The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1884-12-19
MANY LIVES LOST.
Oystermen Drowning During a
Gale in the Chesapeake.
Their Death Struggles Witnessed
on Shore by Helpless Friends,

The storm along the Atlantic coast resulted
in n great many fatalities to oystermcn i'm
Chesapeake bay and vicinity. A Baltimore
lispatch says:
The first information of a terrible loss of
life during the storm of Tuesday night on the
Rappahannock river and lower bay was re
caiycd here upon the arrival of the steamer
Mason l.. Weems, whose officers give
particulars of the catastrophe. The
victims were for the most part
colored men who had been longing
for oysters in the Rappahannock when the
gale burst upon them. The wind blew a
hurricane and the waves quickly rose to a
height of twenty or thirty feet, tossing the
small canoes, in which the men were cling
ing. about on the waters like cookie shells.
The loss of life is estimated by some as high
rs forty, and seventeen dead bodies have al
ready been recovered
Up to noon the weather had been perfectly
calm and there were no indications of the
approaching hurricane until about clock.
when n stiff breeze began blowing. and be
fore the occupants of the frail boats could
seek points of safety the gale broke over
them with terrific fury. One after another
the canoes were swamped and the unfortu-
nate occupants swept away i'll the tul-
bulent waters, Many of the men clung
to the upturned boats with a despera
ton thai only a knowledge that death was
staring them in the face could give, but one
by one their strength was exhausted and they
were engdlfed in the freezing waters. A few
of thcm--powerful swimmers-managed to
breast the waves and swan ashore, but such
instances were rare.
The fleet of canoes numbered fifteen in all
The men started from Lancaster side to sell
hai no tbrpp
OF four white men.
The latest reports place the loss of life at
fully forty, if not more, these victims being,
as stated, principally the crews of small craft
ON the bay The storm RACED the tercest in
the lower bay and RappahannOclt river. 1t
approached from the Northwest, striking the
lower portion of the bay, and its track from
the west shore continued across the bay and
up the Rappahannock river sweeping every
vessel in its wake.
AT the time several vessels were hard at
work and their small craft was almost filled
with oysters The men tried to scud before
the wind and managed to do 50. but for a
Few moments only. Many of the boats filed
with water and Others capsized. During the
storm the people of the village gathered
along the shore but nothing could b, done to
save the unfortunate men, and fully twenty
five were drowned within sight OF the vii
lage
One colored man was saved by cling
ing to the side OF n capsiZcd pungy. He was
at first supposed to be dead, but recovered
shortly after being found. Four men We're
drowned in the Carhonon branch. and three
on the Middlesex shore OF the Rappahannock.
James Scott, colorcd, was drowned by the
capsizing of a canoe near Folks wharf in
Cockerii Creek, Va. Incoming steamers re
port wrecks all along the shore in the wake
of the storm. As far rs can be learned nearly
all the drowned are colorel men. The latest
| accounts give the number OF bodies recovered
at seventeen
Captains OF incoming vessels who were in
the storm say that it was the most severe of
any for many years. The wind blew at the
rate of sixty miles an hour and the waves ran
fully thirty feet high Captains of the Bay
line of steamers say that not half the loss of
lie or Of the damage done by the storm has
been reported. The tug Ehrmon, of this city,
rescued Captain Zeigler and his crew of five
men from the sloop Au.G stus. Two minutes
after the rescue the vessel sank.