The herald., 1898-12-01
WE'RE ALL LOST IN SUNDAYS
AWFUL STORM
THE POOR SOLACE OF BURIAL
Denied to Grief Stricken Friends Who
Search in Vain for Bodies Of
the Dead
Associated Press Special Wire

PROVINCETOWN,M Mass, Nov. 30.-The
steamship Portland, plying between Boston
and Portland, was swallowed by the sea In
last Sundays storm off Highead.
OF all the ships companYof over l0O souls,
not one survived, and the story OF the disas-
ter will never be told. Sixteen bodies have
come ashore, and it is not likely that many
more will be recovered.
The crew of the Race Point life-saving
station, which is located at the tip OF Cape
Cod, report that on Sunday morning, during
the height OF the storm, they heard iour
sharp whistles from steamer, which were
recognized as danger signal. The signal
was heard at about 1:45 o'clock, and the
crew hastily manned the boats, to give as
sistance if possible. The weather was so
thick that it was impossible to see any dis
tance off shore. The crew could locate no
steamer, and the blasts of a whistle were
heard only once. The men are now OF the
opinion that they came from the Portland
some time before she foundered for it is
generally believed that she went to the bot
tom and was not wrecked by going on
shore.
The opinion is also general here that the
boat was gradually battered to pieces by the
mountainous seas, the upper fittings being
carried away until the water began to pour
into her. The fact that her wheel was
found, with ropes attached, on the Orleans
shore is taken to indicate that the pilots
were powerless to control the vessels course
in the bay and that they were obliged to
lash the wheel.
The absence of any large sections OF wreck
age from the Portland on the coast is ac-
counted for by the theory that the hull it.
self went to the bottom. The largest piece
of wreckage reported up TO sunset was
piece about 30 feet long. Before the i'll
fated steamer took her final plunge, the pas
snegers and crew, it would seem, adopted all
means at their command to save their lives,
as is shown by the large number OF life pre-
servers and belts found among the first por-
tions of the wreckage.
The first body from the wreck came ashore
at High Head, which is few miles further
down the outer coast of the cape from the
Peaked Hill station. The next bodies found
were picked up at points further south on
the same day, and the life preservers, wood
work, two or three pieces of baggage, lard,
tobacco paper and other stuff from the car
go began to pile up on the shore south of
High Head. Little wreckage was found
uOl I'll Vi tldt pOluJ L uc SWlll uuuCItOW OH
shore carried an immense amount of debris
and many bodies south as far as Mononomoy
beach and Nantucket sound The northern
limit indicates that the wreck was near
High Head.
Large numbers Of volunteers, including
several persons who had friends or relatives
on boar the steamer, assisted the surf men
in patrolinst the beaches. From the tip end
of Cape Cod to MononomJy there are ten
government lfe-saving stations, and all the
crews have been on duty almost constantly
since last Saturday evening, when the great
blow set in.
On Monday and yesterday several bodies
were sighted in the surf some distance from
Shore but they disappeared from view be-
fore they could be secured.
The body of a man at an undertaking room
here is supposed to be that of William
Mosher, business man of Gorham, Me-
A body believed to be that of John Wal
ton, second engineer of the Portland, came
ashore off Nauset yesterday.