The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1877-01-04
WRECK OF THE OIROASSIAN.
Loss of Lives in Attempting to Get the
Ship Off--Terrible Storm and
EHeartrending Scenes,


EHeartrending Scenes,
NEW YORK, December 31.-Ihe Sec
ond wreck of the ship Circassian Is the
most disastrous that has occurred on the
Long Island coast,
SINCE THE WRECK OF THE JOHN MILTON,
fifteen years ago. The Milton ran
ashore in binding snowstorm, and all
on board, thirty persons. were lost.
The crew of the Milton were frozen
stiff in the rigging, their arms standing
straight in front of them. The men
aboard the Circassian had finished on
Friday night all necessary preliminaries
for attaching hawser with which she
was to be drawn off. During the early
hours of the night the wind freshened
little, and the sea began to run very
high, until at about o'clock it began to
break clear over her. The men, appre-
hending danger.
WENT INTO THE FORE-RIGGING
where they were ordered for graeter
safety. All on board, thirty-two souls
all told, remained thus exposed until
early in the morning, when it was deem
ed advisable to shift quarters, as the
falling of the top-hammer, caused by
the rolling of the vessel, made it diff
ficnlt to hold on. The crew was safely
transferred to the mizzen, where signals
of distress were shown. All this time
the shore was plainly in sight. The
moon was shining brightly, and the fires
built by the crew of the Ife-saving sta
ton showed plainly the figures of the
crowd On the beach hurrying to and fro
in the vain endeavors to aid the men in
the rigging. 1t was an awful suspense
for the poor fellows lashed to the mast
and yards of the ship. They saw at
tempt after attempt made to establish
communication with them fail, and each
failure seemed to measure their pur-
chase upon life. Every effort to
GET A BOAT OFF THE SHORE PROVED
FUTILE.
AS often as it was attempted the sea
drove it high and dry on the beach.
Captain Henry Hunting, of Life-Saving
Station No. 10, now brought a mortar
into service, and several balls with a
rope attached were thrown out to the
ship. But one of the cords reached the
ship. It's hold was not very secure, and
it presently fell off, and the slender
thread upon which thirty-two human
lives depended was
SNAPPED FOREVER.
The stationmen all the while these
endeavors were being made could see
the 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 saw
ing life since boyhood, were moved to
tears by the piteous opportunities of
the wretched men off shole. The
violence of their efforts to save mit1gat-
ed 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
and bravery to be done,
THEY BECAME UNNAMED,
and many of them wept. The nervous
excitement and sudden inactivity utter
ly incapacitated them for any duty.
They could not leave the spot, and it
only remained for them to remain and
see their fellows perish before their
eyes. To leave the beach would only
add to the terrors of the death that
stared its victims in the face, and TO re-
main inactive would probably give cause
for unjust reproach from the poor help
less walters on the wreck. Superin-
tendent Hunting and his men remained
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 the
west southwest. During the early part
of the night, before the men went into
the rigging, the cables were Stacked,
but the ship moved only short dis
lance 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 impossibility
of saving themselves if the mast should
go by the board, it being of iron, they
were unable to slacken the Iashing.
Some of them, with more self-posses-
sion than others, had taken this contin-
eency into their calculations and had not
securely lashed themselves, and among
those were the
ONLY FOUR SAVED FROM THE WRECK.
At 4:30 A. NJ. the long dreaded crisis
came, and the mizzenmast went by the
board with crash, carrying the main
mast with it. A tremendous swell had
struck the Circassian aft and raised it
very high; when it receded she thump-
ed heavily, and terrific jar threw the
mast over the side. The masts being
Of iron, went to the bottom immediate
", carrying with them % souls. The
custom house officer detailed to super
intend the landing of the cargo, in his
description of the terrible scene, SAYS