The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1900-02-20
Barge Was Owned BY Pomroy Coal Company
and Had Cargo Of 5000 Tons.
BARGE MARION CHAppELL BEACHEO.
h Was With Great Difficulty She Vas Kept AIoat
UlaI Now York kaTbor Mas Reached.
losl Crew Belonged ln eoslon

New York. Feb. 2o.-The coal barge
Oakland. in tow from Norfolk TO
Providence, went down in the storm on
Sunday off the Jersey coast and her
crew OF four men were drowned. The
barge was in tow of the tugboat Ma
than Hale, with another barge the
Marion Chappell, when the disaster oc-
Cured. The tug and the Marion Chap
pell arrived in this mort yesterday, out
the barge was in a sinking condition.
and had TO be beached on the nats
south OF Liberty Island. The crews OF
both the tug and the barge suffered
from great exhaustion.
Charles T.. Reynolds, engineer OF the
tug. hast night told the story OF the
trip. He said the Nathan Hale left
Norfolk on Thursday porninB with the
barges i'm tow The hawser from the
tug was carried TO the Marion Chappeu
and a hawser was stretched from the
stern of the Chappell 10 the oaklahu.
He went on TO say;
1--WE had fine weather until Friday
morning when il began TO snow, ana
The wind became fresh from the north-
east. AT midnight on Friday we were
off AbSecom Light. The snow, whlch
had been so heavy that we could not
see the barges, lessened in violence.
barges. on Saturday morning the
storm became "a blizzard and we head
ed off shore TO keep in the wind. Inc
waves rolled high and broke over the
boat The storm continued all day ana
night without abatement.
"But about 6 o'clock Sunday morning
the storm became less violent and we
noticed that the Oakland was no longer
in tow. We could not make inquiry to
the Chappell'S crew. as all we could do
was to save the tug and barge in the
fierce gale. ON Sunday night we were
off Absecom light. where we had been
as hours before. We noticed that the
Chappell was steering badly and sig
nailed the captain OF the barge. who
signalled in return that the steering
gear had broken.
I'VE then ran alongside OF the Chap
pelI and inquired what had become OF
the Oakland. The captain said that
the hawser parted about O'Clock sun
day morning. and the Oakland sank
Immediately with her crew. There
were four men aboard her. / do not
know their names. When we made
Scotland light we were in an almost
helpless condition, and we signalled the
tug Arnott, which went TO our relief.
The Chappell was in bad shape, and
was beached below Liberty Island. She
is a new boat. and that is all that
saved her from going down. Her tom
mage is 3036. Ii was an awful storm,
and the experience Will not soon be for
gotten by the crews OF the Nathan
Hale and the Chappell as they OBJ
tained no rest from the time the storm
began until we reached port. | was at
the throttle for 30 consecutive hours.
We are fortunate TO have survived the
storm"
II was learned at the Office OF the
Ponrroy coal company i'm this city this
morning that the barge Oakland be-
longed to the company, and was bring
ing a cargo OF 5000 tons of soft coal "a
this port The captain of the barge
was. A. b. Crooker of Boston. The
names of the crew are mot known, as
they were shipped at Boston.