The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-02-04
Repeated but FruitIess Efforts by CAL
Iant Life Savers to Rescue
Freezing Sailors.
BRAVE CAPTAIN BOHN'S WORK
PERILED SHIP AND SAVED FOUR
TEEN MEN FROM DEATH.
Four Steamships Ashore I'm Delaware
Bay Twenty-One French
Seamen Drowned.

H
NEW YORK, Feb. 3.-The gale which has
been sweeping the coast of Long island and
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
end of Long island, whence comes news
that several bodies have been washed
ashore. 1t was not known up to 10 o'clock
tonight what vessels the men who lost
their lives came from. They might have
been on either the barges towed by the tug
Richmond reported as passing, without
tow, Block island, bound from New York
for Newport, r. l., or the tug Cuba, which
passed Block island two hours later, which
left New London, Conn, yesterday for
Newport News and was returning with
tow. When leaving port the Richmond had
three barges and the Cuba two.
Wreckage strews the shore in the vicin-
ity 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
ton The finding of two other bodies was
largest piece of wreckage is the after
quarter and a portion of the stern of a
barge On this last were the letters 20. p.
E." The crew of the American merchant
man Schepp, a full-rigged ship which went
ashore on Long Beach, l.. l., shoals early
to-day, were in peril all day. Late reports
tonight say they are still on the stranded
vessel, though the danger Of death has been
lessened, owing to the slight abatement Oh
a fxar1x crsll xrTlE lTxxTi in
at the rate of seventy miles an hour
when the Schepp struck at 3:30 o'clock in
the morning. 1t was bright moonlight at
the time, and from Capt. Andrew RhoadeS
life-saving station, a mile to the east, the
life savers had no difficulty in locating the
vessel. The men trudged along the beach,
facing severe gale and dragging their
mortar to the scene of the wreck. They
reached the Schepp about daybreak and
found the seas breaking over her bow and
stern. She was about one thousand feet
from shore and tossing heavily with every
thrust of the powerful breakers. Her
main topgalant and royal mizZen topsail,
with the fore topgalant studding sail, had
been carried away and nearly every spar in
her was twisted or broken. Several of the
crew could be seen on deck, running to
and fro in apparent efforts TO keep from
freezing TO death.
UNSUCCESSFUL EFFORTS.
The life savers of Captain Rhoades's sta
ton and those of the Lorg Beach station.
under Captain Van Wycklen, made several
attempts to shoot the life lines over the
Schepp, but the afternoons efforts were
not successful. They then tried to launch
the lifeboat, but this, too, proved impossi-
BILE owing to the high seas.
The crews of the seagoing tugs John E
Berwind and E. S. Atwood had a narrow
escape from going to the bottom with their
craft Sunday afternoon. Nothing was
known of their plight until the arrival to-
day of the German steamer Barcelona, the
crew of which rescued the tugmen. The
tugs had been delivering provisions to the
stranded steamer Cavour, ashore at Long
Beach, l.. l., and were proceeding back TO
this point. When the gale struck them
the waves began to wash over them, not
only sweeping off everything movable, but
flooding their holds and getting into the
fire boxes. The seven men on each tug were
in imminent danger of death for over two
hours The tugs were absolutely helpless
and gradually sinking when the Barcelona
hove in sight and took the half frozen
crews aboard. Within half an hour after
this the two tugs. went to the bottom with
the dunnage of the men.
Capt. Claus Bohn was utterly exhausted
when the Barcelona reached the South Gen.
tral pier this morning, he had been for
ty-eight hours on the bridge. He said that
all the houses of the Berwind had been
smashed by the fury of the waves when the
Barcelona hove down on the sinking YES
sci. The men on board cried out that the
tug was sinking. After some time they
managed to work the Atwood under the lee
of the Barcelona. Then lines were thrown
to the men and they scrambled on board the
liner, which had hardly any cargo and
stood very high out of the water. The men
said the John r. Berwind was in an equal
ly bad condition. The liner had already
passed her. and Captain Bohn had the ship
Immediately swung around and steamed to
her aid. She. too, managed TO reach the
lee of the ship and the men were hauled
on board and taken good care of. Capt
Claus Bohn is a veteran sailor. He has
been twenty-siX years in the Sloman line
which owns the Barcelona, and for fifty
years at sea. Last year he was presented
with a gold medal by the New York Life
Saving Association for his gallant rescue
of seventeen men in midOcean, the crew
of Russian bark that he found sinking
i'm the Atlantic. He was later presented
with 800 in gold a prize established sew
eral years ago by the will of Emelia Robin
a philanthropist Frenchman, to be awarded
each year for the most meritorious rescue
in that ppriOd