The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1899-02-22
TWO Coast Steamers Wrecked
on Our Shores Last Week.
OWNED BY SAME COMPANY.
Great Suffering km:ng the Ship
wrecked Crews, Many Of
Whom Were Terribly
Frost Bitten.

company Iiae retween Baltimore and
Savannah, is a total wreck on Hilton
Head Island, S. c., nearthe Port Royal
bar. She went ashore there Saturday
morning while in a helpless condition
from storm damages. The crew stood
by her for nearly twentyfour hours.
When the ship beganto break up, Capt.
Willis gave orders to take to the boats.
The sea was running very high, 2 gale
was blowing, and it was bitterly cold.
The captain vas the last man to leave
the ship, and it is said that he chose
the poorest of the boats. Boat No. l,
in charge Of Second Assistant Engineer
Morrissett, with seven men, made
Paris island, where the government
naval station is situated, on Sunday
morning. From that point telephone
message was sent to Port Royal aud a
telegram to the Savannah agent, report,
ing the loss of the ship.
Boat No. ,, ii charge Of Second or
6cer Il. 4. Beale, contained beside
Beale, Chief Engineer Roach, Steward
Frank Dirgle, First Cook Harry Kelly,
Quartesmaster Oscar Bowler and Sea-
men Jack Montgomery and Charles l..
Green. These underwent a most ter
rible experience. They found 1t I'M
possible to make land, and as darkness
fell on Sunday night the cold became
more and more intense. They were be-
numbed, wet, hungry ana exhausted.
The freezing spray was driven almost
through them by the piping wind. By
lucky accident they located the sea
buoy of the Port Royal bar, and by al
most superhuuan effort managed to
catch on to it. They made fast to the
buoy where they spent the hight, and
where they were found Monday morn.
ing by pilot boat No , Of Port Royal
and taken aboard.
Boats No. 3, under First Mate Lee
Hooper, and No. +, under Capt. Willis,
are still missing with fourteen men. In
Hooper's boat is First Engineer /. +.
Harper, and in the captains boat is
Ouartermaster Assistant Andrew
Burgess. The names ofthe others can
not be ascertained. Agent Carolan, at
Savannah, under orders from President
jenkins, Of the Merchants and Miners
company at Baltimore sent the tugs
Cynthia and McCauley to the scene OF
the wreck. The Cynthia returned late
Wednesday and reported that the Law
renee is broken in two and that nothing
could be seen or heard from the two
missing boats
The passenger steamer Clifton We'd
nesday morning en- route TO Savannah
from Beaufort, was hailed by pilot boat
No. 2, having on board the rescued
crew Of Beale's boat. They were trans
ferred to the Clifton and brought to
Savannah. The men were in pitiable
condition. Chief Engineer Roach,
Steward Dingle and Second Officer
Beale had their feet and legs frozen
stiff, and their hands were frostbitten.
The three were taken to u hospital IN
carriages, and the report is that each
may lose one or both feet. The other
men were frostbitten on both hands
and feet, but not so badly as the three
mentioned. No connected story could
be gotten from either Of them on az
count of their suffering. 1t appears,
however, that Sailor Green was the
hero Of the terrible night, Some Of the
men, crazed with cpld aud ain, wished
to commit suicide. But Green told SO
MANY funny stories, sang so many
cheerful songs and could see so many
lighthouses or approaching vessels
which did not exist, that the spirits OF
the men were kept up and none Of them
Jumped overheard 10 end his misery.
Green and his sailor companions, in
Guiding the crew Of Mo1rissett's boat,
are now being cared for in one Of the
best hotels Of the city.
Agent Carolan left Savannah early
Thursday morning on the tug Cynthia
to renew the search for Capt. Willis ano
Mate Hooper aud their boats. 1t Is
possible that they may have escaped to
one of the sea islands. Telegraphic
and telephone wires have been down
since early Sunday morning. making
communication very slow or cutting it
of entirely The whole coast, north
and south Of the scene Of the wreck.
will be explored. The wreck lies
within few miles of the spot at which
the passenger steam ship City Of Savan-
uah was wrecked in the West India
hurricane of 1893.
RESCUED AT LAST.
Every member of the crew Of the
wrecked steamship VIM. Lawrence was
saved, but only after the greater num-
her of them had suffered terrible hard
ships. The tugs Cambria and Cynthia
arrived at Savannah Thursday from the
sea islands OF South Carolina bringing
with them Capt. \. L. Willis and l3
men, constituting those who had been
missing since Sunday morning, when
the ship was abandoned in the breakers
off Port Royal bar. The tugs, with
Agent Carolan on board the Cambria,
left the city at daybreak this morning
and searched every island and inlet
northward until the castaways were
found. At 9 o'clock the party were
discovered on Hunting island and taken
ca board the Cambria
Capt. Willis and his men suffered
but little less than the crew Of Mate
Beales boat, VII ch had tied up at the
SEA buoy, as told in last nights dis
patches. They left the ship at 9 o'clock
on Sunday morning. After y hours at
sea in binding, freezing gale,
the two boats under the captain and
the first officer made land on Cap
ers island, desolate and bare little
sand pit. In Bleaching both Of the boats
were smashed and the men were thrown
into the surf. Though almost exhausted
and numb they managed to scramble
beyond the reach Of the waves. What
little brackish drinking water they had
was lost together with the biscuits, long