The Portland daily press., 1898-12-01

o,ite a number of vessels at anchor.
some of them had broken spars .all looked
as il they had been having hard time
of II Int the scene 10 the harbor was
aotusliy appalling Piled up on the flats
wera seyen or eight sohooneIs They
were piled high up on the betca and some
of them were mere hHlks. ahe harbor
of prnyincetown was literally strewn
with wreckage OF all descriptions. The
wharyes along shore were battered to
piecss. Every wharf IN the place. but
one were ruined. Buildings on these
wharves hal been blown down ana one
or two schooners had actually been car
ried right UP into ProvincetoWn. IL was
a dreadful scene Of disaster on every name.
The Woodbury. dropped her anchor anu
Immediately was surrounded by crowa
Of boats filed with Portuguese fishermen.
They told us the news in broken Engilsn.
They said that wreckage from steamer
had been coming ashore all day Monday
and all Tuesday forenoon. This wreckage
showed that the
STEAMER WAS THE PORTLAND.
Five bodies had been recovered at this
time, The men in the dories about the
Woodbury. didn't knowsmuch more about
thesPor tland's wreck than this.
But they told Captain bennett other
thugs which almost made the blood run
cold. Sohooners in Provincetown harbor
had been wrscked within stones throw
of the wharvss. On one schooner five or
six men had been frozen to death Sunday
morning right in sight of their homes on
the shore and had been seen by their
friends and relatives to drop into the
seething waters of the hnrbor one by one
The efforts to rescue these men had been
futile. Volunteer crews had tried to
rescue them and had been driven back to
the beach. Boat after boat was smashed
in these attempts. A seine boat manned
by brave Provincetoun citizens had put
out into the harbor to try and take some
men off the rigging of schooner. They
worked three hours and at last anchored
and dropped down upon her. By the
time they got to her there was only one
man left in the rigging and he was near,
ly dead. They got him out however, and
pulled ashore.
The life saving men had fought and
struggled against the terrific wind and
storm of sleet and sand for hours to
rescue some of these men but in vain.
They did rescue a few but only O very
small number of those whose vessels came
upon the beach
Captain Fisher and his men of Race
Point station had tried to launch life
boat. The wind took it right off the
wagon on which they we're hauling it and
blew it over and over along the beach.
These men worked like fends. The sand
cut their faces until they were raw and
bleeding. The cold was intense, but these
heroic life savers fought for the lives they
could not save like brave men they ara.
These things happened right in Province
town harbor. 1t was almost beyond be-
lief The Woodbury. now lay at anchor in
the still waters while the evening sun
sank lower and lower, giving tinge OF
blood TO the pools on the flats where the
scnooners wrecked in the gale vera heaped
together. These tales were sickening and
painful to listen to, We were there for the
Portland and couih not but shudder at
the
TERRIFIC TALES
of this horrible storm.
Captain bennett got out boat and
took the reporter ashore. accomp snying
him himself. The wharf where we landsd
was new one, but schooner had
ploughed her way right through the
middle of it and it was in ruins. A crew
of workmen were repairing it when the
Woodbury's boat came alongside. The re-
porter and Captain Dennett were Obliged
to walk over temporary bridge Between
get ashore. This was the only landing
place in the city. The others were
wrecked.
A tow boat came into the dock just AZ
the Woodbury's boat landed 1t contained
mir. Williams of the Portland Steam
Packet company from Boston, ant
brought down a lot Of papers. Before
this the steamer IIongfellow had gone w
to Boston arriving there just at noon
She gave the first news to the world o
the wreck of this Portland steamer
new spaper tow boat from Boston cam,
down to the town, dropped reporter OF
the beach, who picked up few facts ant
hurried back to Boston. Then came Other
newspaper tugs, but they didn't get intc
Proyincetown until after dark.
The PRESS reporter hurried up into
the town and along the one struggling
street which was filed with exotic.
people. He visited the undertaking shol
of T. S. Taylor first, and there saw tw,
bodies described elsewhere in this paper
Then he got team and started for tn
back side of the cape, three miles away
across the sand 1t WAS a long tediou
ride. The horses had all the could do t.
drag the carriage through the sand heaps
which came up to the hubs. After eoinl
HgsYSXsY 4 4 III E:;Y