Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-09-07
SIxTEEN-TON GUNS LOOSE
Thrash Abouta Schooner Deck and Finally
Sink Her.
Battery of Four Gums for Tybee Is
land Go Down With Schooner
Agnes Grace.

A special to the New York Herald from
Savannah, Ga, dated September 6. says:
More like chapter from Victor Hugo's
"Ninety-three' than the tale of a sea vcy-
age in real life is the story told by Capt.
c. d. Farrar of the schooner Agnes 1. Grace
of Bangor, Me-, which was sunk by the
rolling of cannon intended for the Tybee
Notifications. in ten fathoms of water,
twenty miles off Tybee. on Sunday morning.
Captain Farrar and the crew of the Grace
arrived in the city this afternoon from
Warsaw Island, where they were taken in
and cared for after their thrilling expert
ence.
= I'VE had clear voyage down. said Cap
tain Farrar, land struck no weather until
Saturday afternoon, when it began to blow
heavily. The four siXteen-ton guns which
we were bringing down for the Tybee for
tif1cations were, as We thought, securely
fastened on deck-two on the starboard and
two on the port side of the ship-so she
was pretty well steadied. The chains
which held them, We thought, would with
stand almost any gale. SO l had no thought
of any difficulty from that source In the
hold was cargo of salt.
Guns Break Loose.
When we struck the gale Saturday we
took in all sail. and, scudding under bare
poles, made about six knots an hour.
Toward Sunday morning the wind died
down almost entirely, and though we had
all sails set it was impossible to keep out
of the trough of the sea, where We rolled
heavily We worked at her every way,
but it was no use; she continued to roll
and roll.
with all her rolling the mate and still
felt sure that the guns We're safe, and
scarcely gave them thought. l was
standing at the wheel with one of the men
while the mate. c. E. Lee, was on deck
other Sufll an
ly there was a heavy lurch of the ship
followed by crunching, grinding and
rumbiing noise, which / can hear yet and
almost before could look over the deck
house and onto the deck the four guns
We're broken away from their fastenngs
having torn their chains from the planks,
and were rolling about the deck seeming
to chase the men.
1T had all happened in less time that it
takes to tell it. The two guns on the wind
ward side rolled right between the mas $
TO the lee side, smashing the matches all
to pieces, but. strange to say. did not
break the masts, merely scratching them
Then the four guns rolled and settled at
the lee side toward the stern. breaking
the stanchiors and opening the waterways
Their Lucky Escape.
THE water began to pour into the vessel
through the leeward scuppers and l saw
at once were gone. My first thought
was 70: the safety of the men on deck 1
nave not yet Deen able to learn how they
all managed to get out of the way of those
tons of Steel and do not think they know
themselves. AT the first sound of the
crunchng, splinterng wood some of them
rushed forward and others aft and Just in
time to prevent beirg crushed to death
Neither they nor l had time to talk of or
even think of how they had managed to
save themselves, for the moment those
guns settled toward the stern and the
water began pouring in we could actually
see the vessel going down inch by inch
Il thought we would never get the ships
boat off the davits, and though it was
the work of a few minutes it seemed hours
AS We pushed off from the Grace the sea
was sHallowing her up, and the stern had
entirely disappeared from view. By hard
work we managed to get 10 Warsaw Island
are.
The Grace is now lying in about ten
fathoms of water, with about one third of
her masts showing. l have wired my own
ers, #. w. Aver & Co. of Bangor Me-,
but have not heard definitely from them
yet. Until ] do l cannot say what will
be done about her"
Where the Grace is now lying she is
right in the path of vessels coming INTO
Savannah, and consequently is dangerous
to navigation. 1t is believed the guns can
be saved, and there is no doubt that every
effort will be made to get them out. They
were four of the new S-inch disappearing
guns designed for the concrete coast forti-
hcations on the northern end of Tybee
which are just now nearing completion
and 1t was expected they would be put in
place within the next two or three months.