Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1902-02-04
s,.nsh Steel er.yh..na Helpless en- the
New Jersey sands.
kcHooHtR luRrp llsHTs or WRECK
Rsn.Riggsd Nsrchansl- n IAN dsd Oh
Long 1slsnd. n
CREWS REseuEp ENsN Iuss IAL IA.
Effe-savins Crews Helpless with Line
and Boats in the Face Of Tre-
mendous seas-cOId snd Ex-
posure Exhaust seamen.

NEW YORK. Feb. 3.--The gale which has
Seen sweepinz the coasts Of Long Island
ana New Jersey for more than twenty
four hours and is continuing tonight,
though with abated force, has brought
death and disaster to sailors and their
craft.
Reports Of loss Of life are confined to the
eastern cad OF Long Island, whence comes
news that several bodies have been wasneu
ashore. II was not known up to 10 O'Clock
tonight what vessels the men who lost
their lives come from. They might nave
been on either the barges towed by the
tug Richmond, reported as passing BLOCK
Island without tow, bound from New fork
for Newport, r. l., or the tug CUBA wnicn
uassed Block Island two hours later, and
sh,eh left New London yesterday for New
port News and was returning without tow
When leaving port, Richmond nad tnree
barges and Cuba two.
- Wreckage strews the shore in the victu-
lsy OF the Bellport, l.. l., life saving sta
tion, and one body came ashore east OF
this station. One barge was thrashing
about this afternoon near Forge River sta
tion. The finding Of two other bodies was
reported later from the same point. Tne
largest piece Of wreckage is the after
quarter and portion Of the stern OF 2
barge. On this were the letters 20. J. "
The crew of the American merchantmen
echepp, a full-rigged chip which went
ashore on the shoals on Long Beach, l.. l.,
early today, were in peril all day. Late
reports tonight say they are still on the
stranded vessel, though the danger OF death
has been Iessened owing to the slight
abatement of the storm.
A westerly gale was blowing seventy
miles al hour when schepp struck at S'sS
in the morning The men from Captain
Andrew Rhoades' iife-saying station .
mile to the east. dragged their mortar 70
the scene Of the wreck. reaching sehepp
about daybresk and found the seas break
ing over It's bow and stsrn. The vessel va
about 1000 feet from shore and tossing
heavily With axsry thrust pf the shngn
breakers Nearly every spar In the SNIP
was twisted OF broken. Several Of the
crew could be seen Oh deck running to and
fro IN apparent efforts to keep from
freezing to death The life-savers Of
Captain Rhoades station and those OF tins
Ione Beach station under Captain Var
Wicklen. made several attempts to shoo
the life lines over the ship, but their eT
forts were not successful. They then trick
to launch the lifeboat, but this proved i'm
possible, owing to the high seas.
The crew OF the tug John Atwood ant
Z. g. Berwind had narrow escapes IRON
going 10 the bottom with their craft Sun
day afternoon Nothing was known OF thei
plight until the arrival Of the German
ateamer Barcelona, the crew Of which res
cued the tugmen. The tugs had been DE
liyering provisions to the stranded steame
SAVIOUR. ashore at Long Beach. L. l., ant
were proceeding back to this point whei
che gale struck them. The waves not oni!
swept on everything moveabie. but ais'
Hooded their holds and got into the nre
boxes. The seven men on each tug were II
smminent danger Of death for over tw
hours. The tugs were absolutely heipies
and gradually sinking when Barcelona hov
In sight and took the half-frozcn crew
aboard. within half an hour after this
the two tugs went to the bottom.
Captain Claus Bohn was utterly exhaust
I'd when Barcelona reached the South Cen
trail pier this morning. as he had bee
forty.eight hours on the bridge. He aai
that all the houses OF Berwind had bee
smashed by the fury Of the waves. whe
barcelona hove down on the sinking yes
sei and rescued the crew.
Both OF the tug boats were hne vessel
Of their class. Berwind was prooabi
worth sss. 1000 or ss5.ooo. and Atwood aoou
aa0 OO0