Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-01-28
THE GAY HEAD DISASTER
ONE OF THE LIGHTHOUSE DE-
PARTSIENT AROUSED.


ne Charges that There was no Excuse
Tor the Catastrophe and Says POSI-
lively that the Columbus Struck
Inside the Buoy-COnfrmatorY Evf
dence.
Speaking Of the City Of Columbus dis
aster Capt. Gibbs, in defense of the Light
house Department, says, according to the
New York Herald correspondent. that the
steamer is nearly three miles out of the
course usually taken by the many steam
ers which pass through Vineyard Sound.
and he will conclusively show that there
was no excuse for the disas.e. If the
Captain is honest in stating that he saw
| the buoy on his port bow he must have
mistaken n rock which lies some five hun
| dred feet beyond the steamer in the same
! direction. All testimony tends to uphold
the statement that the City of Columbus
lies exactly where she struck, and that
she did not back half her
length. The claim that she was
| wrecked on the newly discovered shoaI in
the light OF present developments seems
| still further improbable. For had she
struck there she would not have struck
forward Of the freroom, as Hines and
Butler, the hremen, say she did, as~tbe
water came pouring in there from for
ward. The only way she could haya
struck there would have been bv n heavy
sea going from under her and letting her
down on the bar, when she would proba-
Dly have crashed down amidships. and
when the next sea came it would have
lifted her over AID she would have gone
ahead until she struck the reef or sank in
deep water outside Of it, and I'm all proba-
ollIty she would have turned brOadside TO
the sea, which would also have been the
case had she been backed of.
SuppOsing she had been backed off and
started ahead again TO her present posf-
tion, the shock when she struck the rocks
and slid up on them rs solid as she now
IS would have been more severe and
noticeable than when she first struck.
and no one mentions ANYTHING of this
KIND. The fact that the City of Columbus
drew IL feet OF water, and that only at
her stern post, seems to effectually dis
prove the theory that she struck whera
there was and is about 20 feet. The re-
suit OF Capt. Gibbs investigation and the
opinion as an expert. which he advances
VIII be read with interest. His cOnclu-
slons have virtually been confirmed bv
John Olsen, the diver, whose startling
testimony In regard to the broken rock is
referred to above.
Capt. Gibbs further states that. from all
appearances, the steamer never reached
within at least 800 feet of a straight line
drawn from the buoy TO the light house
and that she now lies about the same dis
tanee inside the buoy that the new shoal
does outside. Under the port bow of the
steamer, as she now lies and abaft of the
foremast, are at least two large boulders.
while the bottom is very smooth at her
stern. She lies just as easily as she would
on set of ship builders blocks on side
hill, with four to five fath0ms at the stern.
The bottom is sand and gravel, with a few
small scattering bOulders. 1t should be
stated that the divers found piece of the
rock which the steamer had struck and
which had been knocked off by the force
OF the blow. The surface of the rock was
covered with marine vegetatiOn-zoo-
phytes and mOllusks-eXcept in the new
ly broken place, where the rock was
clean, and the fact of its being a new
fracture was shown by the different ap-
pearance of the surface, as it is in any
case of a rock broken on the land. the old
weather-beaten surface and the fresh
break being clearly distinguishable. The
same could be said of the great chin
broken off, and Its form was such as an
parently would fit the fractured place on
the large rock. Another place on the
rock shows where the steamer had
scraped or foundered upon it.
Captain Gibbs is also Of the decided
as Captain Wright asserted, outside of
the buoy, and he has reported so 10 the
department. She struck, he saws. GA the
rock, which is just abreast IF The fore
mast, and the rock is Just "eslde the hull
now' showing that IT, st Steamer sank on
rurrad Ths patch Of shoal Is what The
natives Oall the Mussel Bed. This bed
has no connection with DEVILS Bridge,
where the steamer struck and where she
now lies. She IS headed in the same
direction as the Captain claims that he
left her when ne went below, only that in
sliding off the rock she threw her head off
a point. Her careening to port was caus-
ed by her sliding off the rock. The rock
is on the shoals and the water deepens
rapidly on the other side OF the wreck to
the channel. This accounts for the OBJ
jique position i'll which she lies, with her
head up and her stern down and her bot
tom resting on sand Had she struck a
rock in water deeper than her hull she
would have thumDed up and down on il
before sinking.
An old sea Captain of the Vinevard
tells the following story in relation to the
name DEVILS Bridge: ''It was going
when L was Youngster. Many years
ago my father told me about the island
being visited by the devil, and the people
in those days believed what 1 am telling
you. "The old fellow said my father.
LANDED on the east side. There, right
over yOnder-you see that point of land
well, that is where he first landed. He
was seen several DAYS by the few natives
who reside on the southern side, when it
is said he took his departure, and as a
he left one Of his footprints on
the rock where the City of Columbus
struck My father, can remember, one
beautiful summers day took me in his
si':-ck out to DEVILS Reef Bridge and
pointer mt to me, which, on calm day
can qItl.e ui3s, city be seen, the footprint
upon ohe VI Uno NJ nromnent rocks"
Meaney's Haul.
EaI