Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1903-10-02
WRECK OF THE BEATRICE.
Section OF The Vessel Ashore on
The North Carolina Coast.

Section OF The Vessel Ashore on
The North Carolina Coast.
A Government seacoast message
from Currituck, N. g., to the Nor
folk Weather Observatory removes
all doubt as to the identity of the
wrecksge ashore off Caffey's Inlet.
Life-savers boarded the upturned
hulk. They report that it consists
OF 81 feet of quarterback, with some
connecting pipes, fragments of nets,
corks and fine rake. The netting
and cork floats show that the craft
was fisher and the missing steamer
Beatrice, from Cape Charles. Moth.
ing has been learned as to the fate
of her crew.
Captain William Moody, of light
ship No. 40, on the Cape Charles
Station, writes the San from his
snip under date of September 80:
"This morning at 2 o'clock a
wreck was seen from No. 40. Il was
bearing east-southeast II miles. 1
cent of o boat to investigate, and it
was found to be that of the fishing
steamer Beatrice of New York,
which had been missing sisce the
hurricane of September Is. The
wreck was floating bottom up, level
with the water, with great portion
Of the after part of the bottom RoLe
and copper steam pipes showing.
Apparently when the vessel turned
over the boiler bursted. At the
time we saw the wreck it was drift
ing southwest, the wind being north
northeast light, and the current set
ting southwest"
The picking up of the stern Of
the Beatrice at Caffey's light-saving
station, on the coast Of North Caro-
lima, on the 25th shows that the
broken part had quickly drifted with
the current The Beatrice, as stated
heretofore, was lost while bound
from Chincoteague with a load of
fish for the fertilizer factories of the
Atlantic Fisheries Company at Cape
Charles City.
The piece of the Beatrice found
must have drifed $50 miles to be
found at Caffey's Inlet. From the
stories of those who survived the
hurricane, the suffering of those who
persisted must have been terrible.
Capt. VIM. G. Leland, who was in
charge of the Beatrice when she was
lost, was a reeident of Irving Va.
de was unmarried.
The Beatrice carried a crew of 27
men and was loaded with 400, 900
menhadeh fish. II. S. Roy was the
engineer and Thomas Z. Latham his
assistant. Both of these men were
from Norfolk. There we're two
other white men in the crew and the
remainder negroes. Thos. Disc.
brother of Captain j. II. Disc, of
Northumberland, was pilot, and the
other white man was mate Vernon
Robinson of North Carolina. Most
OF the negroes were from Beaufort.
N. q. All but three of the crew
were married.
THE Loss OF THE BEATRICE.
The Northampton Times voices the
unanimous sentiment of all who
knew him when it pens the follow
ing about Captain Willie Leland:
1T is sad and even distressing to real
Ire at last, after several hopes for the
safety OF the Beatrice have been char
ished and have az quickly Vanished. that
the steamer is lost For many wears
captain IN. q. Leland has piled the
SsIy and skirted the coast, and, little sus-
Pecuhg, ne rounded the capes on the
again.
Sad, indeed, must have been the Can
tain's experience, as he labored on the
merciless sea, tossed about by the raging
tempest and beaten by the waves: wild
must have been his thoughts when he
realised that his ship might be uneouaI
TO the occasion; awful must have been
his anxiety when he learned that tbe
twenty-seven men whom he controlled
would probably at any moment be hurled
into eternity. AS he stood by his helm
nis imagination must have wildly dis
played homeless wives and orphans
there must have been pictured there in
oriihant coioring the tears OF the bereay-
ed ones; that, alas, congregated in one
center would form a rivulet on whose
bosom would bee conveyed memories ~
Tue awful night. But the captain. n |
man oil character, generous, kind and
Iovabie, was doomed, too, to accompany
INTO uncertainty those whom he com ]
N
IL was our pleasure to have known /
captain Leland intimately, and to have
received at his hands many favors. and II 4
3 incumbent upon us to pronounce upon
nm the highest encomiums.
The kind reader may consider well
mo thoughttully the sad event, and
WINE endeavoring to realize the sit
iation In all it's distressing features.
n nay conceive the wholesome thought
q earnestly desiring to enter on
very voyage OF life prepared never more
would bel What a Consolation n would
lnord the sorrOwful ones in the present
Instance, were they sure the lost ones
we're prepared
Az every hope for the Beatrice's safety
as disappeared, we desire especially to
mes"
RECORD OF FEW MIsHAps. Il
The loss of the Beatrice bas
tanned the fishing fleet, and while
Few are wavering in thebaiance as :
Q their decision another few say fatty
nat they will not 20 con the beach,
gain in their boats. In conversa- !
ION with a gentleman who is well :
osted In menhaden fishing and an
xperienced seaman, We learn that n
ne Beatrice is the first of the fishing Z
eet' north or south, during his q
twenty-five years. experience that |
as foundered at sea and all hands T
'ss. When it is recalled that dur Z
" these years the fishing fleet on an
verage has numbered about fifty r
esseIs. this industry has a record I