-masted schooner GEORGIE PEARL, Elizabethport for Liverpool, N. S., by the Surfside Life Savers on Nantucket. The little vessel was in a bad position, and was expected to go to pieces before morning.


On the extreme northeast of the New England coast another daring rescue of four men took place when a small boat from a Canadian steamer braved the breakers near Grand Manan, N. B., where the British fi shing schooner DREADNAUGHT was touseled to pieces.


As usual, the brunt of the northeaster was felt on the long arm of Cape Cod. A large coastwise fl eet of schooners, tugs and barges releases Tuesday from a two weeks ice embargo, was rounding the Cape. Many of them worked to snug anchorages with the loss of sails and deck fi ttings. The schooner HENRIETTA A.


WHITNEY was brought into Vineyard Haven by a tug after a narrow escape on Tuckernuck shoals. She sighted the revenue cutter GRESHAM struggling (?) gave a two-master from the (?) of (?) Rip Shoals. A shift of wind saved an unknown two-masted schooner off the sea coast of Nantucket, just as the (?) lifesavers were preparing their gear on the beach to take off the crew. The vessel’s sails were blown away.


The opinion is (?) in shipping circles


Tuesday night that many other vessels were believed to have (?).


* * * * *


Sea’s Grim Toll of Fifty Years Many Thousands Lost in Fires, Collisions and Storms Some Historic Tragedies


Vessels of All Nations That Never Reached Port or Vanished Leaving an Inkling of Their Fate


The burning of the VOLVARVO adds to a striking list of steamship casualties in ocean travel for the last 50 years. One of the earliest of these was the Hamburg American line steamship AUSTRIA, which burned at sea on September 13, 1858. The AUSTRIA left Hamburg for New York on September 1, touched at Southampton three days later, and took fi re at 2 o’clock in the afternoon on the 13th


, when halfway between


Southampton and New York. Seventy-six persons in boats were picked up by the French bark MAURICE, but those who perished numbered 470.


The next disaster comparable to the loss


of the AUSTRIA was the loss of the British vessel ATLANTIC on April 1, 1873. The ATLANTIC, with 952 persons on board was caught in a heavy storm off Halifax, and in attempting to bring his ship to that port


the captain ran her on Mars Head, at Cape Prospect. The vessel keeled over, and sank almost immediately. With her 585 person went down. Two years later on May 7, 1874, the German steamship SCHILLER, of the Eagle line, bound for Hamburg from New York, ran on Retainers’ Lodge near the Scilly islands, in a terrifi c sea. Of 355 persons on board only 43 were saved.


On January 30, 1895, the North German Lloyd steamship ELBE, carrying 354 persons, was run into by the British steamer CRATHIE off the coast of Suffolk, England. The CRATHIE struck the ELBE abaft the engine room and then pulling free, began to steam away. A terrible panic ensued on the ELBE and as a result only 20 persons were saved, while 334 persons were lost. The sinking of the French line LA BOURGOGNE on July 4, 1898, was one of the greatest ocean tragedies of this generation. The BOURGOGNE was in collision with the British ship CROMARTYSHIRE in a fog about 60 miles off Sable Island. She sank within ten minutes. Of the 739 persons on board, 580 lost their lives, and of her passengers, none of the 184 in the fi rst cabin were saved while only 64 passengers from the steerage and second cabin were rescued. Some Ships That Were Burned


Several ships have burned at sea within the last 30 years. The migrant vessel COSPATRICK took fi re while on her way to Auckland on the night of November 17, 1874. There were 476 persons on board, but only six escaped, and these were picked up ten days later, on November 27. Another big fi re was that of the Chinese river steamer WAH YOUNG, trading between Hong Kong and Canton. She was destroyed on the night of November 15, 1887, while on her way up the Canton river. About 400 Chinese passengers lost their lives.


The Chinese Navigation company’s steamship SHANGHAI, was burned near Ching Kiang in the China sea on December 27, 1890, 101 persons losing their lives. The SARDINIA of the Ellerman Line was burned on the entrance to the Port of Valetta on November 25, 1908. More than 100 lives were lost.


