Morning journal and courier., 1883-08-29
The Lost Yaclrtsmen.

p0mY with the SAOOP EON0OA - 14S~~
 kins Sleeps on Hoard the Powell the
 Last Night Of His Life.
 From MT. Arthur W. Parmelee, member of the New Haven Board of Education, who returned yesterday from West Falmouth we learn the following, which is without doubt
 the story of the loss of the yacht Mystery and the fate of her men as near as all human evidence can determine.
 THE STORY OF THE DISASTER.
 'sI returned this afternoon at o'clock
 from West Falmouth station and will give
 you a resume of the search and all the evil
 dences in the case pointing to 8 solution of
 the whole mystery. If stop to give you all
 the reasons for my arrival at my conclusions
 it will take too long, but if you will take
 what the evidence obtained in thousand di-
 rections points to the story as interpret it
 will be as follows: A..... ... ..
 The Mystery sailed from New Haven Fri
 day evening and continued her course with out stop to point on Buzzards Bay, above Newport, known as the Breakwater, where
 she arrived on Saturday evening and cast
 her anchor for the night. A small fishing
 sloop, the Amelia Powell, Captain Kendrick, Anchored there at the same time. The boats
 exchanged greetings and the Mystery made inquiry as to certain points on the coast. MT. Hawkins of the Mystery party asked the cap
 tain of the sloop if he might come on board | of her for 8 nights rest. They had had
 hard sail the night previously and the Mys- tery party were wet and cold and the sccom- modations of the yacht were hardly enough for four. They had been unable to prepare anything to eat during the day as their time had been so much taken up in working the ship that they could only eat what they could catch up between times. Mir. Haw- kins therefore slept aboard the Powelb
 thus giving more room to the other three. who remained in the yacht. The next morn ing, Sunday, the 12Eh, both boats got up their anchor at about o'clock and proceeded on their way. The morning was cold and wet and a good stiff breeze was blowing from the northeast. The Mystery led the Powell and
 was seen to pass through the channel between Gooseberry Neck and the ledge of rocks known as the Hen and Chickens. At about thistim the captain of the Powell decided that the day was so uncomfortable that he would seek harbor, and he therefore ran into Westport and dropped her anchor. The Powell lost sight of the Mystery after the latter had passed Hen and Chickens, and therefore supposed that the Mystery had
 at as0dsS sooums tS 6paef The 'iS Mystery s rather heavily spared for @ vessel of her size. She was carrying considerable bal last The sea was running high and the wind was freshening, she began to ship wa ' ter and fill her cockpit and before one sea could be bailed out she shipped another. Her small boat or tender was up on deck ! between the centerboard and the house. The boys realizing their danger probably attempted to reach shore, and although there ! was one reef in her mainsail, they thought l it quicker to run up her jib-topsail | than to let out the reef, and
 they put on the extra sail to make a landing. But at this point she shipped | more water than she could carry and she settled to the bottom of the ocean, stern l foremost carrying her small boat down with her. This was at $40 @. m. Sunday, August ! 12th. Nasty preparation had been made for
 such an emergency and some of the life Pre- servers were secured. I think that Mir. Hawkins was drowned at once and died with | out a struggle. Probably the same is true of | MT. Bartlett. Leicester Sargent was mn doubtedly at the wheel and was heavily dressed on account of the weather and in the confusion had not time to prepare himself for the sud | den dropping of the boat and was carried | down with her. Being taken by surprise and caught in his heavy clothing | his ability as swimmer aVailed but little, | and before he could recover himself he was drowned, ar at least was so exhausted that | he could not make the effort we would ex- | pect from him. Rupert Sargent had secured a life preserver which he hastily adjusted to | himself, but being dressed and finding the life pteserVer almost worthless from it's 4imsY | character, it was difficult for him to make | much headway.a He was not over three- quarters of mile from the main land, and | Se I.1 l.ka Co e1,S | wind and tide were against him and he was l obliged to abandon the attempt and strike tiout for the rocks known as Hen and Chickens
 reef, although they were in very poor
 place for refugeiand people acquainted with the rocks say it is impossible that man
 should climb on the rocks and remain there. He did reach them. He succeeded in getting
 on to one of the smaller rocks and looked about for assistance. Between 10 and Il
 o'clock the schooner Alice M. RidgeWay,
 Captain Snow, from New Bedford, passed
 between the rock on which he was standing
 and Gooseberry neck. She was at the near
 est point, from quarter to half mile away
 from him. Rupert made all the signals of
 distress that he could in his exhausted con-
 dition and Captain Snow saw them. But the
 Ridgeway had deck load of barrels which
 the captain says would have been jeopar-
 dized if he had attempted to lay to and
 lower boat. And he passed on without
 any attempt to render assistance. Within
 a mile and half of the rock upon which
 Robert stood is light ship attached to which
 is Q lifeboat with @ life saving crew. If Cap tain Ridgeway had stopped his boat and run
 up his flag, union down, the Hfeboat would have proceeded to the spot at once; or if he had sailed by the light ship and shouted 8 warning Rupert would have been promptly rescued. But the Ridgeway proceeded to Newport and left Rupert on the rocks. At high water the rocks are entirely submerged S.- H,S S<H~ -s~,E7 Sr Ia H.okE anyone should live upon them. | Finding that he had fight for life l before him, Rupert saved his pocket knife | and threw away all his clothing but his | drawers and undershirt. His drawers he tore into strips about an inch and half wide | and cutting new holes through the cork sec- tions of the life preserver he bound them | securely together with the strings made | from the drawers. The desperation with | which he did this work and the careful | manner in which he prepared everything l was made painfully apparent by the condi- | the body. It took me nearly half an hour | to unite all his hands and detach the life | preserver so that could see whether he had | secured any writing or valuables, under the | canvas or any part of it. He could not | have been longer upon the rock than it | could not maintain his position for any | length of time and also because he must | have been seen by others as the place is | much travelled. The small boat which was | carried down with the yacht not being lashed | on deck, worked loose in few hours and came to the surface and was picked up by Cap tain Thompson of the light ship. One oar was still under her thwarts the other oar was picked up at some distance from her. We have not yet recovered either the body 1 of Mir. Bartlett or that of Leicester Sargent. | The search will be kept up until some dei- mite result is reached. Rewards have been offered for recovery, and there is the greatest l interest and sympathy among all the nauti- cal people on either side of Buzzard's Bay.
 ACCOUNT BY CAPT. KENDRfoK OF THE AMELIA
 POWELL IN THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL.
 Confirmatory of the above relative to the Mystery and the Amelia Powell and addi- tional, is 8 statement of Providence R. l.. seaman, Capt. J. A. Kendrick, of the sloop Powell, published in the Providence Journal. After narrating the meeting of the yachts and their bearing each other company to the breakwater, the account speaks of Mr. Hawkins and his visit to the Powell and the subsequent events in the knowledge of the Powell as follows: MT. Hawkins was very o,-H NHnk fIs6r roV,Ss, wyoer