The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-11-03
A GRAVE IN THE BREAKERS.
The Broken Hull of the City of sa-
vannah Almost Disappeared.

The Broken Hull of the City Of Sa-
vannah Almost Disappeared.
What is left Of the wrecked steamer
City of Savannah, which went ashore on
Hunting Island shoals in the August
storm, is hardly visible above the break
ers. Her bow and stern and the cylin-
ders Of the engines can be seen from the
shore at low tide, but that is all. The
iron hull is fast settling in the sand and
the waves sweep o yer it at will.
The October storm completed the
wreck that the August storm had left
The decks andirou sides and everything
movable was swept away and buried IN
the sand under the breakers. Nothing
was left above the water line, except the
wiDdlass, the iron steering gear and the
cylinders of the engines. Everything
else is gone.
The huge boilers lie in the bottom of
the hull with the engines covered with
the sand that has washed In. In two
months the splendid steamship has be-
come almost an unrecOgnlZable hulk,
and in a short time even that will have
entirely disappeared
DIR. HIGHWAY, Of Button, who had
the underwriters contract to remove
whatever was possible of the vessels
cargo and the valuable parts Of the wreck,
is in the city. He came over yesterday
with boat load of wreckage which he
has turned over to the underwriters
agents here. In all, DR.. HIGHWAY saved
about $50 cases of shoes, part of which
were picked up on the island, where they
had been carried by the negroes, several
boat loads of furniture, quantities of cot
ton bagging and ship furniture and stores,
portions of the wreck, the handsome
woodwork of the cabins, mahogany doors,
ratings, brass work, the carpets and fur
nishing of the staterOOms and other stuff.
In the $50 cases of shoes there are altogeth
ernearly 1000 pairs. These are compare
lively little damaged. Although soaked
with water, they came out all right after
being dried. The cotton bagging is also in
good condition.
The last thing that DIR. HIGHWAY
saved from the wreck was tie name of
the steamer on her bow and stern, which
was put on with solid brass letters.
These he got off with great difficulty,
and good deal of risk, after the October
blow, whens the upper works of the
steamer were carried away, and what
was left of the hull had begun to settle
Since then no further attempt has been
made to get to the wreck. DR..
HIGHWAY expected to save the propeller,
and, if possible, her engines and boilers,
but that was impossible after the Octo-
Der storm, which was almost as severe as
that of Aug. rs, when the steamer went
ashore. For ten days after the storm it
was impossible to get near the wreck, and
even then it was a venture that few
cared to attempt. A great deal of the
stuff that was stolen from the vessel by
the negroes, who swarmed out in small
boats and carried ashore everything that
was movable, and that they could carry,
will never be recovered. There is hardly
a negroes house on the island that has not
been stored with wreckage of some sort.
A good deal of this has been found but
more has been carried of and hidden in
the woods, where it is difficult to get at
MIR. E. M. Hopkins, who went over to
Hunting Island a day or two before the
last storm to obtain, if possible, a series
of photographs of the wreck, was there
during the storm. While he was unable
to approach the wreck near enough to get
a view of it, he secured anumber of inter
esting photographs on the island. Some
of these show the piles of wreckage in
the woods where it has been taken, cases
out and hinges torn off to get at their
contents. After rihing them the trunks
were left on the beach or wherever they
were taken, usually in clump of trees.
Had it not been for the October storm,
which, of course, it was impossible to an
ticipate, DIR. HIGHWAY says a large
amount of the cargo and valuable por-
tions of the vessel would have been saved,
but as it is the underwriters will realize
very little.