River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1877-12-06
A MARINE HECATOMB.
A u. y. Iron steamer wrecked on the
NORTH Carolina Coast and one Hundred
Lives lost.

war Huron, Commander u. L. Ryan, dur
| ing severe gale on the Esd, on the
North Carolina coast near Kitty Hawk
! Station, by which out of crew of 10 Of
icers and ll9 men, only four of the
/ former and thirty of the latter were saved,
has already been reported by telegraph.
The disaster occurred during the terrific
storm which ragged along the eastern At
lantic coast on Friday night. The vessel
was driven on point of rock known as
the Nagshead, an ugly reef that crops
up some two miles out ut sea, off Kitty
Hawk beach.
The reef, for some unexplained reason
has been left without light. Attention
has often been called to the danger of this
neglect, but no official action was ever
taken concerning it.
Various theories are advanced Ito ac-
count for the sad occurrence, but none OF
them are wholly satisfactory The Huron
left Hampton Roads for the survey of the
waters of the Gulfof Mexico, on Friday,
in defiance of the reports of impending
rough weather made by the signal Office.
| That night the most terrific storm eXper-
fenced on the Atlantic coast for years
came tearing along. Its fury was felt as
far from the coast as Washington. 1t
struck The Huron, and drove her wildly
from her course. Some are of the opin-
ion that she lost her reckoning, owing to
the eccentric influence Of the iron of the
ship and gsns on the com passes. Anoth-
er theory is that in the storm the engines
gave out and she was driven a helpless
thing before the winds
Reports OF particulars of the wreck are
meagre. The coast at that point is very
thinly settled, the nearest telegraph sta
ton to the scene of this disaster being
eight miles distant the only means of
communication being by foot path. AS
soon as morning broke, the wreck was
discovered and as rapidly as possible
word was sent TO Washington. The naval
authorities there al once gave orders for
assistance, and the wrecking steamer Res
Olute was sent from Norfolk, and the
United States steamer Swatara and the
tug Fortune from Hampton Roads to
render what aid they could in picking up
the fortunate men who might have es-
capped with their lives from the Huron.
The ChOwan was also sent from Norfolk
with supplies and medical aid for the sur
vivors
Those who escaped were saved by the
exertions of the surf-men. A large
numbet managed to reach the shore be-
fore morning, but many of them were q 0
exhausted that they were unable TO escape
the fury of the breakers, and were pound
ed to death almost within reach of safety.
When the wrecked vessel was discovered
her foremost and mainmast were gone,
and heavy sea was rolling over her con-
stantly. BY noon on Saturday it was re-
ported that she had pounded to pieces.
DESCRIPTION OF THE VESSEL.
The Huron was an iron third-rate screw
propeller of five hundred and forty one
tons new measurement with displace-
ment of ten hundred and twenty tons.
She was one hundred and eighty-five
feet beam. She carried one eleven-inch,
two nine-inch, one sixty-four-pounder
guns, all smooth bores; she was built in
1874, and cost 1907 ,024.54, and had a
speed of ten and half miles an hour
She was of the same class as the Alert
and Ranger, now on the Asiatic station.
She had been out from Fortress Monroe
but twelve hours when the storm struck
and wrecked her.
1t was the opinion of many naval men
that she was not a staunch ship by any
means. Before the last investigating
committee of the naval department,
Commander Meade testified that she was
new ship, with dangerous boilers, film
silly built, and Of little speed. She was
one of Robeson's seven contract vessels,
and was not regarded as very seaworthy.
: -.
1915, and has since cruised in the waters
of the southern states on the Atlantic
seaboard, and the Gulf of Mexico.
She had but just got out of the docks
at New York when it was found neces-
sarY to overhaul her entirely. Her bot
tom was painted and a new foremost and
a new screw were put in her.
Much fault is found with congress for
its parsimony in regard to maintaining
the life-saving stations in proper con-
dition of efficiency. Take, for example,
this instance: The Nagshead lies be-
tween stations Nos. 9 and Z. It is two
miles north of No. 7, and nine miles from
No. at Kitty Hawk. There is no ap-
preparation to pay crews here, except in
what is called the storm season, from
Dec. till April ] in each year. Then
the coast is patrOlled constantly.
Had this patrol been on duty when the
vessel struck at 90 A. NJ, the occur
renee would have been noticed and in
valuable aid might have been rendered
the shipwrecked mariners.
THE SURVIVORS INTERVIEWED.
Norfolk, Nov. &c. The survivors of
the Huron have arrived here. Several
seamen interviewed make the following