Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-06-09
Battling With the Waves.

GRAPHIC ACCOUNT OF THE DEATH OF GEN. BABCOCK
AND HIS COMRADES.
Col. r. B. Smith. Of the lighthouse board who
was with Gen. Babcock when the latter was
drowned In Mosquito Inlet, Florida, told the story
OF the disaster to Charleston, s. c., reporter He
said the Pharos kept OF Mosquito Inlet from Sat
urday evening until Monday morning, as the cap
tain thought an entrance impracticable. cat IL
boat, manned by six sailors and coxswain, came
out and boarded the vessel. The general, thinking
that as the boat came out SO easily she could re-
turn with equa! safety, changed his mind and de-
cided to make the attempt. He, Luckey, Suer and
myself got in with the seven seamen, making four
laTdsmen and seven sailors in all who started OF
the four landSmen alone lived to reach the shore
The boat made headway enough until we passed
the bar buoy. Then roller struck us, which we
roller the steering oar snapped in two, and the
coxswain was washed overheard. The boat then
filled. The third roller brought the coxswain back
to the boat and he was saved By this time the
boat had turned over. We passed a line lengthwise
her keel to hold on by, and all OF us graSped it
and held on while sea after sea washed over US
These seas were about $50 feet apart, which al
lowed us little breathing spell between them.
For quarter of an hour this struggle with the
a cooler and braver set of men under such circum-
stances never saw. Not man asked for help,
though We frequently assisted each other when we
There Was none Of that cowardly showing aside.
and fighting for the best positions which is too
often witnessed when life is the prize commended
again, but another wave would take us back. At
one time Gen. Babcock was swept of and the next
wave failed to bring him all the way back to the
boat; he oated near 1t, however and by clingtng
the rope with my left hand managed to reach him
with the tips OF the fingers OF my right hand.
Finally I got his hand into mine and pulled
him up on the boat again. Soon after this noticed
that Mr.. L.P. Luckey was exhausted, and moment
afterward he gave up and was swept away. AS he
doated OF he appeared to me to be unconscious.
Very shortly after the drowning of Luckey the
wind and tide, which had been setting in shore all
the time, took us into the surf In the surf Suter
and Gen. BabcOck both gave out and were drowned,
and soon after them one of the men Also All OF us
had been washed from the boat The last saw of
Gen. Babcock before his body came ashore he was
floating away face downward. concluded, as did
the rest, that II remained In the surf would be
killed by the boat so made for the shore, followed
by the rest could not see the shore, but knew
the breakers were going In and I followed them.
But the trouble was when we would touch bottom
the undertow would whirl us out to sea again.
made effort after effort to gain foothold, and II
had not succeeded when did would have been
too much exhausted to make another effort"
Suffers BODY RECOVERED.
Mr. Franzoni, at Gilman's drug store In this city,
received telegram to-day stating that MI. SUIT
ter's body was recovered last Friday.