Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-07-11

"A near as can be determined from
the story Of Laurent Hall, the only
I survivor. III" sloop was about a mile
I of Rlockhnusc Point. above CaStin''
? harbor when the accident occurred. a
big black storm cloud came out 81 III"
northwest and spread over the SKY
Even then there WIS no more Wihu
than had been All the afternoon i'iily
Neague, the young captain "i IN"
sl,oI, was a born sailor. and had pass
ed the greater part Of his vacations in
salLoats in the bay. He was looking
for squalls but, as squalls usually do,
this one came without warning.
cant. NcagIIc had left the tI!l,r tor q
moment to attend to something else,
probably to shorten sail, in view Of the
fact that TIL. slnpp was carrying fun
sail and he was hacking ont for squalls.
one of liIr other boys took the tilIrr.
Suddenly III, water Of to the west was
la:,hcd into Whit APPS and u moment
later, before Gait Nragur could ease
OF the main sheet or Inf his boat.
the little Glonl was on her beam ends
and i"r Slis lying ON the water.
The bows NCr" ttInillrd out among
the tanel,. Of til" sails ANA ropes. The
slopp filled immediately and weighted
d"rn with her lca'ici kr,l and hun
drcds Of pounds If ballast. She sank
lili" a rock. Probably Sn3ir of h"r
crew were "ntHnGird il the sails and
ropes ana went down with htr. Tho
others WCr" lrft struggling in the bay.
a mil" from tho nearest lind. with the
water dashed into Whtu,HlS bE the
winh ANA rain drops patt,ring about
them. All In" boys were good SWIM
mcrs. capt. Nca.;iir was as much at
home in the water n; um ii an,j az
rugged Il lad as one could ind any
where. Young Smith had been an attn
sletc since he was in knirkc:h"ckcIa ana
fwaS a fine Swimmer. But the best Ot
! swrulncrs could have done but little
/ In the face of such odds. There was no
wrcckaGe even to offer support to the
boys in the water An oar. a piece of
! board Il hatch. these We're all that re
manned of the sloop. and young Hall
had The good fortune to get hold OF an
1 oar. The boys struggled for their lives
with all the strength ana skill they
possessed, but iii" choppy sea slapped
4 into th2ir faces and forced the salt
water into their mouths. The water
was numbing cold. too. ana the lads
quickly became exhausted. One by one
they went down and finally young Hall,
clnGing To tn" oar and trying to make
his way toward the distant land was
the only survivor Of the tragedy of the
deep.
There were no witnesses of the accident
hut its victims. Nothing WAS known of
1t by the rest of the world until the tug
{ bismarck came up the bay and picked m
young Hall and brought lin to Sandy
Point. The Bismarck had lowed the
lowed the schooner d. H. Rivers from
Stockton to~Sargenteillc and was on her
way up to Bangor. Off Cape Rozier tho
! ing ran into n bad squnll, no doubt the
sss;pne that wrecked the sioop. The big
t1g proceeded up the bay and was about
M Eiockhousc Point and Il mile of shore
WHEN Mate Reuben Abbott ana Engineer
.krhest ilutchingS, who were sitting on
me after deck. heard a faint CRY. The
men ieapcd TO their feet and ran to the
rail- eyes on the alert for Il specll on the
water. They saw Il man struggling with
'i'P waves. now in sight on top Of Il way.
anu then gone from view in the trough,