The herald., 1896-01-26
STEAMER ASHORE IN A FOG
The St. Paul BeaChed at Long
Branch
PASSENGERS ALL SAVED
But the Surf Still Pounds the Helpless
Vessel
The Life-savers, Helpless in the Heavy Surf,
Sit and Tell Tales of Other
Wrecks
PASSENGERS ALL SAVED

fog, with the wind in the northeast and the
surf running far up the beach, few min
utes after one o'clock this morning the new
American line steamship, st. Paul, bound
in, went ashore in front of the Grand View
house. All of the 700 passengers were to-
day ira nsferred to land. At no time were
the passengers in danger. Strenuous ef-
forts are being made to pull the st. Paul
from her dangerous position. She is in
twenty feet of water, just in the outside
edge of the breakers, about three hundred
feet from the shore, with her head pointing
at an acute angle west and toward the
shore.
1t has been day of excitement for the
people of Long Branch and vicinity. Never
before in the history of the town has there
been such a midwinter influx of excursion
lists there was today. North and south
bound trains deposited crowds of curiosity
mongers at the Long Branch and East Long
Branch dapots. The farmers for miles
around, with their wives and families,
came.
The objective point was East Long
Branch, where the big American liner was
hard aground, a hundred yards from Ocean
Grove. There she lay, washed by the
merciless breakers, looking like huge
an eighth of a mile in length, imbedded
deeply in the sandy beach. She lay so
close to the shore that the people on her
decks early in the day could be heard
speaking to each other very distinctly by
those on the beach. There was evidently
no uneasiness felt by the passengers or
crew of the unlucky vessel.
Lifeguardsman Wiley of Lifeboat Sta
ton No. was the first man TO discover the
st. Paul in her dangerous position. While
tress flashing from the huge black mass,
which, through the thick fog, he made ou t
10 be an ocean liner. She was close into
the shore, head on and she seemed to be
hard and fast on the beach, and the tide,
which was then about full, was unusually
high.
Wiley hastened to his lifeboat house and
aroused Captain Mulligan and the rest of
the crew. The life-savers lost no time,
and in less time than ittakes to tell it the
shot out in the. night. It. fell
athwart the bridge of the ST. Paul and
n moment later the men on the shore were
aware of the fact. They went to work
se y vii sBa bed buoy then rgead
up and Captain Muliigan got into it. He
was drawn aboard with only couple of
wettings and the passengers hailed him
with cheers as he was pulled over the side
of the ship. He was assured that every
thing was all right on board and he came
ashore again with some messages for the
International Navigation company, which
owns the vessel, and assurances from the
prominent passengers that they felt per-
fec'ly safe and had every confidence in the
stability of the ship.
When Captain Mulligan brought this as
suring news ashore few hundred people
had gathered on the beach.
When Mulligan returned he found Cap
tain West and his crew from life saving
station No. 3, Seabright, hard at work.
The two crews combined worked like Tro-
jams, but they could not launch the boats
in the face of the heavy breakers, which
threatened to swamp them at every at
tempt. Seeing nothing could be done I'M
til daylight the weather-beaten life-savers
stood around and talked of past expert
ences. They all agreed that no vessel has
ever run in SO close to shore in their MEM
ory. They talked of the wreck of the
French steamer L'Amer,1ue, which ran
aground off SeabrirL,, about three miles
north Of the present location of the St.
Paul.
The steamer Risland went to pieces off
West End, which is two miles south of this
spot, about twenty years ago. Other wrecks
of large steamers in this neighborhood
were those of the Irrawaddy and Mani
toba, which occurred last November off
Asbury. Park, which is a little further
south, down the Jersey coast.
When Captain Wardwell of Life Boat
Station No. 5. which is located at West
End, arrived at East Long Branch, he told
a story which in itself is almost as inter-
esting as that OF the grounding of the st.
Paul. He said, as he explained the
reasons 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 that the alarm was given
No. l came out with my crew ana saw o
big vessel right off our shore. I knew by
her size that she was transatlantic
steamer, and as she was coming ''head
OH" | sent up a red ''cotton light,' which
signaled her of her danger. In reply she
sent up a "blue cotton lght,' which signi-
fled that she understood our signals. She
was delayed about half an hour and l
think she must have been aground, judg-
ing from the position in which she was
lying. l knew she was none other than
the Cunarder Campania. [ am very posi-
tive that if it had not been for our signals
you would now have two of the fastest AZ
lantic steamers bow-on in this vicinity in
stead of one''
The breeches buoy on the St. Paul was
Kept busy bringing messages ashore from
the captain ana passengers. 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 making no water.''
The life boats went out early in the after
noon, but no person was allowed to go
aboard any of them except the crew. The
passengers promenaded the decks and
waved handkerchiefs in reply to the en-
couraglng cheers which were waited to
them. Shortly before noon a number of
tugs hove in sight, and by o'clock the ST.
Paul was surrounded by more than a
dozen small craft, including a revenue cut
ter and the Chapman Merritt wrecking
boats.
The lifeboats, after few trial trips from
the shore to the st. Paul, made arrange
ments 10 transfer mails and passengers to
some of the steam tugs which lay around,
and the mails were the first to be tackled.
After Uncle Sans correspondence had
been safely slowed away and headed for
New York the crews in command of Cap
tain Mu'ligan. West:and Wardwell. turned
their attention to the first and second
cabin passengers. Captain Jameson had
the big gangway lowered and stationed the
purser at the bottom. Then the first cabin
passs ngers began their exodus from
cramped quarters. Ittook twelve boat loads
TO exhaust the supply of first and
seconds. In the fourth boatload one lady
tainted after she had made the jump from