The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-01-26

LONG BRANCH, N. J., Jan. 25.-In
a heavy fog, with the wind in the
northeast and the surf running far up
the beach, few minutes after
o'clock this morning, the new Ameri-
can line steamship st. Paul, bound in,
went ashore in front Of the Grand
View house. All of seven hundred pas
sengers were today transferred to land
At no time We're the passengers in
danger.
Strenuous efforts 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 800 feet from the
shore, with her head pointing at an
acute angle west and toward the
shore.
1t has been a 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 eXcursionists as there was
today. North and south bound trains
deposited crowds Of curiosity mongers
at the Long Branch and East Long
Branch depots. The farmers for miles
around, with their wives and families
came
LIKE A HOTEL.
The objective point was East Long
Branch, where the big American liner
was hard aground, hundred yards
from Ocean Grove. There she lay,
washed by the merciless breakers.
looking like huge hotel in the surf,
with her ircn hull, nearly an eighth
of mile in length, embedded 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 evil
IDENTIFY no uneasiness felt by the pas
sengers or crew of the unlucky vessel.
Life Guardsman Joel +. Wiley. Of
lifeboat station No. 4. was the first
man to discover the st. Paul in her
dangerous position. While patrolling
his beat he saw signals of distress
flashing from a huge black mass,
which, through the thick fog, he made
out to 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 life boat house and
aroused Captain Mulligan and the rest
of the crew The life savers lost no
time, and in less time than it takes 20
tell it, the little mortar was loaded and
THE LIFE LINE SHOT
in the night. 1t fell athwaTt the bridge
of the ST. Paul and a moment later the
men on shore were aware of the fact.
They went to work with a will and
had ropes and guys soon in place. The
breeches buoy was then rugged up and
Captain Mulligan 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 everything was all right on board
and he came ashore again with some
messages for the international Naviga-
ton company, which owns the vessel,
and assurances from the prominent
passengers that they
FELT PERFECTLY SAFE
and had every confidence in the stabil-
ity of the shin. When Captain Multi
gan brought this assuring news
ashore a few hundred people had gath
cred on the beach.
When Mulligan returned he found
Captain West and his crew from life
saving station No. 3, Seabright, hard
at work The two crews combined and
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
nothing could be done until daylight,
the weather beaten life savers stood
around and talked of past experiences.
They all agreed that no vessel has ever
run in so close to the shore in their
memory. They talked of the wreck of
the French steamer LAmerique, which
ran aground off Seabright, about three
miles north of the present location of
the st. Paul. LAmerique met her
nishap in February, 1877, and she was
taken off two months later.
The steamer Ristland 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 IRA
waddy and Manitoba, which occurred
last November, off Asbury Park, which
is a little further south, down the Jer-
sew coast.
TELLS A STORY.
When Captain Wardwen of lifeboat
station No 3, which is located at West
End. or Tallahassee, arrived at East
Long Branch, he told a story which in
itself was almost as interesting as that
of the grounding of the st. Paul. He
said as he explained the reason for his
late arrival:
Look here, boys, you think this is
a bad job, but there came near being
another one which might have been
worse. About the same time that the
alarm was given No. 4, came out
with my crew and saw big vessel
right off our shore. 1 knew by her size
that she was a transatlantic steamer,
and as she was coming 'head-on' sent
up a red Coston light, which signalled
her of her danger. In reply she sent
up blue Coston light which signi-
fed that she understood 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. | knew she was
none other than the Cunarder Cam
pania. I am very positive that if it
had not been for our signals you