Gilpin observer., 1912-05-09


S proper from the fury of the sea
In winter and since the early
days of Atlantic commerce they have been the
final resting-paces of countless craft and crews.
To protect the lives of seafarng men from the
treachery OF this coast the United States govern
ment has built and manned thrty-three lfe-sav-
ing stations along its length The OF these
number two hundred and sixty-four men, seven
men and keeper, or captain, to each station.
On the eighth day of February, 1896 the ther-
mometer at the weather bureau In New York
city stood at zero. In Florida the temperature
was the lowest ever recorded there 1t was the
coldest day of the year from the Gulf to Maine
and a screaming hurricane was raging along the
entire Atlantic seaboard
The Louis " Place. threemasted schooner
sailed from Baltimore for New York on January
2Sth. On board Captain William Squires
and seven men.
The Place left the mouth Of Chesapeake Bay
Monday, February 4th. The wind was strong
from the southwest and a heavy swell was run.
ming. An hour after reaching the open sea the
gale hauled to the northward and freshened
aarmingly, while the sky became overcast and
all signs of storm were evident At daybreak
the storm had become a reality and the sails of
the Place were close reefed, with the exception
of the foresail, which was stin with ice that 1t
could not be handled by the sailors.
As the heavy seas drenched the forward
part of the schooner they froze to everything
they touched.
Through the day and night all hands were
kept on watch ready for emergency, while the
vessel labored nearly helpless in the bitter tenn
pest On the morning Of the sixth she was dis
covered to be leaking. and Captain squires real
lied that the situation was grave. He held the
craft as well as possible to her course and on the
next day she met the full fury of the hurricane
which added the last touches to her desperate
condition.
By this time her crew were in a HELPLESS con-
diton, totering about the decks, worn out from
sleepless watching and dulled by the fearful cold
There was but thing left to do Captain
squires believed his ship to be Sandy Hook
If the water was not too deep he could anchor
and chance riding out the storm. He cast the
lead and found eight fathoms. Then he called
the crew aft, told them his intention gave each
double portion of grog, and sent them forward
to the cables
But the ice had bound the anchors so deep that.
try they might in their weakened condition,
the men could not chop them out, and after fn-
tile attempts the captain called them aft again.
Realizing now that the prospect was hopeless he
told them to shift for themselves.
They had not long to wait Lifting above the
rush of the gale. the crash of breakers came
from ahead and the sound told all that their fate
was at hand. moment later the Place lay ham,
mcring across the bar just east of the Lone Hill
life-saving station Great South Beach, Long
Island coast. Gigantic waves combed her decks
from stem to stern, and her crew fed to the
shrouds for their lives.
The life-savers of the Lone Hill station had
gone eastward earlier in the morning to assist the
men of the Blue Point station in landing the crew
from another schooner which had stranded dur
Ing the night. Consequently there at
Lone Hill save one man. Surfman Saunders. who
had been left on guard. Hardly had the Place
struck when she was discovered by Saunders
He telephoned the Blue Point station imme
diately, then called the Point O. Woods station to
the west
In five minutes the Lone Hill and Blue Point
crews, having finished with the wreck OF the first
schooner. were fighting their way back westward
in the face Of the hurricane.
The Place lay three hundred yards from the
beach on the outer bar, giant gray sweeping
half way up her masts they broke astern OF
her AT times she invisible in the scud and
the leaden rush OF the snow. Through lulls in
the storm the life-savers the beach occasion
ally caught glimpses of her crew In the port miz
zen rigging where they were clinging for their
lives. There appeared to be eight in all. Two
stood on the crosstrees. six in the shrouds
The three life-saving crews at once grasped
this desperate chance. surf gun placed
in position but before It could be fired cry OF
horror went up from those on shore Through
rift In the whfrling storm the two men lowest in
the -shrouds OF the doomed vessel were seen to
have vanished In n mountainous sea that swept
her fore and aft
line across the foretopmast stay out OF reach Of
the men who remained in the mizzen rigging
Other lines were at once fired, falling almost with
in arms reach of the shipwrecked sailors but
they made effort to secure them Eyidentlv
they were so stffened from the intense cold that
they were unable to move from their positions.
Noon came. The snow flung along the beach in
binding sheets. So heavy was the wind that the
crews OF the life.saving stations were forced 10
crouch down at times to keep from being blown
from their feet.
At one o'clock in the afternoon another shot
was fired. but the line did not fall aboard the
vessel Almost Immediately the storm shut in
closely concealing the Place from view until late
afternoon When the next lull came II was seen