Evening journal., 1891-07-13
LOST OFF LONG BEACH.
Frightful Explosion on Board a
Naphtha Launch.
EIGHT PEOPLE REPORTED DEAD

Diamond Merchant Dennis and His Fami-
~. % brooklyn, Are Supposed to he /
the victims Of the Accident--one OF the .
Party Rescued by New Workers.
NEW YORK, July ia yachting party !
composed Of a number OF New Workers left I
Brooklyn at : a. m. yesterday. They !
We're on board the steam launch Agnes /
Dean. Among those in the party were I
William Nooth, Of 7Si Eighth avenue; ]
NJ Sheeham, OF 7S5 Eighth avenue
and NJ. Bremen, who lives on Forty-eighth
street, near Eighth avenue Before they
got through with their day they had some
exciting adventures Il was along about
2 o'clock in the afternoon when one Of the
party saw a man clinging TO a buoy bob
hing up and down in the water off toward
Coney island.
The buoy is a great distance from Coney
island, and they all wondered how the
man could have got there.
To The Rescue.
They lowered a small boat at once, in
tending to go and rescue him. a heavy sea
was running and the small boat was
turned over in jiify. Then they lowered
another boat They managed this one bet
ter and Vooth, Sheehan aud Bremen got
into it. With great difficulty they rowed
4 over TO the buoy. With still greater diff
Guilty they eontrived to get the man from
his dangerous resting place and safe into
1 their boat
The waves were running hereely, and
they had a hard time to prevent being
I .. Il
two hours and half for them to get 70 the
man and bring him off.
Captain whites Story.
The rescued man said that he WAS Cap
tain White, of East Rockaway. He had
been on the Ethel, a naphtha launch.
This launch, he said, had been chartered
by Mr. Dennis, retired diamond merchant
OF Brooklyn. A party had started on
board early In the morning from Rock
away for days fishing
The Ethel had crnised about until il
reached a point some way out from the
shore off Long Beach. Then, White said,
a terrible explosion occurred. IL seemed
as it all the bottom Of the boat was sud
denly lifted up and blown into the air.
Every person on board was hurled into the
water. He sank with the rest
Not Body in sight
When he came to the surface he saw
nothing but wreckage. There was not a
body ia sight He could not reach any.
thing on which 70 float, and he made uI
his mind that he would have to give uI
G his fight there aud then. just as he wa
2 tossed up on the crest Of particularly
4 high wave he caught a glimpse Of a buo,
in the distance.
III seemed to me that this buoy wa
1 about four miles away; but there wa
. nothing else TO do but to make the at
? tempt, so ! struck out.
! Black and Blue and Burned.
! Il swan for what seemed an age and a
length / got to the buoy. ! was almos
l completely worn out when ! got there i
was bobbing furiously and had hare
time to hold on. The waves rolled owe
me every minute. ] saw several ships an'
steamers pass but no one noticed m
until the Agnes Dean came along and sen
: the boat after me-
5 Whites body is not only sunburne,
3 where the sun had chance to get at 1t
2 but he is black and blue in many places
I Some Of these black and blue marks ma.
y be due to the force Of the explosion Yer!
4 likely others are due TO the pounding h
; received both from the buoy and tb
: waves NoOth and his two companion
y took White in their small boat to shore
Vooth then came back to this city.
I Up to a late hour last night he had no
e heard OF the others Of his party on th
Agnes Dean He was fearful that the,
might have met with some accident afte
he and Mr.. Sheehan and Mr. Bremen lef
J. them to rescue the man on the buoy.
0 III 1t be true that this was a naphthl
e launch, it is not the first time that ther
d has been a serious accident due to the us
d OF naphtha 1t is only little while sine
n Jacob Cram had built for him what was a
t the time the largest naphtha launch. Ill
IS had ii sent up to Seneca lake, and Will
h cruising there with a party Of friends /
4 blew upn Mr. Bremen, who was seen a
e 1870 o'chlck, said he was out in a schoone
II yesterday afternoon AT 2 O'clock whel
off Long Beach he came upon a man Il
the water who was clinging to plank.
The man when picked up said he wa
I one OF four who went out in a launch
, which had been capsized He said his nam
2 was White He said the other three mel
L were drowned. One man belonged in Eas
u Rockaway and another in Brooklyn