Omaha daily bee., 1905-12-12


NEWPORT. r. l.. Dec 1.-THE suspense
attending the outcome OF the leak in the
Nantucket shosl lightship and the absence
Of any news regarding the gunboat Wasp,
which left here few hours before the
storm Sunday morning to succor the
disabled brig Harry Smith only twenty
five miles away. has made the day at the
naval training and torpedo stations one of
much anxiety.
1t was expected that the lightshp would
be heard from during the day, either by the
return Of one of the vessels which went to
its aid ~ by wireless from some passing
ocean liner. The only word. however was
faint message at a. m. from the light
ship itself. which read
Nantucket shoal lightship in distress.
Send help from anywhere"
The message then broke off into long
series of uniptelligible dots and dashes. II
is thought that the wireless operators on
the lightship were unable to storage
| batteries after the extinguishment of the
fires had rendered the dynamos useless.
At dawn this morning three government
steamers were on the way tn the station of
the Nantucket lghtship, the lighthouse
steamer Azales, which started last night
| from New Bedford; the gunboat Hist, which
left here at o'clock this morning, and tho
revenue cutter Gresham, which left Boston
late last night
No Word from Steamers.
| 1t is a ten-hour run from New Bedford
| to the lightship station. twelye-hour run
| from this port and about the same from
Boston.
| It was believed that the Azalea would be
able to reach the lightship by dawn today
and would return with either the vessel or
the crew to New Bedford or Hyannis,
reaching one place or the other by or
o'clock this evening.
At 10 O'Clock tonight nothing OF the
Azalea had been seen. either by observers
! at New Bedford or Hyannis or by the
patrol at Gay Head and Guilty Hunk.
The day on the southeastern Massachu-
setts coast was quite calm and the sea in
the vicinity of Nantucket island moderated
considerably. making the conditions favor
able for reaching the lghtship
| While the naval officials at the torpedo
station realized fully the seriousness Of the
accident to the lightship there was more
anxiety at the training station regarding
the whereabouts of the gunboat Wasp
which at dark Tonight had seen out forty
eight hours without being reported.
The Wasp started out about dark Satur
day night, to aid the brig Harry Smith, sale
to be in bad position at the entrance tC
Vineyard sound. The Wasp carried a crew
of eighty men, was commanded by Chic
Boatswain Hugh Sweeney and was pro
visioned for three days.
Wasp Carries Eight Men.
It was a run OF about two hours to th'
entrance of the sound. but scarcely haC
the Wasp left this harbor than the storm
which had been threatening all day, brok
and within a few hours the wind had in
creased to a gale from the northeast I
was not surprising to the naval Official!
that the Wasp missed the Smith under tn
conditions which prevailed late Saturda,
night and Sunday. On Sunday afternoon
after the storm had passed, word was re
ceived that the Smith was still at ancho
near Vineyard sound, but nothing could b
seen of the Wasp. 1t was thought the
that the gunboat might have been blown OF
shore by the gale and that it would appes
this morning. Up TO a late hour tonigh
It had not returned, nor had any report n
It reached the training station. The Was
is not equipped with wireless telegraph
neither did those on board know of tn
predicament of the Nantucket lightship s
that the gunboat would not have gone on
to that station unless in the hope Of get
ting new orders by the lightships wireless
equipment
The storm was far more severe OF shor
and 1t is believed by the naval Official
e that the Wasp experienced something boz
derlng on a hurricane and may have bee