Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-10-11
ASHORE IN A STORM.
United States Steamer Despatch
Wrecked Off Cape Charles.
THE VESSEL IS A TOTAL LOSS.
Officers and Crew Rescued and Safely
Housed on the Beach.
RAN AGROUND ON NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE D1sPArcH.J

ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DIsPATcH.I
NORFOLK, VA, Oct. 10.-The United
States steamship Despatch, for many years
regarded as the official yacht of the Presi-
dent and the Secretary of the Navy, has
gone ashore on the Assateague shoals, 40
miles north of Cape Charles. The coat
there is very treacherous. She was bound
from Brooklyn to Washington. During a
severe gale on Friday night she struck the
dreaded sands. She is a total wreck. Her
commander, Lieutenant Cowles, and all the
crew are known to be safe, but beyond this
information nothing definite is known.
The rescue of the crew is said to have been
extremely hazardous. The men are under
cover on the beach. The first news came
from dispatch to the captain of the Life
Saving Service in Washington. The oper-
atorS at Cape Charles and Cape Henry can
get no further information, they say, than
that the vessel is ashore and the crew is
safe. The report that Secretary Tracy was
aboard the Despatch is erroneous. Secretary
Tracy is now in Washington.
wRECKERs SENT FOR RELIEF.
A dispatch from New York saws: The
news that the Despatch had got aground
was received in this city early this morning
from various sources. The Merritt wreck
ing organization received the information at
9:2O A. NJ and sent it over to the Brooklyn
Navy Yard, with a request that permission
be given them to send assistance to the
stranded vessel. The United States steam
ship 1antic was to sail for Brazil at II
O'Clock, and orders were issued to her
commanding officer to steam by Assateague
Island N hot H.
could.
The Merritt wrecking organization put a
party of their wreckers on the Yantic and
also ordered one of their steamers to 90 to
the Despatch's assistance from Norfolk The
Despatch left the navyyard at $50 o'clock
on Friday morning, with orders to proceed
direct to Washington. She carried crew
OF six officers and about 80 men. Lieutenant
William S. Cowles, a son-in-law of Allen
u. Thurman, was her commander.
OFFICERS OF THE SHIP.
The other officers, as far as known, who
sailed on the Despatch were: First Lieu
tenant York Noel, Lieutenant r. Mulligan,
Assistant Paymaster S. L. Heap and
Passed Assistant Engineer j. T. Ogden.
Passed Assistant Surgeon James D. Gate
wood was formerly attached to the ship, but
his name is scratched off the list which the
OoPbdLh VI INC OAOOhlNu navy 10Tu mas,
which indicates that change was made.
The Despatch's course lay along the
coast to Cane Charles, up Chesapeake Bay
and the Potomac to Washington The
weather was thick and the sea heavy, and the
commanding officer got too close in shore.
Assateague Island, abreast of which the vessel
lies stranded, is 40 miles northeast of Cape
Charles, in Northampton county, Va All
about the island are the treacherous sand
shoals, which are feared by mariners nearly
as greatly as those off Hatteras. Assateague
Island light, 129 feet above the sea, and a
ightship mark the dangerous bars of sand.
The Despatch is a wooden, schooner
rigged steamship, which has been a sort of
official yacht since President Arthur's time,
She has tonnage of $50 tons and a displace-
ment of 500 tons. She is ia feet in length,
26 feet in breadth and has mean draft of II
feet inches. Her speed is 1875 knots an
hour The vessel was originally a Yacht.
She was built in 1873 for Henry c. Smith,
the wellknown broker, by George Steers, at
a cost of 100000 Smiths orders to Steers
were for the '1argest and handsomest
yacht"