Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1899-09-09
TH B q WN STORY
The Fore Boom'ss D cath ance ii;
the Storm. 81, 's
captain Smith and Disable d crew
Fnce tho lInrricnno Three sAwrnl
Days Bnrted at Two CrIppiesI
Hospital.

Yesterday the schooner Daniel
Brown, Captain Smith; arrived from
Boston, copper ore laden, to discharge
cargo and load, and for the first time
the full story of her fierce fight with
the great storm became known, to-
gether with the fatalities attending it.
The story is stirring one, and worth
telling: sis
The schooner Daniel Brown left New,
York, light August 18th, for the Ches-
apeake. She made fair sailing until
near Chincoteague, when the heavy and
increasing southeasterly swell warned
her captain of the approaching hurri-
cane. The wind was e. n. e., and rap
idly increasing to gale. Everything
was made snug and the vessel put UNI
der double reefed foresail, jib and jib-
topsail, and her course made more 10
eastward. BY the time she was OFT
Metomkin the captain saw it was i'm
possible to run out Of the storm, so
both anchors were dropped and plenty
OF chain given, the Hedge anchor got
ten out with about a hundred fathoms
OF hawser and the vessel brought up
ipto the wind to lower sail. The jib
and top-sail were gotten in all right,
but In lowering the fore-sail the top-lift
:,
dropping on the rail and from there to
the deck, swinging from side to side
of the deck with the answering roll of
the vessel to the giant waves that were
then rushing in from the southeast.
When the vessel had been hove up Into
tho wind the captain had warned the
crew, and all hands had taken refuge
in the fore-rigging from the seas that
swept the decks, but to lower the fore
ca hnu Io6 foIr hot, fnr, 1o1
stations. The breaking loose OF the
top-lift disconnected them. however,
and when the boom dropped inboard IL
caught one of the men, cutting off the
big toe from one foot as though a
chisel had struck 1t. An instant later
another man was caught and his foot
mashed into strings and ribbons OF
cords and flesh from the ankle. Before
1t could be secured another swinging
lurch of the iron-bound beam struck
another Of the crew just below the ear.
breaking his neck instantly. Inside ten
minutes one man killed and two des-
perately wounded. A rush OF captain
and remainder Of crew cut loose and
secured the Frankensteln boom, and
that danger was over. But, now, 1t was
each man for himself, and through
Thursday night. Friday. and till Sum
day, no one was safe. The strong
anchors dragged, and from fathoms
of water the lead marked their slow
shoreward yield to s fathoms, 7ls, 2, 61k
and 6. and there. at last, they held; and
when the gale moderated and they
could sum up the trouble, the body OF
the unfortunate seaman was given a
sailors burial at sea, and the two in
jured men. whose wounds (but roughly
attended to) had proven agony only
less than death, were brought in tc
Newport News and left; and, shipping
extra men to fill out the crew, the YES
sci bore away to the Rappahannock fol
load, and thence North to discharge
and is now here again as above stated.
One of the two sailors is now In st
Vincent's Hospital, In Norfolk, while
the other, the worse injured. is at Johns
Hopkins Hospital In Baltimore. The
storm is reported by the survivors az
the worst ever weathered by them, and
they regard their escape as like to q
miracle. HflE