Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1897-01-25
DIE IN SIGHT OF LAND.
Nine Seamen Drop One by ono
from the Rigging Into the
Raging Sea.

New York, Jan. 21.-The three-masted
schooner Nahum Chaplin of Rockland,
Me-, coal laden from Baltimore for Bos
ton, went ashore near Quoge. l.. l., at an
early hour this morning and her entire
crew consisting of nine men, was lost III
sight Of hundreds of people who had
gathered on the beach. but were power
less to render assistance.
The vessel went ashore at 4:3O a. m.
At that hour there was a thick rain fall
ing, and while it was not foggy there
was a mist sufficient to make objects
very indistinct at a distance of 200
yards The wind was blowing from the
southeast at a velocity of about thirty
miles an hour and a surf was rolling upon
the beach The vessel pounded for over
two hours after she first struck and the
waves drove her gradually in shore and
she went to pieces, crumbllng before the
fury of the mighty waves as if she were
an eggshell.
About O'Clock Capt Charles Herman
of the Quoge lifesaving station. assisted
by his men, brought the apparatus from
the house to a point just opposite the
wrecked vessel, but when they shot out
their life line it was too late to be Of any
service.
The sailors who were in the rigging
dropped off one by one into the seething
water and soon after one OF the bodies,
that of a big swarthy Swede, was
washed ashore.
The life-saving crew worked mantuliy
Their first line fired from the mortar fell
across the yards, but slipped away over
the side and was lost. The second land
ed in the rigging. but the sailors were
unable to secure it and it was also lost.
The third attempt was also Intellectual
and then the crowd of villagers who
gathered on the beach saw the last Of
the men fall from the rigging and dis
appear in the surf. which at this time
was running unusually high.
The life-saving crew made an attempt
to launch life-boat but they were re-
pulsed each time by the breakers and
although the bystanders encouraged the
brave fellows in every way possible the
hardy men had to desist after struggling
half frenzied by the appalling sight Of
their fell0wbeings being drowned with
in such a short distance of the shore.
There were in all nine men seen on the
Inflated vessel. 1t was generally sur
missed that the first body washed III was
either that of the captain or first mate.
Three hours after she first struck the
schooner went 10 pieces. Up 70 noon.
when the fury of the waves had abated
somewhat no other bodies were sighted.
The principal owners of the schooner
were Peter Mcintyre & Co. of Boston.
Capt S. E. Arel, who commanded the
vessel. was a port owner. The crew Of
the schooner. nine in number, were shipped
in Boston last November. The names
follow: S. e. Arel, aptain-Malden,
Mass; A. e. Davis, first Maiden,
Mass; L. A. Maddox, second mate
Cambridge, Mass; Seamen-John
Neiber, Albert Lowe, Il. O. Anderson,
Victor Strachen, Oscar Oscar, Antonio
Aucyanich. The residences Of the latter
are not known.
The cargo was valued at $340O; the
schooner at $4,000. Both were partially
insured The Maximum Chaplin was u
three masted schooner built at Rockland,
Me-, in 1882. She registered 567 tons
and was 145 feet long, 30 feet beam and
1872 feet deep.