Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1892-01-28
GIVEN UP FOR LOST
No Tidings Of the Men Blown
Out to Sea.
HOPE OF RESCUE ABANDONED.
A Possibility that -Four of the Men May
Have Been Saved.

How the Eighteen Poor LabOrers of the
New York Street Cleaning Department
Were Carried Out to Sea--Widespread
Interest and Sympathy Awakened by
the Disaster--HerOic Rescue of Fifty-twO
Italians on Four SCOws in GIavesend Bay.
NEW York, Jan. 2S.-Only the vaguest
news of the 10 men aboard the tug
Webster and the four dumping scows
which drifted out to sea in the terrible
gale Tuesday morning has been received
up to this morning
Their fate is still in doubt, although
it ispossible that two of the scows have
been rescued and will arrive in port to-
day. This, however. would account for
but four Of the missing 10 men.
The steamship Stranton, Capt Morri-
son, which arrived yesterday, brought
the first news Of the missing boats. The
Stranton left West Hartlepool on Jan. 9,
and arrived at the bar at 6 p. m. Tues
day. She remained outside, however,
until yesterday.
Capt. Morrison reports that at $3.50 p.
IN. Tuesday, four miles south Of Long
Beach Hotel, he passed two patent
dumping scows and three miles further
SOuIh Ho Sd" JuSOOdG apparently an
chored or unmanageable. He was una
BILE to extend assistance on account of
the storm.
At 8 p. III. yesterday dispatch from
Rockaway Beach stated that q large tug
was visible off Rockaway, towing two
of the missing,scows. They were covered
with ice, but apparently unchanged, 1t
is the general belief that the two scows
and tug are the ones seen By the Stranton
on the previous afternoon.
On the other hand the Deassori, one Of
the tugs sent out in search of the missing
boats, came back last night. Her cap
tain reported that he had been Off Rock
| away during the afternoon and had seen
nothing of the tug and scows. He was
been there, and believed that the tug re-
ferred to in the Rockaway Beach dispatch
was his own. That theory, however,
| would not account for the statement that
the tug sighted had two scows in tow.
The most widespread interest and
| sympathy were awakened yesterday by
the news of the disaster. People forgot
the cutting wind as they walked to their
| places of business in thinking about the
poor fellows either dead or freezing and
starving on an angry sea.
| The boats swept out to sea were the
tugboat Webster and Dumping scows 3,
| 5, 16 and II of the Barney dumping Com
I pany. On these boats were eighteen men
employed in towing and working the
| dumping scows in which the street clean
| ing department carries the city refuse to
the open sea for dumping. Ten of the
men were on the tugboat, and two were
on each of the four scows.
The tug Webster has sufficient provis-
| ion and water on board to last week,
but the men on the dumping boats had
not more than days supplies on board.
The tugs Edwin Webster and the H. S.
| Nichols left the STRENGTHENING docks
early Tuesday morning, each with two
scows in tow. The Webster had boat
No 5, having on board two men.
The Nichols towed boat No. 3, two
men, and boat No 16, two men.
quick run was made to the dumping
ground beyond Rockaway, and the self
bumpers were quickly unloaded, but
| when the tugs started to return to this
| city, the gale was SO strong that slow
progress was made.
Off Rockaway, about 8 a. M, the
Webster suddenly stopped, and in a mo-
ment lay rolling in the trough of the sea
with the ensign hoisted Union down as
signal of distress.
The hawser had parted between the tug
and the dumping-boats, and the tugs
propeller had apparently become en-
tangled with the hawser's end, which
| the waves washed under her stern.
The Nichols's captain put in as near
the Rockaway Beach as possible, and,
anchoring her scows inside the shoals,
put out to the assistance of the Webster.
The high sea and wind, however, made
it impossible for her to hold on to the
hawser, which was gotten on board the
Webster, and, getting short of water,
the Nichols put back to the city.
Meantime the Webster and boats and
II had drifted out to sea.
The story of Captain Day, of the tug
Runyan, which rescued the f1fty-two TIA
lians on the tugs of the Street Cleaning
Department aground in Gravesend Bay,
is as follows:
"When we got there we found the four
scows aground, with all the Italians
standing on dirt heaps watching us.
They waved their arms when they saw US
coming. We found we couldn't get near
them on account of the high seas, so we
put out to a schooner that had anchored
further down and borrowed yawl. Five
men were put in the yawl and they rowed
out to the scows. We made thirteen
trips, taking four of them every time,
and some of them were SO stiff that we
had to lift them onto the tug. Our men
got pretty stiff after rowing for half an
hour, and it was awful work. The whole
job took us three hours. Some of the
Italians said they had been out on the
refuse all night long. They looked it.
You ought to have seen the way they
fell too when we passed around some
thing to eat"
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