Bridgeton pioneer. (Bridgeton, N.J.) 1884-1919, 1899-02-23
CAPT. BOYLE's STORY.
He Could Not Possibly save the Boat, But
Was Compelled to Abandon Her

last week had such narrowing expert
ence ON the guard boat, estate Rights y
was in town Monday He was ac-
companied by Capt. Hollinger, chairman;
and Capts. Cosier and Whitaker, of the
Executive Committee of the Oyster Asso-
ciatlon. Before these gentlemen and in
the presence of a PIONEER reporter, Capt.
| Boyle gave an Intelligent. earnest, and
| beyond all criticism, plain statement of
his experiences in the awful blizzard.
ana OF the events which led up to the loss
OF the Associations boat, which was
under his com mand.
1.-The boat" began the honest looking
captain, belongs to every body, that is to
the oystermen. and l want to make
plain statement to show that her loss was
caused by no fault of mine.
I'VE were anchored off Egg Island on
wednesday, Feb. Sth, last. We went in
tnere In the performance of our duty,
while the wind was blowing heavily,
some other boats were anchored there,
and we We're watching them. When we
anchored we laid outside of them. so that
II they got off we would be in position
to get away quickly and see where they
went and what they did.
I'VE laid there all Wednesday night
and all day Thursday. We thought we
were needed there. Thursday night I
noticed that when the flood tide made ice
come In on me from the Bay. There had
been no ice making in the cove, and when
the Ice came from the Bay l was hard upon
the bottom, probably six or eight inches
The ice got under the vessel and raised
her considerably and dragged her over
the bottom before fioated. At the same
time matters were made worse by the ice
Jammlng the rudder so that it could not
be used. We tried hard to get up the
anchor, but the windlass was frozen up.
1t being very cold, and we could not move
1t. was afraid to slip the chain as we
had but one anchor, and that would have
left me helpless. The wind was West.
Northwest. and the ice carried us fifteen
miles down in the lower end of the cove.
Had there been common thaw /
! would have been all right, as l was O, t
of the main current and the tide.
pectediy the north blizzard came and
we finally drifted down off Cape May.
After the sea had broken the ice up I
found that the rudder was wrong. and
the boat unmanageable. The ice was
humping severely after it had broken
up. l couldn't do any better than TO put
on little sail, little iib on her to put
her before the wind, which kept the ice
from humping her so hard.
Monday we were carried to sea in the
hardest of the blizzard, some twenty
miles, and we fetched up in porridge ice,
that is, ground up ice, which masses
eight or ten feet deep. We were then
absolutely helpless. The ice piled up
upder the vessel and thumped her hard.
We used crow bars and Clipped and
knocked off the sharp edges to keep from
punching holes in our side. We were
thus until about twelve o'clock Monday
night. In the meantime when ebb tide
made, ice wedged under the boat and
careened her on. her side, so that
| thought it would eventually turn her
over so that she would fill in her matches.
She was still humping hard on the ice,
when we sighted light and about two
O'Clock Tuesday morning, we signalled
by flashing light, the tug "Catawasa,"
OF Philadelphia. Capt. Robinson. He was
out looking for some barges that had
broken from a tow. The captain came to
us and wanted to know what was wanted.
we told him we were helpless and asked
him for tow. He said he could not give
US tow, as he had more to do than he
could get through with, but offered to
take us off.
| Our boat was unmanageable, leaking
some, humping on the ice and her bot.
tom was badly worm eaten, and we felt
that it would be prudent to leave her.
had she been staunch boat l would
have stuck to her. Her mainsail and lib
were not sea worthy, and there was dan
ger in staying with her.
I'VE abandoned the estate Rights
about twenty miles South East of Cane
Henlopen. We were landed at the
Breakwater Wednesday about ten o. clock
in the morning."
Concluding, Capt. Boyle said earnestly
to the reporter, 81 wish to thank Captain
Robinson and the crew of the tug for
their kindness and hospitality, and we
also received the best treatment from the
Government officials at Lewes, DEL"
The crew of the Estate Rights con.
sisted of Capt. James Boyle, mate, Daniel
Roley; cook, VIM. Ackley; seaman
Jacob johnson.
The members of the Executive Com.
mittee said the Estate Rights was bull,
in 1875 and cost about $4,000. She was
probably worth little more the $500 O,
S400 at this time.
The Committee unhesitatengly ex.
onerate Capt. Boyle and his crew from
any responsibility for the misfortune tc
the "State Rights" The explanation OF
Capt. Boyle is accepted as being not only
piausipie, but necessarily true, the ex
is1lng conditions naturally certain to bs
just as he says.