The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-08-26
Struck Boothbay Harbor on Saturday
Afternoon.
A YACHT CAPSIZED AND TWO
PERSONS DROWNED.
And Considerable Damage Was Done TO
Shipping-Small Boats Overturned by
the wind-One Body Recovered in the
Cabin of the Sunken Yacht.
rspEo1An TO rHE pREss.1

ESPECIAL TO The HhioC'I
Boothbay Harbor, Aug. 25.-Old men
who have sailed in the waters OF the pay
here all their lives do not srecall time
when the wind approached the intensity
of the blow, during which yesterday al
ternoon two lives were lost in the harbor
The word squall hardly describes IL. IL
was mere like whirlwind. 1t was an
afternoon when heavy black clouds IN the
west betokened the gathering OF thun-
der showers. 1t was between nVe and
six o'clock when the storm burst here.
Without moments warning, the CLOUDS
spread over the sky, the wind came IN
gusts from all points of the compass, and
sheets of rain and hail descended, churn-
ing the water into foam while vivid
lightning and loud peals of athnnder ad-
ded to the wildness of the scene. 1t last
ed only a few moments, ssome say not
more than five minutes but it sent to
the bottom a pleasure boat which had
contained five persons, and did damage to
many of the vessels at anchor in the har-
Dor.
The Mollie r. is small cat boat,
handsome little craft with large stand
ing room for the accommodation OF pleas
ure parties and small cuddy forward.
When the storm broke she WAS on her
way to Mouse Island having on board
Mr.. Edwin G. Heselton, Mrs: d. X. Saun-
ders of New York, Henryh Fuller Saun-
ders, the nine year old son OF Mrs. Saun-
ders Miss Maud Powers of Skowhegan
and Captain David Reed, the owner of
the boat. Mr.. Heselton was the propr1e-
tor of the Damorest House on Mouse Isl
and, and the two ladies and the little boy
were guests at the hotel. The Mollie had
almost reached her destination, being
perhaps an eighth of a mile from the
wharf CAPTAIN Reed did not lower his
sail, but he let go the sheet and the boom
swung out, the sail shaking in the wind.
That should have been sufficient to relieve
the strain, but,so great was the force OF
the wind that the little yacht was borne
down by it, settling slowly until the wat
er poured over the wash board and she
filled. sinking in seven fathoms OF water.
Four people came to the surface: They
were the adults of the party. The boy
was in the cuddy and was not seen alive
after the wind struck The boat. In the
cockpits were cushions which served as
life preservers. To one of these Captain
Reed managed to get the two women and
he himself clung to it Mr.. Heselton
was seen to struggle for minute or two
and then he disappeared under the water.
The British schooner Hattie c. was ly-
ing near by and her crew were prompt in
getting to the rescue. They reached Cap
tain Reed and the two ladies in time to
save them. Mrs Saunders had been
dragged down..by the rigging of the yacht
but had become disentangled and risen to
the surface. She is still in a critical con-
dition.
1t was soon dark and little could be
done last evening in efforts to find the
bodies of the two unfortunates. This
morning the work was begun at an early
hour. 1t was, of course, an easy matter to
locate the sunken pleasure craft. Then
the Rawona, large sloop yacht, was
anchored at the spot and from her deck
lines to which small anchors were at
taohed to draw as graphing irons were
lowered and secured to the Mollie r.
There were willing hands to assist in the
work Men came in sail and rowboats
and there was quite a fleet around the
place Little by little the sunken boat
was lifted until line could be slipped
under her. The steady taking in of the
tackle brought the mast above water.
Then the hull appeared and at last the
Mollie r. g deck was above the surface
of the water. Half dozen active men
leaped aboard with pals and buckets and
bailed out the water. The doors to the
cuddy were fast closed, but were soon
pried open. "There's the poor little fell
low" said a fisherman as he peered into
the tiny cabin. But the body was left
there until the Mollie r. had been towed
to the village, where it could be suitably
cared for The cuddy doors were proaba-
bly, shut by the rush of the water into
the boat when she went down. Death ap
parently came quickly and comparatively
painlessly to the little fellow in the cabin
Search for the body of Mr.. Heselton was
carried on by dragging from row boats.
The body of Edwin G. Heselton was
recovered from the harbor at three O'Clock
and will be taken to Skowhegan tomor-
row morning on the five O'Clock steamer.
Mr.. Heselton, who lost his life in the
accident, was 80 years old, the son of Will
liam G. Heselton of Skowhegan. He was
a well knownFhotel man and had large
circle of friends. Besides being the pro-
prietor of..the house on Mouse Island, he
owned the Hotel Heselton at Skowhegan.
Miss Powers is the well known court
stenographer.
If the accident to the Mollie R. did not
of itself show the terrific force of the
wind, the accidents to the shipping in the
harbor would do SO. The wind was so
powerful that it picked up a row boat be-