The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-01-26

New York, January 23.-Eght lives
were lost in the wreck today of Quo
que, Long Island. of the four master
schooner Augustus Hunt, coal la1en,
for Boston from Norfolk. Va. OF the
crew Of ten. only two men were save !.
Second Mate George Ebert. Of Cleve-
land, Ohio and a Swede, who was un-
conscious when washed on the beach
and whose name could not be ascer-
tanned.
The vessel was in command OF 'irs.
Mate Conary. who took charge OF her
in place of Captain Robert Blair when
she last left Boston. Soon after mid
night during a. dense fog the schooner
stranded a few hundred feet from the
beach and about a mi'e west of tie
Quogue Life Saving Station. life
saving patrolman heard the cries for
help of those on board and summoned
the station crew. For hours the life
savers were able to hear the cries Of
the men on the vessel which was near
at hand. but buried in the fog. They
were absolutely unable to help the
men. Time and again they launched
their boat, only to have 1t hur'Ai
back to the shore by the heavy surf
The life savers also had recourse to
life lines, but the shorts carrying the
zines either fell wide or snort of the
invisible mark. Soon after day light.
masses of wreckage began to come
ashore, indicating that the vessel was
rapidly breaking UP. About noon
spar with a man clinging to it was
seen tossing in the outer line Of
breakers After a line had been shoC
across it and made fast by the man
he was pulled ashore and proved ID be
Second Mate Ebert. A few minutes
later a sailor was seen on a mass of
wreckage and a half dozen life
savers forming a human chain DASH
ed into the surf and drew him ashore.
He was unconscious and continued in
that condition at late hour tonight.
The cries of those remaining on the
wreck continued to grow fainter and
fainter during the afternoon and final
ly ceased altogether. One body drifted
ashore, but it was so disfgured as to
be unrecognizable. 1t is believed that
only the bow of the vessel remains On
the bar and from this the exhausted
seamen dropped one by one until they
all were swept away.
Mate Ebert after being taken to the
life saving station. said the vessel
stranded in the fog, having mistaken
the Shinnecock light for the headlight
OF a steamer. The officers believed
they were at least twenty-five miles
off shore and in no danger when the
vessel suddenly struck and began to
pound to pieces in the heavy sea that
was running on the bar.
Great waves swept the vessel s
decks, the masts snapped off like pipe
stems and with the rigging were car.
ried away by the tremendous seas.
AS the hull began to go to pieces,
the members Of the crew were driven
toward shore where they hung as best
Shey could. Ebert was cling1rlg t.
some wreckage on the deck when the
whole mass went overheard carrying
him with it. Ebert was unable to give
the names of any of the crew, most
Of whom were shipped at Norfolk.
The body of the man washed ashore
was tonight identified as that OF
Charles Hudson, of Maiden Mass. The
rescued sailor revived sufficiently TO
be able to say that he was John
Somer. a native OF Finland who was
one Of the survivors of the wreck OF
the Schooner Joseph Phar near Cape
Charles on January 2nd and wh1
shipped on the Hunt at Norfolk. An
other unidentified body came ashore
tonight
The Augustus Hunt was a0S feet owe.
all. 201A feet deep and 407 feet beam
She was Of LAO net tonnage and waa
built in Bath, Me. in 1882. She car
ried q cargo of LIS tons Of bitumen-
Gus coal, which was valued at s5,00t
and was insured. 1t was consigned ta
A Cove and Son of East Boston. The
vessel was valued at $4,000 and is said
to have been partly insured
The Augustus Hunt was one Of the
feet Of ten four masted schooners bull
at the Morse yards at Bath. Me. Al
Of these vessels with the exception o.
the Mary E. Morse were lost at sea
volcanic eruption at Martinique.