The star of Pascagoula. [volume] (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1873-1878, 1877-01-12

90 .-,~s 49, ..~t ss.s,.~f-s ses~e
ss.fs aft~sa ne~ hss@sss ~
sfses ~ ss~se @s~ ~
a~~ss ~ ss@ss
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The .sesnd xfeek n ne ship Clfcassifn
\ Inc most disastrous fbat has oeeafnd
op fbe Long Island coast since ne wfses
N ths Iohn Milton ffeen 1gafs akp
she fsa ash0fe lbs binding n 'tefm
and all 90 board, thirty persons were
last The cfew 6fthe Milton we're ffaten
stiff IN the hRgiHg their arms stahding
Hmlght 0bt IN front n them The men
On byafI thf Clfcaasi0n had finished %
FRIDAY night. III The necessary pfeiml
nafiea fsf attaching n haasef With Which,
sha wa- Nv he drawn on During the
ea,ty hours ~ The night The Wind fresh
ered b little and the sea began ~ run
h,gh until about siS O'Clock when 10 be.
gag 10 break clear over her. The men
experimenting danger went into The fore.
rigging. where they we're ordered fOr
greater safety. al on board, tbifty.twO
souls ali tolf, remained thus exposed m
III early in the morning when u was
deemed ads i-able b. shift quarters "a the
falling Of the top hamper, caused by the
rolling Of the vessel made II difficult 10
hold on. The crew was safely transferred
IN the mizzen rigging where the signals
oTdistrcas were shown. Aiithis time the
shore was plain in sight. The moon was
shining brightly, and the fires built by
the life saving stations showed plainly
the figures Of the crowd ION the beach
hurrying to and.fr in the vain endeavor
to aid the men in the rigging. IL was
an awful suspense for the poor fellows
lashCd to the ma5ts and yards OF the ship.
They saw attempt after attempt made
10 establish communication with
them fail, and each failure seemed
to measure their purchase en- life.
Every effort to get a boat off
shore proved futile, as often as it was at
tempted the sea drove it high and dry on
the bank. Captain Henry ,Hanling 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, and lis hold was not very
secure, and it presently fell off, and the
tender thread upon which thirty-two hui
mar lives depended was snapped forever.
During the early part of the night, be-
fore the men went into the rigging, the
cables were Stacked. but the ship moved
only a 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 lashed themselves. While conscious
of their great danger and the utter I'M
possibility of saving themselves if the
mast should go by the board. 1t being OF
iron, they were unable to slacken the
possession than the others, had taken this
contingency into their calculations, and
had not securely lashed themselves and
among those were the only four saved
from the wreck. At halfpast four
o'clock in the morning the long-dreaded
crisis came, and the mizzen>mast went
by the board with a crash, carrying the
main.mast with it.. A tremendous swell
had struck the Circassian aft and raised
her very high when il receded she
thumped heavily, and the terrific jar
threw the mast over the side. The masts,
being iron, went to the bottom immedi-
ately, carrying with them twenty-eight
souls. The customhouse officer, detailed
to superintend the landing of the cargo,
in his description of the terrible scene,
says the ship was lying about six hun
bred feet off shore. Amid the bowling
of the tempest and the wal of the wave
there was borne to our ears the voices of
the poor fellows in the rigging, singing
hymns and praying TO God. There was
hardly a dry eye on shore among us as we
heard their thrilling and supreme appeals
made to God. Among those on 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 women sobbIng ~piteously.
Some of these were the wives of the
doomed men.