The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-07
THE STORY OF THE WRECK.
CAPT. FARRAR TELLS OF THE
SINKING OF THE SCHOONER
AGNES 1. GRACE.

The 16-TOn Guns, Which Was Being
Brought Down For the Tybee For
tiRcations burst Their Lashings
in the Gale and Rolled AbOut the
Deck. EndangerinG the Lives of
the Men-Their Escape Unhurt Al
most MircauIOus-The Vessel May
BE Raised and the Guns Saved.
Capt c. D. Farrar and crew. of the III
fated schooner Agnes 1. Grace, of Bangor,
Me-, which was sunk by the rolling of
cannon in ten fathoms of water twenty
miles on Tybee yesterday morning, ar
rived in the city this afternoon from War
saw Island, where he and the seven men,
bers of his crew were taken in and cared
for after their thrilling experience. They
came to the city on the tug Regis, which
was returning from Wolf Island with a
party of hunters.
Capt. Farrar tells thrilling story Of
the schooner's loss and the narrow escape
of himself and his men, which was little
short of miraculous, and it seems marvel
GUS how, after saving themselves from
the rolling guns, they were able while the
boat was rapidly sinking. to man the life
boat and get away.
1--WE had a clear voyage down." said
Capt. Farrer, land struck no severe
weather until Saturday night, when off
Tybee, it began to blow heavily. The four
siXteen-ton guns, which we were bring
ing down for the Tybee Notifications,
were as we thought securely fastened
two on the starboard, and two on port
side of the ship so she was pretty well
steadied. The chains which held them
we thought would withstand almost any
gale, so had no thought of any difficulty
from that source.
When we struck the gale Saturday
night we took In all sail, and scudding I'M
der bare poles, made about six knots an
hour. Toward Sunday morning the wind
died down almost entirely and, though we
had all sails set 1t was impossible to keen
our 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 the guns were safe and
scarcely gave them a thought l was
standing at the wheel with one Of the men
While the mate, c.. A. Lee, was on deck
with the other men giving orders Sud
denly there was heavy lurch of the ship,
followed by a crunching, grinding and
rumbling noise and almost before | could
look over the house and onto the deck the
four guns were broken away from their
lasteninGs, having torn their chains from
the planks, and were rolling about the
deck 1t had all happened in less time
than it takes to tell it. The two guns on
q gyif a lesifla 1
masts TO the lee side, MASKING the matches,
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 stanch-
ions and opening the waterways. The wa
ter began to pour into the vessel through
the leeWard scuppers, and / saw at once
that the vessel would soon sink
My first thought was for the safety Of
the men on deck. l have not yet been
able TO learn how they all managed to get
out of the way of those tons of steel alive
and l do not think they know themselves
At the first sound of the crunching splin--
tering wood some of them rushed forward
and others aft, and just in time to prevent
being crushed to death. Neither they nor
l had time TO talk of or even think of how
they had managed 10 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. l thought we would never
get the ships boat off the davits. and
though it was the work of a few minutes
II seemed hours. AS we pushed off from
the Grace the sea was swallowing her up
and the stern had entirely disappeared
from view. BY hard work we managed
TO get to Warsaw island, where We were
looked out for, and here we are.
The Grace IS now lying in about ten
fathoms of water, with about one-third of
her masts showing. l have wired my
owners f. w. Aver & Co. of Bangor Me-
but have not yet heard definitely from
them. Until do l cannot say what will
be done about her"
The captain and crew of the Grace had
evidently had a hard time of it. With
siXteen-ton guns breaking loose and roll
ing about the deck they had to step lively
TO save themselves, and as il was several
members of the crew came out with bad
scratches and bruises. They all agree
that they do not want such another expe-
rience.
w here the Grace is now lying she is
right in the path of coastwise vessels, con-
sequently is dangerous to naViga ton 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 eight-inch disappearing guns de-
signed for the concrete coast Notifications
| on the northern emo of Tybee, which are
just now nearing completion and il was
expected they would be put in place with
in the next two or three months
The members of the crew who went
through with this narrowing experience
are C. A. Lee of Galveston, mate: Lars
Borgsnas, second mate, Brooklyn, N. Y;
Albert Petersen and Fred Gilbert of Swe-
den; Christian Nielsen, Denmark; j. Han
sen. Norway; and w. II. Furbert, New
York
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