Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1915-06-16
Blowing Up Of Wreck stuns
Many Hundreds. ss..
Coast Guard Cutter Yamacraw De-
stroys Menace to Navigation, and q
Crew Have More Fish & Il
z 3ss; Than They Need. e sii

- u
s3 Savannah, Ga. How the men Of the
United States coast guard cutter
fiYamacraw& caught 1853 pounds Of fish,
ranging from one to two pound ers5 to
huge &denizens OF the deep weighing
800 pounds, while blowing UP the
wreck OF an abandoned schoon erS on
I the coast OF Florida several days5ag
was told very interestingly by Lieu
tenant Alexander, who 10 temporarily
In command OF the cutter during the
absence OF Captain Henderson. I.
VI The Yamacraw left Savannah on
Sunday, April IS, in response to .
wireless message from q steamship,
which stated that the topmasts OF q
sunken schooner had been sighted
about 80 miles to the eastward Of the
st. Johns river entrance.
The cutter arrived at the scene OF
the wreck at daybreak the next morn
ing and ediately set to work to
blow up: the wreck. which was q men.
ace to; navigation. a squad Of men
was sent out In one OF ! the cutters
small boats, and mines heavily charged
with guncotton we're lowered on each
OF the three topmasts which were seen
protruding from the surface OF the
water. IN s4$ Il 3 Il 3,f N!
At the first shot one Of the masts
was demolishe led far below the. water
line, and almost immediate the sur
face Of the water surrounding the
wreck was thick with fish Of various
sizes. Many Of them were badly
stunned, and another small boat was
sent out to gather them up. From the
first shot II snappers weighing 23A
pounds, five horse mackerel weighing
al pounds and 651s pounds Of small
! fish were taken into the second boat,
accord .ng to Lieutenant Alexander.
The charge lowered on the second
mast was then fred, and as the blast
hurled the demolished stick" high
into the air another crop OF stunned
fish appeared on the surface of the
water. 4. I. W !ss8si H 3 81 Il
81 Most OF the fish, Lieutenant Alex
ander said, seemed to be badly
stunned. Others, he said, seemed to
be u:.hs.r.., but all Of them ifopped
around on top Of the water, apparent
ily unable to so below the surface.
Lieutenant Alexander said he believed
some OF the fish: had been blown up
from a depth ot one hundred feet, and
that the lack Of water pressure to
which they were accustomed at that
depth prevented their getting below
the surface again. Most Of them were
easily caught and pulled into the
boats. W 4 ~ a II;
The fish caught following the sec
ond shot were one snapper, two or
three medium sized fish and huge
Jewish weighing 1875 pounds. These
were hauled into the third boat which
had been sent out from the cutter.
At the third shot the men thought
for an instant they had blown up a
whale. Upon closer examination, how
ever, it proved to be second Jew
fish, considerably larger than the
first. This monster, Which proved to
be six feet one inch In length. four
feet three inches in girth and weigh
ing 220 pounds, was roped and towed
by one of the small boats to the side
OF the cutter, where q block and
tackle were used to hoist it on deck.
4 The huge fish was still alive after 1t
had been hoisted over the side OF the
cutter, and graphing hooks similar to
those used by laborers on the cotton
docks were employed to drag it to q
nojnt whera II could not flop over
board. '.%= u y. Ri.
Z " 4 The second Jewish was the biggest
that any OF the officers or men on
board the Yamacraw had ever seen.
After it had been killed it was butch
cred, and some Of the men ate por-
lions Of 1t and declared that it was
fairly edible. ,t.s.t 4, {,