The burning of the GENERAL SLOCUM, an excursion steamer in New York, was the worst disaster of its kind. She was going up the Fast River with the annual excursion of St. Mark’s church, on June 15, 1904, when she caught fi re off 130th


street. Her commander, Capt. Van Shaick, succeeding in beaching her on North Brother’s island. Nearly 1,000 persons, mostly women and children, lost their lives. But the great marine disaster is still, fresh in everybody’s mind. This was the sinking of the new White Star Liner TITANIC, which ran into an iceberg and sank off Newfoundland on the night of April 14, 1912. The death roll, which included many distinguished and honored names totaled 1,535 person. Those recused numbered 745.


Record of Many Years


Among the great marine disasters on record, which resulted in great loss of life, are the following:


1884, July 23 – Steamers GIJON and LUX; collision off Finistere – 150 1887, January 29 KAPUNDA, collided


with bark ADA MELURE off coast of Brazil – 300


1887, November 15 – WAH YOUNG,


caught fi re between Canton and Hong Kong – 400


1889, March 16 – U. S. warships TRENTON, VANDALIA, and NIPSIC, and


German ships ADLER and EBER wrecked off Somoan Islands – 147


1890, January 2 – PERSIA, wrecked off Corsica – 130


1890, February 17 – DUBURS, wrecked in China Sea – 400


1890, March 4 – QUELLA, foundered


in Tores Straits – 124 1890, September 12 – Turkish frigate


ERTOGRAL foundered off Japan – 540 1890, December 27 – SHANGHAI, burned in China Sea – 101 1891, March 17 – UTOPIA, Anchor Line collision with the ANSON off Gibraltar 1892, January 13 – NAMEHOW, wrecked in China Sea – 414


1892, October 28 – ROMANIA, Anchor Line, wrecked off Corsica – 113 1893, February 8 – TRINAIRIA, Anchor Line, wrecked off Spain – 115 1893, June 22 – British battleship


PRETORIA, sunk in collision with the CAMPERDOWN, off Syria – 357 1894, November 1 – WAIRARO,


wrecked off New Zealand – 124 1894, June, NORGE, wrecked on Rockall Reef, in North Atlantic – 600 1895, January 30 – ELBE, German


steamer, sunk in collision with the CRATHIE, in North Sea – 335 1895, March 11 – Spanish cruiser


REINA REGENTA, foundered at entrance to Mediterranean – 400


1898, July 2 – French Line, sunk in collision with CROMARTYSHIRE – 571 1904, June 15 – GENERAL SLOCUM, excursion steamboat, burned going through Hell Gate, New York – 1000


1905, September 12 – Japanese warship sunk after explosion – 590


1907, February 12 – LARCHMONT, in collision with the HARRY HAMILTON in Long Island Sound – 183


1907, February 21 – BERLIN, wrecked off Hook of Holland – 142


1907, February 24 – IMPERTIX, Austrian Lloyd line, wrecked on coast of Crete – 137


blown up at Toulon – 120


1907, March – French warship JENA 1908, July 18 – Chinese warship JING


KING fl oundered off Hong Kong – 300 1908, August 23 – FOLGEFONDEN, wrecked near Keneviks, Norway – 40 1908, November 6 – TAISH sunk in


storm off Japan – 150


1908, January 24 – REPUBLIC, White Star Line, sunk by the FLORIDA off Nantucket – 6


1908, November 25 – SARDINIA, burned at entrance of Port of Valetta Malta – 100


1910, April 26 – AURORA, sunk by


iceberg in North Atlantic – 187 1911, February 2 – ABENTON,


wrecked off Spanish coast – 70 1911, September 5 – TUSCUPEL, wrecked on South American Coast – 31 1911, April 2 – KOOMBANA, sunk in Austrian waters – 150 1912, April 14 – TITANTIC, White Star


Line, sunk in Atlantic Ocean, after hitting iceberg – 1595 1912, April 30 – TEXAS, foundered in Gulf of Smyrna – 1000


1913, March 5 – German torpedo boat destroyer S178, sunk in collision with cruiser YORCK, near Helgoland – 66 1913, March 1 – CAIVADOS, lost in blizzard in Sea of Marmora – 200 1913, January 4 – JULIA LUCKENBACH, sunk in collision with British freighter INDRAKUALA in Cheaspeake Bay – 15


1913, March – PERUVIA, lost with crew off coast of Norway – 28


1913, January 7 – ROSECRANS, sunk


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31