Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1877-01-11
OCEANS PERILS.
The Wreck of the ship Circassian-
Twenty Eight Persons Find watery
Grave.

OCEAN'S PERILSs
The Wreck of the Ship Circassian-
Twenty Eight Persons Find wAtery
Grave.
From the New York Tripune.l
The second wreck of the ship Circas-
sian is the most disastrous that has oc-
CURED on the Long Island coast since
the wreck of the John Milton, fifteen
years ago. She ran ashore in binding
snow-storm, and all on board, thirty per-
sons, were lost. The crew of the Milton
were frozen stiff in the rigging, their
arms standing straight ont in front of
them. The men on board the Oircassian
had finished on Friday night all necessary
prelimiualiss for attaching hawser with
which she was to be drawn off. During
the early hours of the night the wind
freshened a little, and the sea began to
run very high, until at about 6 o'clock it
began to break clear over her. The men,
experimenting danger, went into the fore
rigging, where they were ordered for
greater safety. ALI 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 safely trans
ferred to the mizzeD, where signals of
distress were shown. All this time the
shore was plainly in sight. The moon
was shining brightly, and fires built by
the crew of the hfe-saving station
showed plainly the figures of the crowd
on the beach as they hurried to and fro,
In the vain endeavor to aid the men in
the rigging. 1t was an awful suspense
for the poor fellows lash ed to the mss.s
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
purchase upon life. Every effort to
get 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 ife-saving station
No. 10. now brought mortar into SER
vice, and several balls with a rope at
tached 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 de
pended was snapped forever. The sta
ton men, all the while these endeavors
were being made, could see men in the
rigging quite plainly, and hear their
cries for help. Many of the weather.
beaten heroes on the shore, who have
been wrecking vessels and saving lives
SINCE boyhood, were moved tn 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 eraly hours. But when the last
charge was shot off, and nothing eli e
possible to human effort or bravery re-
manned to be done, they became I'M
manned, and many of them wept. The
nervous excitement and sudden inactiv.
ity utterly incapacita.ed them for any
duty. They could not leave the spot,
and it only remained for them to remain
inactive and see their fellows perish be-
fore their eyes. To leave the beach
would only add to the terrors OF the
death that stared its vi ,tims IN the face,
and to remain inactive would probably
give cause for unjust reproach from the
poor, helpless walters on the wreck.
Superintendent Hunting and has 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 west southwest. Dur
ing the early part of the night,
before the men went into the rig
cling, the cables were slackened, but
the ship moved only a short distance
and continued through the night to
strike the bottom. Ever time she struck
the men thought she would lose her
masts to which they had dashed them
selves. While conscious of the great
danger and the utter impossibiiity OF
saving themselves If the mast should go
by the beard, it being of iron, they were
unable TO slacken the lashing. Some of
them, with more seIf-poesession than
others, had taken this contingency into
their calculations and had not securely
dashed themselves, and among those
were the only four saved from the
wreck. At half-past a. M, the long
dreaded crisis came and the mizzen-
mast went by the board with crash,
carrying the mainmast with it. A ire
mendous swell had struck the Circas-
sian aft and raised her very high. When
it receded she thumped heavily, and the
terrific jar threw the mast over her eide.
The masts being iron went to the bot
tom Immediately, carrying with them
twenty-eight souls. The Custom House
officer, detailed to superintend the land
ing of her cargo, in his description of
the terrible scene says: "The ship war
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, singing hymns and pray
ing In chorus to God. There was hard
ly dry eye on shore among us as we
heard these thrilling and supreme ap-
peals made to God. Among those on
the wreck were ten Shinnecock Indians,
who, as a rule, are very good men.
During this agonizing scene, which
lasted for 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 the shore ragged with ter
rible violence, driving people hither and
thither. The hfe-saving crews of South
ampton, distant five and half miles,
and East Hampton, about the same dis
tance, arrived, bringing their mortars
with them, but did not attempt to use
their life line when firing, as nothing
could be done. They, however, fired a
number of blank shots to reanimate the
courage of those on board"
History Repeating Itself.
A German paper points out that there