Crawford avalanche., 1896-11-19
A wntery Grave.

| Wntery Gravc.
| Under cover of the darkness and in the
midst of "A fierce storm, six men me-
their death off Muskegon; Mich. harboI
| Saturday night from the three-mast
| schooner Waukesha. The story of tn,
only survivor lays the blame upon the
| captain whose name is not definitely
| known. This survivor is Frank Dulach
| He does not know the names Of any OF
| the other members of the crew, which
| consisted of the captain, mate, cook and
| four sailors, n total of seven. After be-
| ing rescued Dulach was so weak that II
was night before an intelligent story could
be obtained from him. 1t was taken in
| the form of an affidavit before magis-
| trate at the station in order to show the
| full circumstances.
Dulach says the boat loaded with salt
at Ludington for South Chicago, and
went out Friday about 4 p. IN. Almost
| Immediately she began to feel the heavy
sea, and the minds of the sailors were not
In the least reassured by the fact that the
captain commenced drinking literally.
When off Little Point Sable the Wau-
kesha was leaking so badly that all
hands had to 20 TO the pumps. After it
was shown that pumping would be nee
essary all the time, the sailors began 10
beg the captain to beach the boat, but he
refused and kept on south.
When they saw the piers at Muskegon
about o'clock Saturday afternoon they
were in doubt as to where they were. The
captain hoistcd Il signal for tug, but, no
tug coming, he went TO anchor, angrily
declining to make an attempt TO enter the
harbor, saying he did not know where he
was and how much water there was. He
said he would stay there during the night,
fix up as best he could, and in the morn
ing slip away. The men told him the
boat, which was old and rotten, could not
stand the strain and would go to pieces;
that his only safety was TO beach her.
Dulach says the captain locked up the
torches, so they could not signal, and
when he, Dulach, tried TO fash a lantern
the captain struck it down. About 8
o'clock the boat began to yield under the
pounding of the constantly increasing sea,
and the captain redoubled his drinking.
In desperation Dulach and his "watch
partner" tried to slip the vessels cables
and send her ashore. They succeeded in
loosing the big anchor, when the captain,
hearing the noise, got life-preservers for
himself, the mate and sailor by the
name of Fred. who, according to Du-
lach's story, were all drunk on liquor he
had furnished them. The other four Sc
cured preservers from the forecastle. and
the entire crew went into the foremast
rigging.
Pulled down by the little anchor, which
was dragging. the boat gave a great lurch
TO port. and under the test, the three
masts snapped one by one. The colored
cook was killed by the fall of yard and
fell into the sea. The others climbed onto
rude raft, which Dulach and his part
ner constructed. A Swede, who was by
Dulach, kept up the fight as long as he
could, and then dropped off. The mate
was washed away. Dulach and his part
ner supported the captain as long as they
could. and finally, when he fell over help
less into the water. they had to leave him
TO his fate. Dulach kept up the courage
OF his partner as long as he could. but
just before dawn he. too. fell into the
chilly water. When the lifeboat came in
sight Dulach was just able TO motion
them where 10 come