Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1907-02-15
TWO HUNDRED DIE At SEA.
JOY LINE STEAMER LARCHMONT
AND SCHOONER KNOWLTON COL
LIDE OFF BLOCK ISLAND.
ONLY EIGHT ESCAPED.
Bitter Temperature and Rough Waves
Cause an Awful Sacrifice of Lives
After a Collision.

NEW HAVEN. Conn.,, Feb. 1.-THE
steamer Larchmont of the Joy line, was
sunk today off Block island after col
lision with the schooner Harry Knowl-
/ ton. Nearly all OF the 200 persons on the
! Larchmont lost their lives by drowning
or freezing. The cause of the disaster is
not known. The night was clear and
very cold, and the sea was rough. All
hands on the schooner are safe.
Only of Nearly 200 Escaped.
The captain of the Larchmont at noon
said that he had on board between 80
and 200 passengers when the collision
occurred, and only few of these escaped
| with their lives.
! At the time he made the statement
fourteen bodies had been washed
ashore, making only twenty-five out Oh
the total passenger list accounted Tor.
1s1 Missing at 2 p. m.
At .. m. word had been received
that a fishing schooner had PICKED up
one of the Larchmont's boats containing
five passengers and the body of another
who had died from exposure.
So far as could be aScertalned at that
hour only nineteen escaped, all told. Ut
the saved, eight were passengers, six
men and two women. and the rest were
members of tn crew, including Capt.
McVey.
In the boats which carried the sur
vivors were the bodies of several pas
sengers who had frozen to death during
the trip. The survivors say the collision
occurred at 1915 last night
The passengers u1et their deaths in
various ways. Some of them attempted
to launch lifeboats and were frozen to
death on the decks of the laundering
steamer Others were drowned in the
attempt to escape before the vessel went
down and still others who were success
full in launching q lifeboat were frozen
| to death before the small craft reached
shore.
The inhabitants of all parts of the
| island turned out to assist in rescue
work, although many of them live sew
eral miles from the point off which the
steamer sank. The northwest gale con-
tinued with zero temperature.
Found Dead in Lifeboats.
When the first life boats came ashore
| from the steamer it was found that some
of their occupants were dead. In the
| first confusion it was not known wheth-
er they had been pulled from the water
after having been drowned or whether
they were frozen to death.
The Knowlton, which halls from East
port, Me-, was bound from South Am
|
She lay on a sandy bottom this morning,
but was full of water and it was not
known whether she could be foated.
The Larchmont left Providence at
! about 6:3O last night for New York, IN
command of Capt. McVey of Providence.
The chief engineer was Robert Gay OF
Bridgeport, Conn. She carried crew of
about fifty and had on board perhaps
| $50 passengers and miscellaneous car
go of freight.
Crash by Valuable Vessels.
The Larchmont registered S96 tons net,
1903 tons gross She was 252 feet in
length, 81 feet in breadth and "A feet
in depth. She was built at Bath, Me-,
in 1885. The Harry Knowlton regis
tered PIT tons net, and hailed from East
port. Me. She was built at Tottenville,
y. Y, in 1890. She was 1913 feet in
length, SO feet i'll breadth and IL feet in
depth.
The schooner's bow was cut away and
her captain ran her ashore west of Quo
nochontaug to prevent her sinking. The
crew of seven men, including Capt. Ha-
ley, reached shore safely i'll their own
boats
Capt McVey's Thrilling Report.
BLOCK ISLAND, r. l., Feb. r.
For several hours after he was rescued
! Capt. McVey was not able to talk. Later
he dictated the following statement:
''We left Providence at { o'clock.
/ brisk northwest wind was blowing and
we were off Watch Hill at about IL
O'Clock. [ had gone below to look over
the passengers and freight, leaving a
good pilot and quartermaster in the pl-
! lot house. l returned to the pilot house
on my way to my room. Everything was
80. K" l prepared to retire for the
night.
'.Presently l heard the danger signal.
There was a schooner and her crew
seemed to have lost control OF her. With
out warning she luffed up, and before
we had an opportunity to do thing she
was heading for us. The quartermaster
and pilot put the wheel hard aport, but
the schooner was sailing along before
fresh breeze and in q moment she had
ora shed into our port side, directly oppo-
| site the smokestack. L tried to signal to
tbe engineer and mate, but the collision
had broken the main steam pipe. filling
! that part of the boat with steam and
cnttinp off communication with the pilot
house.
"After cutting into our vessel the
schooner fell away and disappeared to
the leeward. [ sent the quartermaster
below and he soon reported that the ship
was filing rapidly.
THE officers and crew were summoned
to their stations and when | saw that
the Larchmont was settling, | ordered
all hands to prepare to leave the ship.
! When | saw that everyone was making
ready to escape as fast as possible, |
went to my boat, which was hanging on
the dayits and took into it six of the crew
and four passengers.
Waited for All on Board.
"When the steamer had settled almost
to the waters edge, we cleared after we
had made sure that there were no pas
! sengers on board who had not been taken
care Of After our boat dropped into the
water we remained in the immediate vi
cinity until the steamer sank and then
we pulled away.
The boat was a heavy one and we
found it impossible to row to the wind
ward so we turned to the leeward and
| started for Block island. The cold was
| terrible. We struggled for hours and
hours, and the pain from our frost-bitten
| hands and feet was almost unbearable.
One Seaman Goes Mad.
Zone of ouc men, a seaman, became
crazed and committed suicide in the boat
by cutting his throat. No one in the