Evening journal., 1899-12-18
WENT DOWN IN COLLISION
FATE OF TWO WELL.KN0WN
SCHO0NERs LEARNED.
THE JAMES B. PACE AND HOWARD
HANsCOM WENT DOWN, FAST
LOCKED ToGETHER-ALL ON
BOARD LOST.


One OF the greatest sea mysteries Of
recent years was solved on Friday last
when the fate Of the two schooners,
James B. Pace and Howard H. Han
scom was made known.
Both these vessels were familiar
to the seamen who daily put into this
port and it is probable that on the en-
tire North Atlantic seaboard two YES
sells, in their time, were never better
known than the Pace and the Hans
com. They ran regularly TO Philadel-
phia. Captain Garfield, of the James B.
Pace, lived there, and his crew was
from that city. The other vessel hailed
from New Haven, Conn. but, with the
exception of Captain Holmes, her crew
were Philadelphians.
The Hanscom weighed anchor at
Philadelphia, November %, 1898, for
Providence. The Pace followed two
days later for Boston.
Since they left the Delaware they
have never been seen nor heard of.
Locked fast together, the bodies of
their crews still lashed to the bulwarks
and shrouds, the wrecks of these fine
coasting schooners lie together on the
bottom Of the sea not far from the
Massachusetts coast.
Meantime the great gale Of Novem-
Der 27, which wrought unprecedented
havoc with shipping and cost hundreds
Of lives, began. The storm centered in
Boston harbor, and the Massachusetts,
coast was strewn with wrecks. Days
passed into weeks and were succeeded
by months. and still no news came Of
either the Pace or the Hanscom. It
was supposed that they had foundered
in the great storm. They were posted
in marine circles as missing as no
longer insurable, and finally against
their names was set the ominous
words, "given up for lost"
The families Of the crews clung to
hope for nearly year II was only
lately that they finally abandoned it,
The voyage was only a five days one,
no wreckage came ashore and mystery
complete surrounded the fate Of these
missing craft.
A heavily-laden steamer running
along the southern coast of Massachu-
sets recently struck a sunken Obstruc-
ton at a point where no such ,thipa
should exist, according to the charts
The captain of the steamer reported
the matter, and a wrecking party start
They found the place and sent down
divers The latter reappeared witt
blanched faces and reported a discov-
cry which was disbelieved until verl-
fed beyond doubt in succeeding exami.
nations.
Two vessels, fast locked together
with spars standing and evidences o.
having been in collision, lay on the
bottom. The first divers did not finC
their names, but a government expedi
tion, which returned Friday, did finC
them.
They were the schOoners James B
Pace and Howard Hanscom. From al
the evidence gathered they had collides
in the awful storm Of November 1898
had gone down with all standing ant
every soul on board was lost.
An awful spectacle was revealed t,
the divers. On both schooners meI
were lashed in the rigging and alonl
the rails. The shock and sinking mus
have followed so suddenly as to leavl
no time for loosening the lashes.
The dramatic story as given out Fri
day made a sensation. The James B
Pace was a fine three-masted schoone
of $50 tons. She was built in 1888 a
Newburyport, Mass, and her hom
port was Dennis, where she was ownel
by U. B. Fish. Her dimensions we're
Length, 161 feet; beam, 80 feet, AM
depth, is feet. OF very similar con
struction was the Hanscom. Her di
mensions were: Length, ia feet
beam, 81 feet, and depth, IS feet.
The United States Government au
thorities have not received sufficien
information to warrant any predic
ton on their part that the sunke
craft may be raised They are investi
eating the matter, and a complete re
port will soon be made.