The Worthington advance., 1900-07-13
YACHT CAPs1ZEs.
Famous Idler II Lost In q Storm ON
Lake Erie-Six of Those on
ss. 4.sss. -. ,oz Board. PeRiah.~s.... -.

&SIeYeland, O., july s9.-The famous
schooner-yacht 1dlerfis drifting half
Submerged on" Lake Erie 16 miles off
this port, and her cabin are the
bodies of six persons, members of the
family of James Corrigan, owner of
the boat and wealth y vessel man of
this city. The dead, are:
/ MIS- James corrisan. wife Of the owner
Miss Jane corrigan, aged 20. daughter
Of James Corrigan.
$: ida May Corrisan. aged Il, daughter
Of James Corrigan. 5es - l.
.Etta Corrigan, aged 1s, daughter Of
John Corrigan.
Mrs. Charles Reilly. aged 2, daughter
Sof James Corrigan.
Baby Reilly, daughter of, above.
b Mrs. John Corrigan was the only
passenger aboard who was saved. c.
II: Holmes, the captain; Samuel Big
gam, the mate, fourssailors, two cooks
and the ship carpenter were also
saved. The yacht left Port Huron
Friday with the family of Mr.. Corri-
gan aboard and started to Cleveland.
Mr.. Corrigan was i'll and left by train.
The yacht was in tow until she
reached Bar Point, when the captain
left her tow. and turned the yacht for
Cleveland. At two O'Clock the storm
came up, and inside of five minutes
the yacht sank. All the women ex-
cepting Mrs. John Corrigan and Miss
Eta Corrigan were in the cabin when
the gale came up. They became panic
stricken and refused to leave the
place. The mate implored them to
come to the deck, but they refused.
Mrs. John Corrigan clung to a cork
sofa when the gaze came and was
saved
Samuel Biggam, mate of the ill-fated
yacht, who is one of the survivors.
said:
1T was about 2:15 o'clock that the
squall hit u.s. The yacht laid down on
her beams ends, and the water rushed
through the dead lights and companion
ways and in three minutes she sank.
Mrs. James Corriean, Miss Ida Corrigan.
Miss Jane Corrigan. Mrs. Charles Reilly
and the infant daughter of Mrs. Reilly
were all in the saloon below when the
storm came on us. Capt. Holmes gave
me orders to take in sail. and I trans
1nitted the order to the men. They obeyed
quickly.
I The captain. myself and the crew
made efforts to save the, women, but
without success. We told them the yacht
was sinking, but they could not or would
not come on deck I waded into the
saloon where the water was up to my
neck, but Mrs. James Corriean would
not come out. She may have been rem
dered incapable Of action by fear and
knowledge of impending doom. An ef-
fort was made to take the infant daugh-
ter of Mrs. Reilly out. but Mrs. Reilly
would not let the child go"
The mate said it was realized that
nothing could be done to save those in
the cabin and that attention was turned
to saving those on deck. The latter, out
side of her captain, mate and crew, were
Mrs. James Corrigan and her daughter,
Miss Eta Corrigan.
''The captain. myself and some of the
crew tried to get Mrs. Corrigan and her
daughter up on the cross trees in the
rigging, but the heavy seas washed us
all overheard.
For Gods sake, Mrs. Corrigan, you
and your daughter keep a tight hold on
the rigging!' we called to them. Even
as we yelled the sea swept them and us
overheard. Fortunately, Mrs. Corrigan
had succeeded in taking hold of a cork
lounge. She clung to it and was saved"
The Idler was launched in 1865 at New
Haven, Conn.,, being built originally for
S. J. Colgate, who intended to use the
yacht for racing as we'll as cruising pur-
poses, and for several years spent the
yachting season in southern waters. 1t
was 106 feet over all, being 96 feet on
the water line and % feet beam, Its
tonnage was 1926. June IA, 1870, the Idler
became the most famous yacht in Amer
ican waters and was known all over the
yachting world for winning and defend
ing the American cup. Eleven schooners
took part in the race and the Idler ran
away from the fleet and won easily Aft
er that the Idler rested on it's laurels
and for a few seasons was used mainly
for cruising purposes on the coast In
1876 Colgate again raced the yacht in
several regattas, the most famous of
which was the races for the Brenton reef
cup, which the yacht won, and the fol-
lowing year in September the 1dler won
the Cape May race cup, defeating large
number of yachts. In 1882 A. J. Fisher,
of the Chicago Yacht club, purchased
the schooner and brought it to Chicago,
where 1t became the best known of all
yachts on the lake, and for time was
the only large private yacht in use.