Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1877-01-11
Terrible Fate of a Wreeking Crew.
New YORK, Dec. 81.
A special dispatch from Bridgehamp-

A special dispatch from Bridgehamp-
ton, l.. l., says:
At four o'clock the ship Circassian,
ashore on the bar off Bridgebampton, on the
south shore of Long Island, was entirely
broken up by southeasterly gale and lost,
together with twenty light 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 Wrecking 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-
manning 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 Circassian
is the most disastrous that has occurred 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 persons, were lost. The crew
of the Milton were frozen stiff in the rig
ging, 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 early hours of the night the wind
freshened 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, ap-
pretending danger, went into the fore rig
ging, where they were ordered 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
safely transit rrcd to the mizzen, 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 life-saVing sta
ton showed plainly the figures of the crowd
on the beach as they hurried to and fro, in
vain endeavors to aid the men in the rig
| ging. 1t was an awful suspense for the poor
| fellows dashed to the maStS and yards of the
ship. They saw attempt after attempt
made to establish communication with them
! fail, and each failure seemed to measure
| their purchase upon life. Every effort to get
| a boat off shore proved futile. As Often as
| it was attempted the sea drove thigh and
| dry on the beach. Capt. Henry Hunting, Of
| Life-Saving Station No. 10, now brought .
mortar into service, and several balls witt
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 pres
emily fell off, and the slender thread upor
| which thirty-two human lives depended was
| snapped forever. The station-men, all thu
while these cndeavors ware being made
could see men in the rigging quite plainly
| and hear their cries for help.
| Many of the weather beaten heroes or
shore, who have been on wrecking vessels
and saving lives since bOyhood, were moved
to tears by the piteOus opportunities of the
wretched mtn off shore. The violence OF
their efforts to save mitigated the suspense
they would otherwise have felt during the
early hOnrS IN w n 10 oh Uac
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 mac
tiyity utterly incapacitated them for any
duty. They could not leave the spot, and il
was only left for them to remain inactive
and see their fellows perish before their
eyes. To leave the beach would only add tC
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-
| manned 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 were slackened
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 dashed themselves. While conscious
OF the great danger and the utter impossi-
bllity of saving themselves if the mast
should go by the board, it being of iron,
they were unable to Slacken the laShing
Some of them, with more sclf-possession
than Others, had taken this contingency into
a LOT had
themselves, and among those were the only
four saved from the wreck At half-past
four a. m. the long-dreadcd crisis came, and
| the mlzZeumast went by the board with a
crash, carrying the mainmast with it. A
tremendous swell had struck the CircassiaD
aft and raised her very high. When it 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
mediately, carrying with them twenty-eight
souls.
The Custom-Hou officer, detailed to
supcrintend the landing of her cargo, in his
description of the terrible scene saws: I" 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,
singing hymns aud PRAYING in chorus to
God. There was hardly a dry eve on shore
among us as we heard these thrilling and
supreme appeals made to God, Among
those on the wreck were ten Shinnecock
Indians, who as a rule are very good men.
During this agoniziug 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 shore ragged with terrible
violence, driving people hither aud thither.
The life-saving crews of southampton, dis
tant five aud half miles, and East Hamp-
ton, about the same distance, arrived, bring
ING their mortars with them, but did not at
tempt 10 use their lifeline when firing, as
nothing could be done. They however
nred number of blank shots to reanima tie
the courage of those on boord"