Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1905-02-03
.DREDGERS PERISHINGOF COLD
HORRIBLE SUFF ERING OF
OYSTER MEN.
Eleven Men Frozen Fast In a Marsh
Near Deals Island In Som
erset County.

The prolonged cold weather has
caused much suffering among the
dredgers and oystermen.
Eleven oystermen are dying of cold
aud starvation on an immense marsh
nearly five miles west of Deals Island,
in Somerset county, Md, and about
90 miles south of Baltimore.
They are the crews of eight small
longing and scraping craft that ven
tured in those desolate waters on Mon
day. January 10. since which date
they have been frozen in, without
provisions, water or fuel and have
undoubtedly been the victims of such
phorrors as proved the end OF Sir John
Franklin. Today is the eighteenth
day of their predicament.
The names of the perishing men are
as follows: Theodore Horner, Andrew
Gibson, Edward Crockett, James
Graham, Samuel Fallin, Will am
Horner, William Thomas. Zachariah
Shores, Washington Abbott, Thomas
James, Oscar Donald. Their fleet OF
boats consists of eight small canoes and
skipjacks, the latter a type of boat
popular IN that section for the longing
and scraping of oysters.
By leaving Annapolis this morning
it is figured that the rescuers can be
on the scene late this afternoon. From
Annapolis to the men by the ordinary
way of traffic is probably 80 miles, but
it will be much further by the route
that the Annapolis will take. The
great ice crusher, instead of going
through Hoopers Straits, as is the
usual route from the northward, will
take the route either around the south
ern end of the marshes or go through
Cages Straits. In Hoopers Straits
there is too much ice and too little
water for the iceboat. This will also
be done in order to stop at Crisfield
for local aid. There VIII be, among
other things, one of the grandest bat
ties royal ever fought by a Chesapeake
Bay ice breaker to reach the men,
but nothing in either craft or crew
will be spared, for the goal will be
the saving of ii dying men.
AS the whole county of Somerset
would volunteer to aid if necessary
there will be no lack for the labor of
love, and it is reasoned that by dark
this evening the men, such as may be
alive, will be rescued, and the work
begun of bringing them back to
health. A worse position could not
be conceived in the Chesapeake Bay,
and for days residents of Deals Island
have been forced TO witness the sig
nails of distress and remain powerless
to render aid. To the eastward of
these distressed men is Tangier Sound,
broad and shallow body of water
with a great surge to the tide and a
channel full of packed ice that would
be deadly to any boat that the Deal s
Islanders or the marooned watermen
could bring to bear. To the westward
of them is Great South Marsh, low,
lying body of land submerged at high
tide. To the north of them is Hoop
ers Straits and to the south Cages
Straits.
Navigation on the sound is entirely
suspended, while up and down the
great Bay but few miles in the offing
go the great ships of commerce whose
masters would be unable to help the
perishing men even if they could see
their pathetic signal of distress. This
is due to the vast fields of solid ice
and little draught of water between
the ship channel of the Chesapeake
and the little group of dying men. To
the eastward of them are their fami.
lies and friends, in plain sight on
Deals Island, tortured with the
thought of the awful privations to
which their fathers, brothers and
sweethearts are subjected.