Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1906-08-02
HURTS RESORTS.
Bad Weather Makes This
Season Worst in Years.
Vessels on Coast Have Lost
Much Time Because Of Fog.
Proprietors Of Summer Hotels Lose Thousands
Of Dollars in Month Of July.

Boston, Aug. 1.-Unprecedented fog
and unreasonable weather for the
month of July has cost summer re-
sort proprietors up and down the New
England coast many thousands of dol
lars, according to statistics compiled
Wednesday and has crippled the coast
wise shipping business to a degree rare
ly before. SeaShore and innkeepers
cottage owners and shiprnasters are
hopeful Of favorable weather and Il
rush of August business as this is the
only means of recuperating their losses
Along thu southern New England
coast older natil rs say that they do
not remember such a July for 80 years,
while a government weather official at
a Maine point declares that records
for the past Is years fail to show such
an amount of COLI weather and fog as
nave prevailed for the last month.
In some cases hotels have been oblig-
ed to close because Of the continual
Jog. AT other places the season when
usually is beginning to gather full
headWay by the middle of July, has
been notable backward. Although
some points report a larger crowd IF
Vacationists than usual. observers Of
noted that travel 10th to and from the
resorts has been vc:y heavy Indicating
that Il large number Of people have re-
turned from the shore earlier than
usual because Of the adverse cOndi-
lions.
Weather bureau officials attribute
the continued fog to tile prevalence If
Southeasterly winds, in contact with The
cold water currents. from the North,
which causes The Gampness.
som" idea Of the financial loss caused
10 the prOprietor+ at the resorts may
be gained when it is considered that tie
New England coast, from Narragams-tu
bay to PASSPORT Me, III the mecca each
year of thousands Of eXcursioniStS from
all parts of the United States and that
within the short space of July, August
and september a summer business
reaching well into s. 600 900 is transact
ed. one poor month, therefore, is diff
fcult To make up there, but already
the August bookings at many of the
hotels and cottages show that many
who would have taken their outing il
July have waited for more favora bic
weather in August.
But if the hotel men and cottage own
els have suffered extensively, tn" coast
wise fleet has been equally crippled.
There have been remarkably few col
lisionS but the fleet has been tied up
in harbors for forTnights at a time. In
Whey ard sound three days only Of
clear weather was the record for the
whole stretch of July.
The Pollock Rip lighthouse has hcpn
struck twice in the fog by passing
craft but in neither instance was the
vessel seriously crippled. of Ports
mouth, y. H.. early last Monday night
the yacht Sabrnaw went out of her
cOurS" III thick weather and brought
up on the rocks off Jerry's point. She
became Il total wreck ana the three
members of her crew reached shore
by aid Of a pneumatic mattress. hay
ing saved nothing but what they stood
in.
The Maritime provinces reported
| many minor accidents to shipping, most
Of which were attributed to the fog.
The most serious of these was the
grounding Of the Norwegian steamer
Pnrs near Liverpool, n. $. She was
| carrying coal from Louisburg for Var
mouth when she lost her bearings in
a total loss.
While the usual summer population
around Narragansett bay has not been
perceptibly affected by the weather,
their usual outdoor recreations have
been hampered and 80 far it has been
a quiet season. The hotels which de-
pend upon transients for their patron
age have suffered severely and the
| campers who gather each summer at
Goes station have been greatly incOn-
venienced by. the damp weather.
Buzzards bay has had more than its
usual quota Of guests for July but the
thick weather up to the past week has
driven away many.
Resorts near Vineyard Haven where
there has been but three days of clear
weather in over three weeks, sustained
considerable loss. In this respect Nam
tucket was. perhaps, the hardest hit.
On Cape Cod, it is said that uD to
July 2S there had not been a perfectly
clear day for the month. Capt. Heze-
kiah Dome, keeper Of the Old Harbor
life saving station, said:
"Tn all my 30 years experience in life
saving on the cape, l have never seen
so much fog"
The hotels have felt the depressing
effects of the weather. but probably the
mon who have felt the loss more heav-
ily than anyone else have been those
" no depend upon the profits from sail
ing and fishing parties for a living. For
several years past since Holsters be-
came scarce I'm these waters and fish
have not been so plentiful. these skip
pcrs have relied upon the summer peo-
PIE as their chief source of revenue.
The Massachusetts, North shore.
where are located the cottages of rco-
pie Of wealth from all sections of the
country. may be said to have suffered
less from the weather than many 9TH
ers Put here, as elsewhere, the open
fire has been more desirable than out
door recreation.
Cold more than fog has hampered the
immense summer business of the Maine
coast. One weather official there made
the statement that the weather for July
was the DOOreSt in 1S..yearS For the