The herald., 1895-05-04
Disaster OvertakeS a Schooner
in Northern Seas
MANY LIVES WERE LOST
Men Go Out in a Little Vessel and
Meet Their Death
News Of the Loss OF the SeaIer George K.
White-Men Braved q Heavy Swell
and Snow Storm-Lives Lost

from Kodiak Island, Alaska, OF the
wreck OF the schooner George r. White,
attended with the loss of seventeen lives.
= A. E. Briggs, late engineer on the
steamer Francis Cutting, arrived III Sitka
on the Western steamer Dora in time to
take the steamer Al-Ki for this port, and
brought meager particulars, Of the acci-
dent. but was unable TO give the list of
persons lost.
The schooner Lescoi arrived a; ko diak
q few hours before his departure with
one of the survivors. who was so ex-
hausted that he could scarcely give a
straight account of the disaster
On Easter Sunday terrible northeast
gale, mingled with binding snow
storm. .sand with the thermometer three
4 degrees below zero, prevailed along the
so tn east coast Alaska.
The schooner White, which was hunt
ing sea otter, was caught in the storm
and lost her bearings. To make matters
worse some sails were carried away and
a part of her foremast went over the
side and then the steering gear became
= dismantled.
In this helpless condition the vessel was
carried lightly before the gale and Just be-
fore midnight she struck a submerged
> reef and a moment later her hull was
smashed into splnters.
Twenty-cight men were thrown into
the ice cold waters with the shore three
miles distant to which they must pass
through heavy surf.
Some of them in sheer desperation
clutched onto floating debris and others
drowned.
forf 70 pv1, %r>
reach the beach through gale-whipped
sea and a snow storm. almost dead, with
clothes frozen to their bodies. Without
food or shelter they passed miserable
night and at daybreak on the beach they
found ten corpses.
The survivors themselves were too ex-
hausted to bury the dead. The most they
could do was to drag their bodies upon
the shore away from ravenous animals of
the sea. Clad in light garments. with no
fire or shelter, subsisting on shell fish and
suffering from intense cold, three or four
more men died.
On the third day after the wreck some
native hunters chanced to pass by, and
from them fresh meat and supply of
matches to start a fire were obtained. By
that time only eleven out of the original
: ,enty-eight had survived. Ma y Of them
we're badly frozen, their limbs being FROST
bitten SO severely that they must suffer
surgical operations to saw their lives.
One man is said to have lost the use of
both legs and arm. Scarcely one of the
survivors will get through the ordeal
without being MAIN ed for life.
The schooner Lescoi after reporting the
account at Kodiak, returned for the sur
vivors. The place where the accident oc-
Cured is three miles from Tugeduk
island, twenty-five miles southwest OF
Kodiak island. The news had not reached
Kodiak an hour before the Dora sailed
Tor Sitka said Biggs. and it was impos-
sible to learn the identity of the sur
vivors.
The schooner was owned by James
Chsnoworth and Paul Paulson, of Seattle.
Both of the owners are supposed t have
been aboard at the time # the acci1e ent.
The vessel was in charge of Captain J.
M. Wheeler.
SEATTLE, WASH. May 3.-The George
r. White and her crew were we'll known
at this port. She was owned by Paul
Paulson, OF La Conner. and was fitted
out for her cruise by Hibbard & Norton,
of this city.
Captain Wheeler is one Of the best
known sealing masters OH the sound, and
is said to be capable, daring navigator.
During his cruises on the Volunteer, a
little twelve-ton sc o ner, Captain Wheel
er went up as far as Copper island, which
is considerably farther up than any large
chooners have ever gone.
Justin Chenowurth, one of the hunters
- o,l oil 1y,, IL:
port. His home is at La Conner and he
went alo lg t. repre- ent his and Paul
sons interests.
1t was tho intention of Captain Wheeler
when he left here last summer to hunt
during the balance of the season in Bering
sea, and as winter approached to so south
toward tha Hawaiian islands, and then
on to the California coast near Santa Bar
bara, when he would cruise along up the
coast and hunt the seal that are supposed
to migrate in that direction at this
season. Instead of carrying out that plan,
he undoubtedly wintered near Kodiak.
Off Kodiak and extending northward over
a distance of 90 miles is what is called
the Fortlock banks, where there is excel
lent hunting, and which affords good
harbor in the winter season, and proba-
bly, he has been hunting there all winter.
When the schooner was last spoken in the
Bering sea by Captain Miner of the Ella
johnson. last September, she had be-
tween 100 and 200 sealskins. 1t is also be-
'lieved that she had several black bear
and otter skins. all Of which will be lost.
The schooner was valued at about $4,000
and was we'll insured.
The White cleared from this port on
July 4, 1894. for years cruise in the
North Pacific ocean and Bering sea. Her
Grew was signed by United States Ship
ping Commissioner J. J. Burns and was
as follows: Master. J. L. Wheeler; mate
Steve Bsretsch cook, NJ. Buttee; hunt
ers. Edward Pearoy, Andrew Danielson,
Justin Chenoweth; seamen, Richard Red
mond, G. Morris, Louis A. Burrell, John
Harrison. Chris Swanson, Robert Baxter
Henry Parker; cabin boy. James Carton.
The vessels dimensions we're: Net
/ tonnage. 1872; length, 61.2; breadth,
1874; depth, 6.3.
She was built in 1880 at Port Madison.
Wash.
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Fortune but No Man
H. s~3 N