The Portland daily press., 1886-02-05
AN iMPERlLED GREW.
Loss of the Schooner Mary a. KiI!en
of Thonaston.
Heroic Rescue of Her Crew by the
Life Saving Station Band

BosToN, Feb. 1.-The three-masted schoon-
er Mary A. Killen went ashore in the blind
ing snow storm at 11,3O last night, on Third
Cliff Beach, Scituate, and now lies in dan
gerous position. She was loaded with sugar,
from Havana to Boston, and was command
ed by Capt ]. Killen. The patrol of the
life-saving station, while pursuing his lonely
vigils at about midnight, suddenly heard the
sulen ''boom, boom," from the schooner's
gun, signal Of distress from the stranded
vessel. The signal from the schooner called
together the life crew, but the apparatus
was with great difficulty gotten to the scene
of the disaster and the line was several
times hurled towards the unfortunate craft,
but each time failed of reaching the mark.
Finally, after several futile attempts, the
line passed over the vessel into the seething
pillows beyond The seamen seized the
slender cord and quickly drew it aboard un-
til the cable had been hauled in and securely
fastened to the mainmast
Then the real work of rescuing the sailors
commenced The buoy, which runs by pull
leys on the cable, has a sack or pocket at
taehed to it, which will come up to the arm
pits of an ordinary man, when standing up
right. The men on the schooner pulled the
buoy aboard and one of their number got in
to the pocket and was hauled ashore by the
willing hands of the life crew. This opera
ton was repeated until the eight men on
board of the wrecked craft were all safely
landed, Capt. Killen being the last to aban-
don the ill-fated vessel The vessel strand
- M Il -tb-
had been taken off, The rescued seamen
were nearly dead from cold and exposure,
and as soon as they were landed immediate
means were taken to resuscitate them By
the most strenuous efforts on the part of
their deliverers they were made comfortable,
and have now practically recovered from the
effects Of the terrible experience. They lose
their ALL
Capt. Killen says that he passed Highland
Light and anticipated speedy arrival at his
destination. At about 6 o'clock last evening
the weather began to thicken, and it began
to snow. We were then making for Boston
Light. The storm rapidly increased in Sc
verify, until it was blowing gale, The
| binding snow enveloped US. as pail, ano
| we were soon at the mercy OF the elements;
| The sea was running mountains high, and
| continually swept over the vessel, rendering
| it extremely hazardous for us to work The
| vessel and making our positions very dan
| cerous To add to the dangers OF our peril
| Gus situation, the flying spray froze to the
rigging as fast as it fell. The. entire uppel
| rigeing was mass of ice, making it impos
| sibfe for the crew to work the ship. The
| water also froze to the clothing of the crew
| and prevented them from moving about witt
| effectiveness. The men also suffered severe
| " from the cold, and several were slightly
| frost-bitten. We finally lost control of thu
vessel and drifted on to lee shore, the yes
sci Striking with a shock which threw u
| from our feet. Each sea lifted her, and sht
| kent humping upon the bottom until i
seemed as though she would pound her bot
| tom out. All of this time the heavy sea
were breaking over her. AS soon as we coul'
we fired the signal gun, and IN miraculous
| ly short time the answering beacon Oh tn
lffe-saving crew gladdened our anxious gaze
When the life crew finally got the line aboar,
the men were so exhausted from tha'r ca
sure that they scarcely had streaagFeiit taFa Il oioIs
in their benumbed bodies to nanulo manu- o,.ro,1ar ~
ter an almost superhuman ils emolsb ocabIe er abosr
they succeeded in draWins ono ;9r,aSt onS W,
and making IL fast to the ndlnlaeu, Gnu n'lo', w
were taken off. When we got ashore every
thing possible for people to 90 was uone IL
The Mary A. Killen was OF 4lO tons q .,l Dul
then. and was built by Sherman, Geary