Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1877-01-10

ton, l.. L., says
AT four o'clock the ship Ci-cassian,
ashore on the bar off idgehampton on the
south shore OF Long Island, was entirely
broken up by southeasterIy gale and lost,
together with twenty eight lives. The Cir
cassian went ashore in the storm on the
night of the 18th inst. At that time the crew
and officers were saved. The storm yester.
day caught thirty two men, employees Of the
Coast Wrecling Company, on board, and
short time after midnight the ship went TO
pieces with an awful crash. According to
The account, four survivors were washed
ashore this morning, more dead than alive,
on fragments of the wreck. None of the re-
naming twenty eight men have been seen,
or heard from, up to the present time, and
there is but little doubt that all have per
ished."
This second wreck of the ship Circassan
is the most disastrous that has occurred on
the Long Island coast since the wreck Of the
John Milton, fifteen yeats ago. She ran
ashore in binding snow storm, and all on
board, thirty persons, were lost. The crew
of the Milton were frozen stiff in the rig
cling, their arms standing straight out in
front of them. The men on board the Cir.
cassian had finished on Friday night all
necessary preliminaries for attaching a
hawser with which she was to be drawn off
During the carly hours of the night the wind
freshened a little, and the sea began to run
very high, until at about six O'Clock it be-
gan to break clear over her. The men, APP.
pretending danger, went into the fore rig
ging, where they we're ordSed for greater
safety All on board, thirty-two souls, all
told remained thus exposed until early in
the morning, when it was deemed advisable
to shift quarters, as the falling of the top
hamper caused by the rolling of the vessel,
made it difficult TO hold on. The crew was
-. 70 tb.a yhnra
signals of distress we're shown.
All this time the shore was plainly IL
sight The moon was shining brightly, and
fires built by the crew of the liie-saying sta.
ton showed plainly the figures of tie crowd
on the beach as they hurried to ana fro, IL
vain endcayors to aid the men IN the rig.
gng. 1t was an awful suspense for the pool
fellows dashed to the masts and wards Of the
ship They saw att mpt after attempt
made to establish communication with them
fail, and each failure seemed to measure
their purchase upon life. Every effort to gel
a boat off shore proved futile. As often as
it was attempted the sea drove it high and
dry on the beach Capt. Henry Hunting OF
Life-Saving Station No 10, now brought
mortar into service, and several balls with
a rope attached were thrown out to the ship.
But one of the cords reached the ship
lis hold was not very secure, and it pres.
emily fell Off and the slender thread upon
which thirty-two human lives depended was
snapped forever. The stationmen, all the
while these endeavors ware being made.
could see men in the rigging quite plainly,
and hear their cries for help.
Many OF the weather beaten heroes on
shore, who have been on wrecking vessels
and saving lives since boyhood, were moved
to tears by the piteous opportunities Of the
wretched men off shore. The violence Of
their efforts to save mitigated the suspense
they would otherwise have felt during the
early hours. But when the last charge was
shot off, and nothing else possible to human
effort or bravery remained to be done they
became unnamed and many OF them wept.
The nervous excitement and sudden mae
tivity utterly incapacitated them for any
duty. They could not leave the spot, and it
was only left Tor them to remain inactive
and see their fellows perish before their
eyes. To leave the beach would only add to
the terrors of the death that stared its VIC
tins in the face, and to remain inactive
would probably give cause for unjust re-
proach from the poor helpless walters on the
wreck. Supt. Hunting and his men re-
NAMED and tried to answer the calls
from the wreck, but nothing that was said
on shore was heard on the ship on account
Of the direction Of the wind.
In terror and suspense the morning wore
on, the wind having veered around in the
meantime TO west-southwest During the
early part Of the night before the men went
into the rigging the cables we're slackcned,
but the ship moved only II short distance,
and continued through the night to strike
the bottom. Every time she struck the men
thought she would lose her masts, to which
they had dashed themselves. While conscious
of the great danger and the utter impossi-
bility Of saving themselves if the mast
should 70 10y the board, it being Of iron,
they were unable to slacken the laShing.
Some of them, with more self possession
than others, had taken this contingency into
their calculations aud HAD not securely dashed
themselves, and among those were the only
four saved from the wreck At half-past
four a. IN. the long-dreaded crisis came, and
the mizzeumast went by the board with a
crash, carrying the mainmast with II. A
tremendous swell had struck the CircaSsian
aft and raised her very high. When ii re-
ceded she thumped heavily, and the terrific
jar threw the mast over her side. The
masts, being iron, went to the bottom i'm
mcdiatcly, carrying with them twenty-eight
souls.
The Custom-Housc officer, detailed to
supcrntend the landing of her cargo, in his
description OF the terrible scene says: The
ship was lying about 600 feet off the shore.
Amid the bowling of the tempest and the
roar Of the waves there was borne to our ears
the voices of the poor fellows in the rigging,
slusHlS AhlHns ana praying III chofus W
God. There was hardly dry eye on shore
among us as We heard these thrilling and
supreme appeals made to God Among
those on the wreck were ten sbinnecock
Indians, who as a rule are very good men.
During this agonizing scene, which lasted
Tor hours, We heard these men praying. The
beach was lined with hundreds of people,
many of them women, sobbing piteously.
Some Of them were wives of the doomed
men. The wind on shore ragged with terrible
Violence, driving people hither aud thither.
The life-saving crews of Southampton, dis
tant five and hall miles, and East Hamp-
ton, about the same distance, arrived, bring
ing their nortars with them, but did not at
tempt TO use their lifeline when firing, as
nothing could be done. They however
hred number Of blank shots to reanima tie