New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-12-01
LOSS OF THE PORTLAND.
SWEPT BY THE STORM FROM CAPE ANN
TO CAPE COD.
RELIEVED TO HAVE FOUNDERED INSTEAD o.
OF THE RoDIEs BROUGHT IN BY THE

wAVEs-NO TRACE OF SURVIVOR
Provincetown. Mass. Nov 30-The exact
,umber of persons who carried away from
Boston by the steamer Portland will probably
never be known. no list of passengers was
retained on shore when the vessel sailed on
Saturday. Many estimates Of the numper Oh
board nave been made, but the estimates nave
seldom agreed. c. f. Williams Boston agent
Of the Portland Steamship Company. who ar
rived here on the tug William II. Smith last
night places the total number Of persons on the
steamer al 100 or possibly lOb This esuha'e'
however. is generally regarded as rather small
II has been stated that the number was as hleh
as 100 bu; Mr.. Williams denies that so man!
sailed on the Portland Ii is probable that l-o'
including passengers and crew. is near the cor
rect number.
Nearly every sea captain and mariner on Cape
COD. when lsked for opinion. states that
every one on board was undoubtedly lost one
feature Of the disaster Is the absence of any
FRAGMENTS Of a nfebOat or liferaft among the
varied mass Of wreckage from the Portland,
which has heeu washed ashore in the last three
davs along the beach from High Head station
n chatham IN t. late hour to-day no one
had reported finding any Of the Portlands
hoats Several pieces of white-pain,ed oars
were picked up a, various points one theory IS
that the boats and lifcrafts We're carried far
ont 70 sea and were not blown anywhere near
the coast
The place and the exact manner in which the
PORTLAND was swept TO destruction have fur
uished an unusually interesting topic Of discus
e,on IN marine circles here. Old mariners say
they cannot understand why the steamer. which
was sighted about o'clock Saturday night. just
before the gal set in in It's full force between
Thatcher's Island and Eastern Point. Cane Ann.
bv the schooner Maude s. did not put into
Gloucester Harbor when it was apparent from
the fall of the barometer that violent north
easter was approaching. When tie steamer
was sighted off Cape Ann she was making good
progress toward Portland but the weather was
fast becoming rough ard. as the captain Of the
Maude s said it was plain to see that serious
storm was impending Why the Portland ever
left Boston at ali Saturday night Is what ouz-
yies mariners on Cape Cod.
WHERE THE VESSEL WAS LAST SEEN
II was off Thatcher's Island that the Portland
was last reported before she went TO her doom
There are many theories offered in explanation
OF how the vessel reached a point near the tip
end of Cape Cod. Although the exact location
Of where she went to pieces will IN all probabll-
~ never he known. IT is generally believed here
or possibly fifteen miles north Of Peaked Hill
Bars. which would be from forty-hve TO fifty
miles from where she sighted by the
Naude 6 The tremendous seas which she must
have encountered off Cape Ann undoubtedly
damaged her and when Captain Blanchard saw
thai he could proceed no further eastward II
IS thought that he resolved to make for the open
sea to avoid the dangers along the coast.
The time that the Portland was lest was
placed at from to 10 o'clock Sunday forenoon
The watches found on the bodies washed ashore
had nearly all stopped between these hours
The wreck could not have occurred between
those hours Saturday night. in the judgment or
all competent authorities. as In that case the
vreckage would have been washed ashore at
noints in Massachusetts, Bay. Furthermore. the
force of the storm at 10 o'clock Saturday night
was not sufficiently heavy 10 cause the vessel to
founder.
When the wreck was at first reported II was
thought the boat had possibly struck on 'he
terrible Peaked Hill Bars. which are known
emong mariners everywhere as the graveyard
=. The Eew-EnrIand coast" This theory
quickly disprove1 however. by carefui IN
vestieauon. In the first place. the patrol at the
Peaked Hill Bars life-saving station were on
the alert throughout the great storm and the
d,ca,e that steamer had been dashed to pieces
on the shoals The fierce gale caused such
tremendous tide that vessel of the Portland's
aro,,cb, would have passed over the Bars in
sa<e,v and run ashore on the beach. In fact, a
,arge schooner in distress. drawing more water
,bar the Portland passed over the most shall
low mart NJ the Bars. and did not ground OF
them but brought up on the beach
PROBABLY WENT TO THE BOTTOM.
another incident that tends TO place the time
of the wreck on sunday morning was reported
Nv tho crew of the Race Point hfe-saNlhs s'a-
ton Race Poli forms the TIP OF 'ape 'ou'
The Ufe-saving crew there IN the helEn' Oh uhe
driving storm heard four sharp whistles rom d
steamer which was recognized az ua"e'' oe
nal The signal was heard at a"o"' ''1'
o.c,ock and ,se crew hastily manned the boats
70 give assistance II possible. = 'e'i '''
most ,,.ae raginp and II was so thick that IT was
imuossfblo to SEQ any distance on shore' he
crow. could find no steamer and the blasts OF a
-. 49, hoord only once. The men are
,osi.i,e that they heard a steamer WHSLE ana
-, g ,ho orinion that it came from the
,,.-,,o,1 como time before ste foundcred Tor IL
e generally believed she went 70 the po''o'h'
.,,,d ,.ss NOT wrecked by going on shore.
r,o o,,i,ion is also general here that the poat
,,.os c,aduailv battered TO pieces by the noun
,ot,o,,s so,s the upper fittings being cafr'ea
away until the water began TO pour 'i,'o 'I''.
The fac, tha. her wheel was found WIN ropvS
attached on the Orleans shore Is taken 10 '''u'
co,e that the pilots were poweriess 10 oon.'o'
,ba vessels course in the bay and 'na' ,"0y
were Obliged to lash the wheel "heh '''e nun
went under the upper deck ana '''''neS' e''e
broad work etc. probably hoateo On
The FIRST indication that the 'eSsei ""'
lost was found in the discovery u
which began 10 come ashore cary o'
morning. I1irst the coast gnafo ca'ie ".,
couple Of life-preservers inaiheu hdrs NV the
foIre Of the sea. and soon after irasnsm. %
4'l'I - - IIlh The tOnIdBc