The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1889-09-13
WATERY GRAVES.
The Loss of Life and Damage by the
Atlantic Coast Storm Very
Great
Terrible Scenes of Lewes. Del.
Where a Hundred Vessels Were
Driven on Shore.
Thousands of Pleasure Seekers at A tlantis
City and other Resorts Barely Es-
cape with Their Lives.

LEWIS, Del. Sept. 1S.-No language can
picture the terrible scene along the coast
The wind is blowing q hurricane driving
the rain with q force that cuts like hail
The half mile of beach between the town
and the coast is tossing ocean bearing
wreckage upon every wave. Through the
waste OF spray stOrm-tstfered sails ard
naked mAsts Of score of deserted and dis
mantled vessels are dimly seen. Monday
night the storm ragged without abatement.
Yesterdays dawn showed a hundred YES
sells which had sought refuge of the break
wetsr. By IL O'Clock the sea broke over
the breskwater wrecked the telegraph
station, carried away the big fog bell, and
rushed shoreward sweeping away the
steamboat pier. The piers Of Brown &
Co., and Lace brothers gave way and were
swept to sea. Tha United States Marine
hospital was dashed from its mOorIngs and
sent spinning down the beach. Jones
life saving station, forty feet above high
water mark, was flooded and the fouuda-
ton undermined.
Hughesville, suburb between the
town and the beach, was sub
merged and its two hundred Inhabitants
fled for life, leaving all their possessions
behind The first boat came ashore at 2
a. M; then came another and another.
The life saving crew was reinforced by the
HenlOpen and RehobOth crews which went
TO work and have labored almost nnceas-
iDgly ever since. The crews on every ves-
sci that struck were taken of by these
daring men and not a life was lost.
In all twenty seven vessels came ashore
here A vessel sunk Of Broan shoals and
all the crew were drowned but two who
got ashore on a raft Another vessel sunk
10 not nuuU
whether the crew escaped The total
number of lives lost will probably exceed
forty. Five Of eight men who composed
the crew of the K. and l.. Bryan perished
where the vessel struck on Brandywine
shoals. The mate and two seameD caught
a spar and drifted all night. A day break
the Others discovered sailors dead body
still lAshed TO spar. The two survivors
were picked up by tug and brought
ashore
There is great concern over the crew OF
the pilot boat Ebs TInnnell- She put To
sea Monday and has not been heard from,
with pilots John Barnes. Lewis Bertrand,
James Roland, Berry Hickman and . crew
of eight men on board The New Jersey
pilot boat Edmund was blown across the
bay and lies on the Jersey coast with her
sails in tatfers- An unknown schooner is
ashore at RehOboth and the coast for miles
down is reported strewn with wrecks.
There has been no communication with
LongpOrt and great anxiety is felt for the
safety of the residents.
The crew of the tug A. l.. Luckenbach,
which had laid alongside the schooner ii.
E Morse all night, succeeded this morning
In taking the crew OF the latter vessel, nine
in number, on board, and afterwards
brought them 10 this place. The sooner
WAS blown ON 10 Hawk Nest shosl, about
5 o. IN. Monday. The crew took 10 the
rigging, where they remained cllnglng 10
the ropes for nearly forty hours. The men
were nearly exhausted when res
cued and could not have lasted
much longer. Ii was impossible for the
tug TO approach the stranded schooner
nearer than twenty yards. and the men ia
the rigging were directed 70 jump over
board. As man would strike the water
a rope would be thrown to him and he
would be lifted on board the tug. After
getting all on board the Luckenbaeh
brought them TO this place. Shortly after
the Morse seut on the shoal q schooner
supposed to be the Walter Parker also
grounded within thirty yards of the Morse.
She soon broke up and those on the Morse
saw her crew drown, one by one. The
Morse Is a total wreck.