The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-10-13

Thrilling Experience ola Portland Schoon-
err on the Edge of the Gulf Stream-A
Mountain of Water Forty Feet High
Smashed a Hole in the .Deck-Wontler-
full Escape of a SaiIor-OiI at Last
Saves the Schooner.
The three masted schooner Clara
Leayitt, which is now discharging coal
at Sargent & Dennison's wharf, at the
foot of Moulton street, met with very
perilous experience on her voyage from
Philadelphia. The schooner, with large
cargo of coal lett Philadelphia the last
days of September under command of
Captain George P. Wood of this city, and
with Daniel A. Sullivan of Lawrence,
Mass, as first mate. On the last day of
September the Leavitt was on the edge
of the Gulf Stream, about one hundred
and twenty miles south of the South
Shoal Lightship off Nantucket. All went
well until about o'clock that afternoon
when gale came on from the north
northwest. Gradually increasing in in
tensity through the night it was per-
feet hurricane by the morning of the first
of October The schosner was put head
to the wind with just enough close reefed
sail to keep her lying to. 1t was i'm
possible to do anything else, SO high
were the wind and seas. The schooner
rode very well until about noon of
October 1st +. The seas then became
worse than ever, and it was with great
difficulty that Captain Wood kept the
schooner's head up. Presently three
enormous seas came in succession. The
first the schooner rode finely. The second
she mounted with more difficulty, her
head falling off as she did SO. The third
she was unprepared for. 1t came rolling
on, green and yellow mountain of
water, the crest of which reached to a
distance equal half the height of the
masts. The conservative estimate of Mate
Sullivan places its height at not less
than forty feet. The mass of this wave
struck the Leavitt on the port side at the
mizzen mast; and the huge mass of
water, many tons in weight, smashed
down upon the deck. The deck and
cabin of the schooner are anssillustration
of the phenomenal force of water in
motion. The port bulwarks were crushed
like cardboard, the heavy plank shutters
of the house were burst in, windows and
all, the door to the cabin was broken and
sent flying inward; and then, strangest
of all, the heavy deck timbers, three in
all, were snapped and great hole was
punched in the solid deck. Through
this hole water poured into the lower
portions of the vessel, while the cabins
were inundated through the broken
doors, windows and skylight. Finally,
as it rolled over the starboard side, the
water took the bulkhead with it.
When decks and bulkheads suffer SO it
is a perilous place for men. The man at
the wheel saw the wave coming and shut
his eyes and chung for life. The grating
was washed from under his feet; but as
the wave had already broken he managed
to hold on The mate was in the cabin
door. He saw the wave and stepping in
shut the door. In second the door was
burst in and thrown against him,
knocking him down and stunning him.
A sailor named Albert Davis was
standing near the mizzen mast and re-
ceived the full force. 1t was useless for
him to cling. He was like an egg shell
in torrent. In an instant he was hurled
back over the cabin and swept overheard.
1t was only the merest chance that saved
his life.
Mate Sullivan, as soon as he could pick
himself up from the bottom of the cabin
stairs where he had been hurled, rushed
on deck. He knew that the wave must
| have swept someone overheard; so he at
once seized rope. He was just in time
to throw it to Davis, who was struggling
in the sea, quarter of a ships length
| away. The sailor seized it and was
hauled aboard, scarcely alive. He had
been dashed against something as he was
hurled overheard, and was so disabled
that he had to be taken to the Marine
Hospital as soon as he arrived in port.
The Leavitt could not stand another
such sea, and the captain knew it. So
he prepared to use the device that has
| saved SO many vessels Two large bundles
of sacking were saturated with fish oil
and suspended over the bow in such
| way that the oil would spread over the
sea. The result was excellent. The
| waves were so quoted that the Leavitt
managed to live and get to port.
| The gale lasted forty-eight hours in all,
and was remarkable for it's intensity.
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