The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-06-11
LAUNCH ON THE DEVILS TEETH
pOIIrE M . mr. ~ Rg0t = W0RK
~ IITTIE HELL arr

me wa1sp Csps Hrsssr Hsat Sews
tams =iauHeH s,ats tt'es ResrHe,
A yonna man walked into fho old stable
shich tho hsftor tolicr usr fuf n suh.a,a
tlon n, md s,fne' and The Fas, River,
oppoal,a Tho ltmtas ~ Ii~ttae on Itsndar .
Jsland, alrut y o'ciook yesterday morn.
Ing and ashei Roundsinan Wettiaufef
burs NJ that squad NJ seaEning cors II he
had Rad hews n a launch fafty vhteh
had apilrd from Tho Metropolitan Yacht
club doch NJ, Tho fHu' ~ iiith stfea, about
m hour %cafllor.
NY nane IL Oaborn . said the young
man Ny brother wsnt f1t 4 cruise m
the Sound With n turlv ~ eigh, In the
naphtha launch Gloria aud I am nervous
shout him. 20 tell the truth, I haven't
any particular reason Ia he alarmed, hut !
had = had dream akuut my brother last
night and I can't get ava from the idca
that something unpleasant has happened
Il hadn't bern eating any Welsh rabbits
or lobster, hut I dreHmed that ! aaw ms
hruther IN y coffin some place, and there
we're I wo more collins there each with a dead
man In " Whom my brother Walter started
out this morning I told him about the dream,
hut he laughed and said II was all tommy
rot"
Il gicaa YOU needn't 10 worried, . said
wettnufer. III the launch had pokcd her
noae INTO trouble wa would have heard
about II Ivy this time.
The young man thanked the roundsman
and walked out. He hadn't been gone
ton minutes when the telephone hell IN the
police shack went into a spasin OF jingiing.
Hello said u voice over the wire. This
Ia the House Of Refuge. There's a small
launch hooked on u reef in Little He'll Gate
and eight men aboard are In bad trouble
The tide In rising fast and II the launch Is
floated of they are goners for sure. You
fellows had better get a hustle on"
Wettlaufer, with Patrolmen Joe Buckley,
Weckesser and Fredenburg, got aboard
police launch I and sent her skimming out
into the river. When they got into Little
Hail Gate thew saw the liianch ashore on
two Jagged r ocks-the Devils Teeth,
the cops call them and the pleasure boat
was tipped TO one side. The eight men in
IL were clinging to the boat and yelling for
help.
side of the launch and she was filing fast.
Only the naphtha tank had kept her afoat
no long. The loco tide would snatch her
of the rocks, the police saw, and then II
would be next to impossible to save the
men. There wasn't room on the DevlIs
Teeth for one man to cling.
Except for the river pirates that Use Little
He'll Gate in their business, the harbor
police know the dangerous passage better
than anybody else, but they saw very
quickly they had their work cut out for them.
Wettlaufer decided to take a chance. The
police launch draws a little more than four
feet, which made it dangerous to run near
the DEVILS Teeth, but Wettlaufer steered
her for the two rock needles and prayed for
luck.
The launch hit a rock before it was within
twenty wards Of the DEVILS Teeth, and
it was pure luck that launch didn't get a
hole knocked in her. AS ii was, it took
quick work and skilful steering to back her
out of the dangerous position. Wettlaufer
tried again, and once more launch 7 struck
a submerged reef, turning half over as she
slid over it. This time Wettlaufer saw
it was no use trying to save the men with
the tn .. police oil sl launch nSh A. He s got her %, out s% 0f shs
water, back of Randall's Island, where he
anchored her.
Then the cops got a rowboat, which
drew only about a foot Of water, and started
again to the rescue. eanw nile Police
assisted by William Enning. night clerk
at Wards Island, and Bill DAILY, a deck
hand on the Wanderer, the Wards Island
boat, had launched a rowboat and sent
out for the Devils Teeth.
The two rowboats made the stranded
launch in the nick OF time. She was wash
ing loose when Conner, Enning and DAILY
got to her in their rowboat. Conner and
his two helpers got of four men and Wett-
laufer and his harbor police took of the
others. Relieved Of the weight of the
passengers, the launch slid off the rock
and sank,
Conner and Wittlaufer landed the res
cued men at the foot of East 116th street
and took stock of their salvage. Nicholas
Book of 1887 Seventh avenue told them
he owned the launch, which was the Gloria,
and his companions gave their names as
Frederick Bayer, Sr., of POL West Eighty
first street,; Frederick Bayer, Jr.,. OF the
same address; Walter Osborn, an electrical
engineer, of Fifth venue and lSlst street;
John Benson, Arthur Benson and Joseph
Benson of PAST Seventh avenue, and Frank
Book odd the police that he had tried to
take a short cut from the Metropolitan
Yacht Club dock to the Sound, and thought
he would be able to navigate the passage
through Little He'll Gate. Right in the
worst of the passage the steering gear OF
the launch went wrong and the swirl threw
the little BOAT on the Devils Teeth.
At first they thought they could get her
of but they found the rocks had stove a
hole in her port bow. Then they yelled
for help.
Two minutes more" said Mr.. Book,
"and it would have been all of with us.
/ will see that Commissioner Bingham
gets word about what you fellows did
"Oh, we have to do this stunt about once
a Sunday in the summer" said Wettlaufer.
$50 home and get dry and forget about it,"
Il guess my brother had it doped out
about right, said Walter Osborn, Dreams
are queer things. ] think / will buy a