The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1854-12-12
TEsEITIc GALE ON LAKE ERlE-Loss OF


.,co.1cT1. I;ALE ON LAKE ERlE-Lo5S or
LIFE.
. c,.,.,.sd correspondent 81 The n. 7. Tribune
....s.. . graphic account Of the recent gale on
80. 81. .ud The loss Of portion Of the crew o.
-. ..noo.er onsh. The schooner Wa driven
s.sor. On m uoSoished pier, and sooa went TO
p,ecss. portion Of her bow was driven up upon
she pssr. some two hundred feet from the shore,
..d upou this the crew, eight 10 numbar, took re-
fuve The account - given By the correspondents
coasinnes:
The 6rss effort 10 save them was made by the Go
vernment liiebo.t from the East per, just opposite,
but h was stove 10 . moment upon the spiles. A
second attempt By the hie-boat Of the propeller
California mst With the same fate. At9 o'clock the
news spread through the city, and thousands soon
shronged the pier: % aid IN the rescue The seas
were terrible. and for The benumbed sailors there
seemed 10 be no hope. The spray dashed over the
piers covering the rescuers with cioaks of Ice
About ten o'clock the crew managed tolet rope
drift to the end Of the we2 pier To this those on
on board and made fast to the foremast.
This now seemed the only way Of escape
james Burr, young man OF nineteen. first attempt
Cd the perilous passage He worked his way along
xSss eSss hand: could
no longer. his strength was gone. For moment
he hung 10 his only hope, but nature gave way. and
throwing mp his hands In despair, fell into the
boiling waves. Risine TO the surface, he srasped q
sple WIKI both arms and for Eve minutes held fast.
Soon terrible wave tore him away and drove him
on. Again he grasped another Spite, but driven
from that Into the channel, he sunk before our
eyes his last look imploring for help
second OF the crew, fastening himself to the
line by string under his arms, essayed the peri.
lous passage, from the top Of the foremast to the
shore.
Watched by thousands of anxious hearts, he pro-
ceeded safely TO within forty feet of the shore when
the rope that held him up encountered knot in
the line. Over this he could not get and there for
ten minutes, he hung, his clothes partly torn from
him, his Strength gone and the waves dashing over
him every moment. Backward and forward he
swung by the force of the waves, and his death
seemed Inevitable, when one of the crew clumb to
the topmast and cut the line He fell into the SURGE
the waves swept him forward; the line was hauled
In from the shore, and he saved 80 chilled that
he could not walk or talk for hours.
At this time, 10 o'clock, the gale blew fiercer than
ever, and the line having been cut all hope of saw.
ing the rest OF the crew seemed gone They were
bow, not needing the motions of thousands on shore
to pay out another line The spray had frozen all
over the cordage and bowsprit, and the poor fell
lows seemed to have abandoned themselves TO des.
pair. Attempts were made with rockets and can
non to cast line over the ship, but the force of the
wind rendered them fruitless The crowd mon the
piers had now become immense.
The propeller Pangasset finally succeeded in
reaching the wreck, and saving all who remained
on the wreck but two, who were 90 benumbed bv
the cold that tley fell into the Lake In making the
endeavor to reach the propeller
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