Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1912-04-13
BURNING SHIP
RUN ON ROCKS
Steamer Ontario Wins Thrilling
Race For Land.
CREW STAYS ON VESSEL
The Passengers Were Taken or al
Montauk Point. While Fire RACES
In Vessels Hold.

W. vSoegt ttSsas
The steamship Ontario. Of the Mer.
chants and Mariners line. hound from
Baltimore to Boston. was beached a
mile and a hall west of the Montauk
Point light at Montauk. l.. l., with her
forward hold crammed with burning
bales OF cotton.
Her thirty passengers were taken
ffand carried In a tug to New Lon
don. Her crew and Captain W. J. Bond
are still aboard. throwing smouldering
cotton and kegs of rosin into the sea
and lowering the rest of her cargo
into lighters. They think the fire Is
under control and that the ship will
be saved and iloated.
An episode that had the elements OF
a real catastrophe turned out To be
mostly picturesque. The passengers
had time to dress and depart with all
their baggage. A breeches buoy. rugged
by the life savers OF the Dutch Plain
station, was not needed for them. They
were lowered without fuss In two OF
the ships boats and transferred with.
out mishap to the tug Tasco. which
took them 10 New London to continue
their way to Boston.
The only person hurt was a life
saver. Davi.' II. Miller. while he was
holding a sake that was 10 make fast
the land end of the bveeches buoy
cable. He was hit ~ an axehead that
few of its handle. The axe blade
gashed his forehead over the right
eye.
The Ontario captain. steering his
ship straight for shore. with his eyes
smartng from the smoke that swept
up through the fogward hatch and
back into the pilot house. could not
have picked more desolate spot for
Bleaching. The vessel lies on an even
keel about 300 feet from the only
stretch of beacI :" This region that Is
not clean sand ara shore there Is
cluttered with rocl Angling from peb
bles to boulders Back OF this rock.
forbidding collection. rises blum 100
feet high, In whose soft soil great
riffs have been made by the waves
and tide.
When the Ontario was beached
there was only one landsman wit.
ness TO the event. This lone witness
of the ships distress was David Mil
Ter. the life saver who>was later hurt.
He was patrolling the beach in the
rain when he saw faint glow on the
ocean OF to the southeast Squirting
through the drizyie. he saw rocket
rise brightly and fade and that was
enough for Miller He rushed to a lit
tie hut that shelters government
telephone and called up his mates al
the Dutch Plain station.
From the telephone he ran TO the
brink of the cliff and shot up rocket,
which meant Your signal Is seen
and aid will come as soon as posi-
BILE"
The Ontario drew nearer, the smoke
spouting from her forward hatch. with
now and then a CLEAN Of red from the
flames in the cotton below. She was
headed for the nearest land. Dead
Mans Bend.
When the fire was first discovered
they had been summoned to the main
saloon and locked in. There the cap
tian had told them that there was nc
immediate danger and that the SHY
was sure TO be heached before the
flames could possibly burst through
the compartment filled with cotton. So
when the Ontario was beached tho
thirty passengers stod there on the
upper deck Inc tug Tasco had ar.
rived and the passengers were trans
fcrred