The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1876-08-03
THE YACHT MOHAWK SUNK.
A Terrible Disaster 20 n Sailing Parity I'm
1he HarbOr-Viee-COmm William
It. Garner and Five Others Drowned
Statement of a Survivors. htH,a.s aqs-r
[From the New York sun. July sl.l

7 dCAiJ SluO S4uduIOH Ctl36LLtu III b1t
Narrows, opposite Stapleton, Staten
Island, at about 20 minutes past 4
O'Clock yesterday afternoon. Twenty
one persons were on board, six of whom
were drowned. The party included Mr.
William T. Garner, the owner of the
yacht and Vice. Commodore of the New
York Yacht Club and his wife; Miss
Adele Hunter, the daughter of the late
Desbrosses Hunter; Miss Edith Sybil
May, a sister of the fiancee of Mr.. James
Gordon Bennett; Col. Schuyler Crosby !;
Mr.. Louis B. Montant, MIR. Gardiner G..
Rowland, the sailing master, Capt.
Rawlings, nine deck hands, two stew
ards. and two cooks. Mr.. Garner and
his wife, Miss Hunter and the second
steward and the cooks were drowned.
Capt Rawlings was rescued from the
water by small boat, and taken ashore !;
A SURVIVORS, ACCOUNT. ..
Mr.. Montant's account of the acci-
dent is as follows With the rest of
the party was driven into the cabin
by the rain and the threatening wealth
er, and was talking with the ladies as
the boat made her first lurch. Col
Crosby, Commodore Garner, Mr.. How
land and Frost Thorne were. on, deck.
L heard them talking and laughing in
great glee. Then the boat began to
careen heavily, and ran up to see
what the trouble might be. The vessel
was about going under, and heard
some one shout in alarm, "For Gods
sake, she is going under; bring up the
| Ia I ba
stairs, and grasped for the first lady
that was near me. 1t was Miss Edith
May. Ere ! could take her out of the
cabin some heavy weight struck both
of us, and l lost my hold She went
below. By this time Col. Crosby had
got into the cabiR, and he assisted me
in rescuing Miss May. She clung to
the rail tightly, and was brave and fear
less. She asked, "Do you think there
is any danger?" | answered, " No,
we are all right" After she had got
out of the cabin l tried to assist Com
modore Garner, who was struggling to
extricate his wife. Col Crosby was
throwing aside the cabin furniture that
had been tossed upon the body of Mrs.
Garner. When the boat went nearly
over | stood up to my neck in the cock
pit, and saw the head of Mrs. Garner
and Miss Hunter below in the water.
got outside and to help Miss May,
who was in the sea, to a place of
safety. A boat rowed by Beverly Rob
inson was rOwed quickly to US, and Mr..
Robinson, in his zeal to rescue the half
drowned lady, reached out and caught
| bn, ~ 81 10
craft, the boat was upset, and all were
thrown into the water. The oarsman
righted the boat and helped Miss May
! in. | went under the flood as the boat
went over, and as | came up another
boat from the yacht tDreadnaught, Capt.
! Osborn, shot past so closely that | had
to dodge or my head would have been
split open. | was taken in the boat of
the Dreadnaught. Capt. Osborn did
every thing that a brave and humane
man might do, as did Capt. William
| Osgood of the yacht Phantom. We
were all bruised considerably about the
body and limbs, but Miss May escaped
almost without scratch. IL was won
derful, too, for when she was in the
companionway pulled her by the head
almost by main strength, as she was
pinned down by the boards of the
| broken stairway. In the rush of the
flood in the cabin, and while looking
for Miss May, caught hold of a hand
that thought must be hers, but found
that it was the hand of the cabin boy,
Peter Sullivan. l struggled with main
strength to release the boy, but was un-
/ - L. A. I 1oI- 70 h.n .lr1h
house, then was placed on the steam
Yacht Ideal of Mr.. Havemeyer, in
which were all the survivors, and the
party was taken to New Brighton. Col.
Crosby placed Miss May in a carriage,
and she was taken to the residence of
Mr.. Garner. q -5r.-,r-s.-s,- se--
THE DROWNED vICE-CoMMODoRE.
Mr.. Garner was about 40 years old.
He was q favorite with the members of
the New York Yacht CLUB, and was
familiarly known as ''Will.n He was the
owner of the great Harmony calico
print mills at CohOes, and others, and is
estimated to have been worth from
S19, 100000 to S30,000,000. He was
liberal minded, and lavished his money
upon his friends with unsparing hands.
A member of the New York Yacht
| Club said: "He was one of the most
enterprising and keen-sighted business
men | ever met, and one of the most
genial companions. He was born in
Washington Place, and was married
several years ago to a Southern girl,
Miss Marcellite Thorne. He leaves
three young daughters, the oldest OF
whom is not more than eight years OF
age. He was one of the extensive man
ufacturers in this county. In the panic
he especially showed that he possessed
rare business foresight. While others
became crippled, he did a steady,
thriving trade. He gained this result
by following an infexible rule of selling
and buying for cash. By that course
he was always ready for an emergency.
He was elected member of the yacht
club on July 20, 1871, and to the po-
sition of Vice-Commodore last year
He has commanded three yachts, the
Breeze, the Magic, and the Mohawk.
THE 1LL-FA1ED VESSEL
The schooner yacht Mohawk, the
largest yacht in the world, was launch
ed on June 3, 1875, from J. B. Val
Dnesen's yard, Williamsburgh, witt
ceremonies. As the bow touched the
water, Mrs. Garner broke bottle o
champagne, elaborately decorated witt
silk ribbons, over the bow, and said, 60
christen thee, Mohawk"
From knighthead to taffrail the Mo
hawk was 140 feet long. Her length
on the water line was 121 feet, beam 81
, feet inches, depth of hold feet .
, inches. From the water to her mail
: truck was 140 feet, and from the end 0
her mainboom to the end of fiFiBg ji5
boom 235 feet. She carried '32 90
square feet of canvas. Her main So
loon was q feet square, and in it was
! fireplace, bookcases, sideboard, etc.
I with furniture and decorations of tn
most costly kind. On each side of tn
q companion way was state-room, an
forward of the saloon ON the port sid
were three more. Forward Of the 50
> loon on the starboard side was Vice
. Commodore Gamers state-room, large
!, than the bridal room of a Hudson Rive
A. ariy1n vl0lzao II cr,ro6 1SY I.