The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1898-12-02
NOIE SAVED
OfPassengers and Crew
Of the Portland.
Steamer Butfeted to Pieces
on Cape Cod Shore.
Struck Some Time Sunday In
Height Of the Gale.

IISHldHu LlSnI, MASS, NOV. 0O.-
Steamer Portland of the Boston and
Portland line has been lost on Cape Cod
with all on board.
No one will probably ever tell of the
experience of the steamer after she
bowled past Boston light, for, so far
as known, there are no survivors. She
was last sighted off Thatcher's light Just
after o'clock by the schooner Maud S.
She was then all right, and was holding
her course. The storm then was filling
the air with snow and the wind was
gathering fresh fury with every blow.
Still, it was as a whiff 10 a whirlwind
as compared with the gale that burst all
round after midnight.
Captain H. II. Blanchard of the Port
land was one of the veteran pilots of the
New England coast and mis- very con-
fidence in his own ability led him to
tempt the fortunes of a night at sea
that gave indications of heavy winds
and binding snow. General Manager
LiscOmb was uneasy over the weather
indications and cOunselled the captain
not to make the trip but to the "old sea
dog the gathering clouds had no terror
and so the Portland went to sea.
The Portland was heavily laden. She
had a general cargo of all kinds of
merchandise, and in the warmth of her
cabin were gathered some so passengers.
The exact number is not now known.
The list lies somewhere along the sand
snares of the cape. There were SO Off
GERS and crew manning the steamer.
They are all gone, after battling all night
long with tempestuous seas that finally
succeeded in battering their craft to
Tieces.
Brave wreckers who patrol the sand
dunes and treacherouS beaches have been
busy since Sunday afternoon in the sor-
rowful duty of caring for bodies hurled
ashore by the breakers. They had gath
cred "a of these terrible reminders Of the
death-dealing storm up to a late hour
yesterday afternoon. They were also
busy in saving from the sea portions of
the $25O,0OO worth of cargo that came
within their reach.
The harbOr of the town, felt to be
one of the best on the New England
coast, had been robbed Of it's safety.
and where but a few hours before had
ridden laden sChoOners, now were dis
mantIed and sunken hulks. But there
had been but little loss of life, and the
news of the sinking of the Portland gave
a gloomy completeness to the stories Of
20 wrecks already reported.
How the Portland came to be in a
position to go ashore where she did, en-
gagged the attention of the captains and
seamen who dwell along the cape. The
gale. which at times reached a velocity
of IS miles an hour was blowing from
the northeast. 1t is cOnjectured by
them that Captain Blanchard, encOun-
tering the force of this gale after he
passed Thacher's, thought to ease his
vessel by heading off shore in an. east
northesaterly direction.
In favorable conditions his course
would have been directly northeast.
This course Saturday night would have
been right in the teeth of the gale. With
such a steamer as the Portland, setting
as she did so high above the water an(
with side wheels to make her way, this
became an impOssibility, and no captain
would more quickly realize these con-
ditions than Captain Blanchard. He
decided to do what they say they would
do, that is, seek the open sea and try to
weather the storm
From 9 o'clock until possibly about II
o'clock the steamer was able to make
some headway on her new course.
Then the storm became so powerful
that the Portland could not make head
way, and began to drift rapidly TO the
leeward until the early hours of the
morning, when the gale was at its height
and forced her, with her engines work
ing fully, astern and to leeward, until
she struck on the sand bars off Cape Cod
on Sunday morning at 10 o'clock.
The Portland was by this time natu-
rally pretty well strained and battered,
and could not, therefore, present any, or
but little, resistance to the terrific
grounding of the waves, which were
running mountain high and with un-
precedented velocity.
The sand bar furnished a good founda-
ton upon which she probably crushed
like an egg shell, and was Immediately
broken up.
The old sea veterans hold that the
steamer was we'll torn long before she
struck the sand. So long as she was
able TO keep into the face of the wind
she probably suffered little, but as soon
as the gale commenced to drive the
struggling craft backward. and the cap