Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1881-10-21

TERRIBLE STORY OF SUFFERING AT SEA
The thrilling details of the loss of the
schooner Thomas j. Lancaster, which went
to pieces Oct ON the North Carolina coast,
near Body Island Light, have Just come to
hand. The Lancaster sailed from Boston
Sept. 81, loaded with ice, for Savannah
She was new, stanch vessel and rated Al
by the underwriters. Her Captain, George
l.. Hunter, who was Al years old was an ex-
perienced seaman and an able commander.
He had with him in this voyage his wife and
her three children, all girls-Edna, years
old; George, years old, and a baby 1S
months old. All went well until the night of
Oct 1, when, off Cape Hatteras, a fearful
storm arose. The Captain, after remaining on
deck until midnight, retired, leaving the YES
sci in charge of First Officer NJ. Carlton, and
three hours afterward was awakened by a ter
rible shock as the vessel struck on a reef with
a violence that instantly extinguished every
light on board. The crew was driven out of
the forecastle by the water, and the Captains
family, after cropping about in the dark for a
little clothing, took refuge on deck. The
life-boat was launched but swamped before
it could leave the vessels side, and two sea-
men who were in it were lost
The vessel swung round, with its broadside
to the waves, and no attempt was made to
launch another boat For two hours the sur
vivors maintained an unsteady position on
the deck, over which the water was constant
ly breaking. About 8 o'clock wave struck
Mrs. Hunter and tore the baby from her
arms. The same wave carried off the oldest
girl, and the Captain sprang into the sea af-
ter his children. After half an hours battling
with the waves he succeeded in getting back
to the ship, but without the children, who
were never seen again until their bodies were
washed up on the beach.
Some time after daylight the life saving
crew from Station No. Is reached the wreck
and fred line over the vessel, but the cur
rent carried it away before it could be made
fast. They made several other attempts but
without success. The vessel lay about three
hundred yards from the beach and the sailors
were too much benumbed by the cold and ex-
posture to help themselves. Capt. Hunter,
who had had two ribs broken in his effort to
save Edna, had his wife dashed in the rigging,
about 20 feet above the deck, and his remain
ing daughter tied on the bowsprit. He then
crawled out and lay by her, clinging to the
spar. In this position the survivors of the
family remained all day, while the crews of
stations Nos. II and Is were making ineffec-
tual efforts to save them. Some time after
the Captain became exhausted, dropped from
the bowsprit, and was carried away by the
waves. The little girl, left alone in the storm
and darkness, cried piteously for her mother,
and Mrs. Hunter begged the steward, who
was attending her, to unite her and let her 60
to her child, but he refused, Early in the
morning the little one lost her hold and fell
through the ropes so that she hung, head
downward, held only by the lashings which
tied her feet to the bowsprit, and here she
hung for an hour or more before she was
seen and recovered. At last, about O'Clock
on the second morning, life-boat from the
shore reached the wreck and Mrs. Hunter,
her child, the steward, and three seamen
were taken ashore, where the child died from
exhaustion half an hour later. These were
all the survivors. The bodies of Capt. Hun
ter, his two children, First Officer Carlton
and three seamen-Henry Street, of New
York Frank MoCune, of Charleston, and Jo-
seph Middleton, of Philadelphia wash
ed ashore that day. The Lancaster went to
pieces soon after the rescue.