The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-16
PILOT BOAT ON SEA BOTTOM.
HERMIT'SCREW COHESIN As DECK
LOAD on THE MONTEREY.

steamer and somehow Got Smack In
the wa, went Down In a Hurry, LeaSs
ing the Crew to save Themselves,
T Tie Ward Line steamship Monterey came
into port early yesterday morning with a
deckload Of pilots. She had acquired
this cargo suddenly and without premedi-
tDtion about four and a half miles south OF
Sandy Hook lightship. The deckload and
the skipper of the Monterey do not agree
as to just how it ali happe ed. They agree
upon one thing, however, and that is that
the pilot DO { Hermit, No. 7, now lies at
the bottom of the sea, about eighty feet deep,
OF the Jersey coast. 1t was a smash from
the bow Of the Monterey that sent here there,
and that none Of the pilots Is keeping her
company is a result of their skill and courage
in their hour Of peril.
The Hermit left the harbor Friday fore
noon and since then had been cruising
about of Sandy Hook shedding pilots as
fast as incoming vessels demanded their
services. About 8 o'clock yesterday morn
ing the Hermit's lookout picked up the
lights of the Monterey, which was plugging
up the coast nd nearing the end Of her
1,2oo mile run from Havana. The Hermit
lay on and off the wind waiting for the liner
W NOAAAO up AAbCAcAhS NNe SNC CAN
pilot aboard her.
It rs to be presumed that somebody was
at the Hermit's wheel, though the identity
OF the steersman is shrouded in obscurity
Whoever he was, Capt. Smith Of the Mon
terey ls OF the opinion that he made a pretty
bad job I it.
1T was a very dark night" said Capt.
Smith. Il was on the bridge and the pilot
vol was on our port bow. Naturally l
thought she was gong to luf up and lie
to to put a man aboard us. Instead Of
hat she drove r straight across our bow.
We were moving slowly though our engines
were not turning, and l at once signalled
for full speed astern. It was too late to
stop. though, and the Monterey hit the
Hermit on the starboard quarter. 1 low
cred a lifeboat away ss fast as it could be
done, but the men from the pilot boat were
all right before we got to them. The hermit
sank from sight wlthln FIVE minutes.
On board the Hermit when the crash came
we're Pilot Mccarthy, Warner and Nelson,
other men. When the Monterey hit the
Hermit her deathblow Mccarthy was below
gstting ready to go aboard the liner.
the crash knocked me down he said,
and / heard the men shouting on deck.
l ran up and took a ooh at the hole in our
quarter. You coIld ha' driven a horsecar
through il. took a Steve Brodie over the
rail for mine. Any time a boat is gotn' to
turn herself into a submarine it's no place
for a married manor a single one, either.
Two Of the boys jumped in after me and we
padded as far away from the schooner as
We could get. The rest OF 'e,n jumped into
the yawl we were town astern and when
we hollered they pulled around and picked
US up. One Teller in the crew named Winters
was pretty nigh gone. He was unconscious
when they pulled him inboard.'
The accident to the Herm il adds one
more TO the list of violent happenings as a
result OF which the victims have suffered
from a notat lie loss of memory. 1t was
in possil lie to find any of the Hermit's
crew who could remember who was at the
wheel when the smash occurred.
Nope, it wasnt ne" said one Of the crew
who was too modest to give his name. Il
was below sleepin' al out thirty knots to the
hour. An il cUuldn't have / cen Bill Croker
neither, because when | walked up after the
srrash Bin was steppin' on my face, havin'
teen shook outer the hunk up over mine.
Yep, Bill an ne can prove a lullaby all
rifht. ! shall always be grateful TO Bill
for steppin' on my face, because he had
some matches and when a boats on her
beams ends and the lanterns smashed
IL amt like a stroll through Battery Park
to find your way on deck
The Hermit WAS a two masted schooner.
She was built thirteen years ago in Brook
lyn and was eighty feet long. Like all the
Noccclb VI ucT Cldsr, SIG was DullJ 10 Oety
the most savage Atlantic gale and for years
had Tade good the boast OF her builders
that she could make faces at any storm
that ever ragged.
When any serious accident happens to a
sailing vessel, il she survives 1t her name
d not ~infrequently changed. When the
Hermit was built she was called the James
Gordon Bennett.
On August II, 1901 when she was the
James Gordon Bennett, the pilot boat. Abe
was rammed by the Hamburg-American'
liner Alene of Scotland Light. Three OF
h Eve pilots aboard and the cook were
drowned.
The boat was named the David r. Leahy
when she was built in 1898 at a cost Of
$4,000.