The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1901-08-26
WATERSPOUT WEATHER NEWS
skY-END or A WHIRL WRECkED
THE MANSON ALOFT.
There Wa . Coon Cat Aboard and 10 the
Schooner Lived Through H-No water
In u as There was tn the Whiri the
british King Had Defgcd Earlier.

II wa manifcstly watsrspout weather
on Saturday. The Jersey ornado might
ave t-en a wat-r-pout II Il had sprung
up al sea, and TnK sun yesterday told Of
one or more actual wI,terspouts OF Fro
leland. The steamship British King
lodged a f~ull-grown ms at ans O'Clock
Saturday afternoon and left IL making
for Fire Island, whsre a waterproof after
ward tore up the bcach and upset Col.
wagstaf's fishing party. Now comes
In the schooner Agnes L. Manson. stripped
Of spars az 4 O'Clock the saTne afternoon
IN Fire Island by the tail % n whirling
storm that would ave SIT the water spout
ing II II had dipped q little lower.
The Manson IL a thr-e-master and was
coal-laden and bound for Boston from New
port News. She was about twenty miles
southeast ~ Fire Island when the whirl
hit her. and for forty seconds Capt. r. W,
Babbitt and his crew thought themselves
destined for Davy Jone-'s locker. In tho
forty seconds the Manson was reduced
from one Of the finest schooners owned
by the New Haven railroad into almost
a helpless hulk Her decks n she lay on
Stapleton Yesterday were almost hidden
beneath a mass Of broken spars and tattercd
sails.
The spanker boom. an enormous spar.
was broken In half In the whirlNind The
spanker gan and the main gaf snapped,
and the miz1en topmAst broke a. clearly
a. " II had been sawn. and hung suspended
Ivy ths shrouds. After some II the wreck
age which hung over the sides had been
cut away Capt. Rabbit got a tow to Staten
Island. This was the story he told yes
terday
Il never met such n windstorn before.
We were on the southeast end Of fire Island.
and although IL was raining blue monkeys,
there was not "A breath % wind-not enough
20 give Ne -ieerage way saw n funnel
shaped cloud hearing down upon us from
astsrn aud only about twenty yards away.
Before | could even q orders "a shorten
siu Il was on Va. ait a oar like a hundred
locomotives letting on steam. ] thought
"" were soners. The schooner keeled
over 10 port like a cathoat until the rail
was far under. The sails went into rib
BON and some Of the shrouds parted Ike
thread The safs went. the spanker
boom broke three feet from the mast and
the mizaen topmast snapped of.
1T a wonder We didn't 90 To- kingdom
come But | hapr-n.d to have a coon
cat aboard. Come below and see her
There she IL. amt she "A boauty2 and II Il
hadn't l-en for that cat well. | am glad
that ] brought That coon cat.
THAT wind cloud. Capt. Babbitt pro-
c~eded. travelled at express sJscd. II
was impossible to -e.' II far away because
Of the rain. IL was in the SHAPE 81 n huge
funnel with it, bottom point clear Of the
r.a. There WIS no water ~ n when II hit
me II was just a whirl ~ wind. When
1t had gone didn't h ave enough sail left
TO cover "a" floor Of my cabin. IL was
followed by tremendous seas, although
there had been hardly a ripple before.
was not even time 10 get scared.
The barometer did not Indicate any at
mospheric disturbance. II was stationary.
That's something I've been unable to
figure out and | am wondering about It
yet
Col. Alfred wag-tan gave this account
yesterday 81 the wa;erspout that hit him
before going ashore al Fire Island
We were anchored behind a float Ia the
bay when We saw the torn coming. The
storm covered a space Of 600 feet on the
OCEAN and the path u took became per-
fectly black. II was rapidly travelling in
n southeast by north~ est direction aud
came upon us with n deafening roar The
water wa churn~d into a fury. our long
sized. Of course We were all thrown into
tho water.
TT. yacht Law upon her team ends and
we all managed 20 cling a. the bottom.
The storm disappeared as rapidly as IL
had come. We held onto the boat for
half an hour when Capt. SpraRue came
along Ia his launch and picked w up. My
son and a friend. besides the crow Of tho
yacht. were with mo at the time, The
storm. ! believe. lust it, fury when II struck
the beach. A hou-a on the shore was
completely demolished One boat was
actually lifted and thrown up into the
mud on the beach