The Portland daily press., 1898-12-06
CAPT, cA4Ia's vi WIS.
Former Commander of the Portland TIA ks
of Her Loss.

Portland in 1895, in the summer of which
,etiye employment.
10 Boston Herald CORE pendent,
Captain Craig talked in most Interest,"
ing manner of the steamers loss He was
ZEN years in the employ of the Portland
cam Packet company. beginning as
S eond pilot on the fremont, serving in
Rat capacity three years, two years as
rss pilot and then was Eastar OF tina
BOAT five years In May, 1895, he was
tr nsierred to the Portland, and ran her
until serious illness compelled him to
tetire. in July of that year.
s'It must have been fearful storm, T"
sa d he, 'tand it is not to be wondered at
that the Portland could not weather it.
A man would have stood better show
ut there in five foot dory. In my
Mon, tne top works, from the guards
p, were carried away be- ore she had been
out in the storm three hours. She mus
have shipped tons and CONS of green seas.
whose force would have been sufficient to
/ AIRY aWay such material as composed
her upper works. Captain blanchard I'M
doubtenly kept her headed to the gale,
and heroically used his utmost endeayors
to make her ride out the storm. but when
once she went off into trough of the sea
there was nothing that could save her.
IT believe her hull lies of from that
oeach not more than three or four miles,
and that no more bodies will come ashore
till she breaks up. If she lies in ten or
twelve fathoms. as she must even if she
there is little probability of her breaking
up
s'Those bodies that came ashore must
have been washed out from the saloon.
Most of the others are in her hull. There
would be no possibility Of those in the
ladies' cabin getting out. The pilot house
was probably swept away by a mighty
sea, and Captain Blanchard and Quarter
masters Dyer and Nelson with it. Ths
fact that Dyer's body came ashore Lakei
shows that when he found there was no
other hope OF saving his life he peeled off
ever thing and plunged in, thinking he
might possibly keep af1oat till he could
he picked mp or drift ashore. If any man
on that boat could have saved himself,
Ansel Dyer could for he took to the water
as naturally as q dog and had gone
through several hard shipwrecks.
.sIf they can possibly locate the hull, 1t
may be that the bodies can be recovered
by divers, unless she is too far down. l
have known diver to work seventy feet
below the surface, though most of them
prefer not to go down SO far.
fCaptain Blanchard Of the Portland
was my first pilot when I was master of
the fremont A cooler man never knew
and doubt II there was his superior as
pilot on any boat that piles the Maine
coast. He was honest. faithful, fearless
have never seen, in all my seafaring ex-
perience, man who could run boat
netter in storm or calm. But when he
was pilot with me on the fremont he
never wanted to admit that the wealth
was bad He couldn't seem to ses bad
weather, and didn't like to talk about 1T.
Sometimes I would ask him if he did not
think it was blowing up storm or If the
prospect was not rather dubious, but he
would seldom admit it.
81 believe he did not realize the severity
of the threat ned storm when he put out
of Boston harbor that night. 1t Is
always harder to turn back than to
start, and it would be like him to keep
on his course after having put to sea. IL
is reported that the Portland was seen on
Thatcher's island that night. According
to her regular sailing time she would, IN
moderate weather. be due of Thatcher's
about TO- 80, but he had strong head
wind all the way out from Broad sound.
When the two storms met and he realized
the severity of the gale, it was too ate TO
turn back. To have attempted to heaye
too then would have been sure DEATH All
that was left for him TO do was to head
her O the wind and keep her on that
course.
III can herdly believe that Captain
Blanchard put to sea AGAINST orders-lm-
perative orders. Agent Williams was SUI
perior in command as long as the steamer
was tied up at her pier in Boston. and II
he gave explicit command that the steam
er should not sail Mt seven O'Clock, can
not see how Captain Blanchard could
have disobsyed.
But, If he had been given to understand
hat she would be likely TO go out at
nine O'Clock. or had construed the order
as meaning that he was to use his best
judgmen5 in the matter, then it is not
surprising that he started. It had not
then began to snow and he probably
thought he could beat out the storm
4 fter leaving the harbor, even though
the weather was tn eatening, he probably
thought he could make gloucester, II
necessary.
"If Mr.. Liscomb's order had been for
him to go, or that he had better try and
get through, Captain Blanchard and Mr..
Williams had INDUCED many debate
about. the matter, it would have been just
like Blanchard to put to sea, even If the
chances were In favor of her going GO the
bottom before she reached the castle. He
ha.ed to be dictated to in matters where
he considered himself responsible to
decide.
son general principles. I believe the
captain of the boat should be the one to
decide whether 1t is expedient to put to
sen. The government holds him re-
sponsible, not the company officials.
Captain Blanchard was, | know, of that
same opinion. / know, too, that there
was nnt the best of feeling between him