St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-01-26
FAST ON THE BEACH.

AL YIN he bEaOI1,
and the tide was thel about full, was
unusually high. Wiley realized that
something extraordinary had happened
and he fastened to his life-boat house
and aroused Capt. Mulligan and the
life-savers lost No time in repairing
to the scene, and in less time than it
takes to tell it. the little mortar was
loaded and a lifeline shot out into
the night. 1t fell athwart the bridge
OF the st. Paul, and moment later
the men on shore were aware of the
TACT They went to work with a will
and had ropes and guys soon in place.
The "breeches buoy was then rugged
up, and Capt. Mulligan got into it, He
was drawn aboard with only a couple
of wettings, and the passengers hailed
him with cheers as he was pulled
over the side of the ship. He was as
sured that everything was all right on
board, and he came ashore again with
some messages for the Information
Navigation company which owns the
vessel. and assurances from the pas
sengers that they felt perfectly safe
and had every confidence in the stabil-
ity of the ship. When Capt. Mulligan
brought this assuring news ashore, a
few hundred people had gathered on
the beach.
As coincidence, it may here be stated
that the steamer Ristland, which went
to pieces off West End, which is two
miles south Of this spot, about twenty
years ago, went ashore off Mr.. Hend-
ricks' fathers property. The st. Paul
is beached off the property of Mr..
Hendricks son, Mortimer Hendricks,
which is at the extreme east of Ocean
avenue.
When Mulligan returned he found
Capt. West and his crew from Life
Saving Station No. 8, Seabright, hard
at work. The two crews combined
worked like Trojans, but they
COULD NOT LAUNCH THE BOATS
in the face of the heavy breakers
which threatened to swamp them at
every attempt. Seeing that nothing
could be done until daylight, the wealth
er-beaten lifesavers stood around and
talked Of past experiences. They all
agreed that no vessel had ever run so
close to shore in their memory. They
talked Of the wreck of the French
steamer FAmerique, which ran aground
in February, 1877, and was taken off
two months later, about three miles
north of the present location of the
st. Paul the other wrecks of large
steamers in this neighborhood were
those of the Irrawaddy and Manitoba,
which occurred last November off AS
bury park, little further south.
When Capt. Wardwell, of Life Boat
Station No. 5, Which is located at
West End, arrived, he told a story
which in itself was almost as interest
I, &C of he limo of t1A
st. Paul. He said as he explained the
reason for his late arrival: Look here,
boys, you think this Is bad job, but
there came near being another one
which might have been worse. About
the same time the alarm was given to
No. 4, | came out with my crew and
saw a big vessel right off our shore
knew by her size that she was a Trans
Atlantic steamer, and as she was
coming head on [ sent UP red Cos
ton light, which signalled her off from
her danger
In reply she sent up a blue Coston
light which signified that she under
stood our signal. She was delayed
about half an hour and 1 think she
must have been aground judging from
the position in which she was lying
1 knew that she was none other than
the Cunarder Campania. l am very
positive that if it had not been for our
signals that you would now have two
of the fastest Atlantic steamers bow
on in this vicinity instead of one
The brooches buoy on the st. Paul
was kept busy bringing messages
ashore from the captain and passen-
gers. The contents of only one of
these messages was made public and
that was an assurance from Captain
Jameson. 1t read: 1.-The ship is fast;
all safe and not making water
TO THE RESCUE.
The life boats went out early in the fore
noon, but no person was allowed to go aboard
any of them except the crews The passen-
gers promenaded the decks and waved hand
kerchiefs in reply to the encouraging cheers
which were waited to them. Shortly before
noon number of tugs hove In sight and by
l o'clock the st. Paul was surrounded by
more than dozen small steam craft, includ-
ing revenue cutter, the Chapman, and the
Merritt wrecking boats. The Iife-boats, after
few trial trips from the shore to the St
Paul, made arrangements to transfer the mails
and passengers to some Of the steam tugs
which lay around, and the mails were the
first TO be tackled. After Uncle Sans cor
respondence had been safely slowed away and
headed for New York, the crews in command
of Capt. Mullgan, West and Waslwell turned
their attention to the first and second cabin
passengers.
Capt Jameson had the big gangway low
cred and stationed the purser of the landing
at the DOIUOH. 1nen the nrSt cabin DaSSeQ-
gers began their exodus from cramped quar-
tors. 1t took just twelve boat loads to ex-
haust the supply Of first and seconds. In the
fourth boat load enc lady tainted after she
had made the jump from the little platform
to the boat They were all transferred to the
sidewheeler George Starr, which left at 345
o'clock for New York. good deal of bag
gage was sent after them, and it was the gen
eral impression that the steerage passengers
would not be taken off, the wrecking com
panies intended to make an effort to pull the
st. Paul off during the afternoon. This was
found to be impractcable and the boats hast
ened to take off the Storage people, All the
passengers were taken off the steamer before
40. No attempt was made to haul the St.
Paul off up to II o'clock tonight, but the
wrecking company will probably make an
effort at high tide between 3 and in the
morning. Capts. West and Muligan said this
evening that everything quiet and orderly
on board, and that Capt. Jameson blamed the
man who was throwing the lead for the mis-
hap, as he claims the man called out seven
teen fathoms Immediately before the ship
grounded.
At midnight the vessel was lying practically
parallel to the beach, with her bow headipe
south.
Messrs. Chapman and Merritt, representing
the wrecking companies, are on board the St
Paul, comforting as to the expense and prob
abilities of getting her off, and late tonight
Capt Wardwell, of the West end life-saving
station, said he was pretty sure that the
steamer would remain in her present posi-
tion ior many Gays TO come AS long the
wind is off shore" said he. ''she is all right.
but If a gale strikes her in the opposite direc,
tlon have grave fears that she will succumb
to its influence like other iron ships"
At o'clock the St. Paul was lying in the
same position, and the gentle breeze which
was blowing due north did not affect the
ship The breakers are still high
captains OF the life-saving stations report
capt. Jameson as authority for the state
ment that the St Paul was going at the rate
OF three knots an hour when she struck.