Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1915-09-20
NEWARK DOCTOR
DROWNED WHEN !
LAUNCH UPSETS
G. F. M. Lamont PerIshes in
Surf Off Shark RiVer-com-
panions Rescued.
VICTIM LEAVES WIFE AND
FIVE LITTLE CHILDREN
Coast Guards at Avon Blamed
by Sightseers for Not
Going to Rescue.

DR., George F. M. Lamont, of 22l
Ballantine Parkway an eye and ear
specialist, with offices at 1874 Clinton
avenue, and a member of the staffs
of st. Barna bass Hospital and the
Newark Eye and Ear Inflrmary, was
drowned yesterday when his motor
launch was swamped in the surf off
Shark river inlet between Belmar and
Avon. At the time of the accident
he was bringing the boat from his
summer home at Mantoloking to this
city. His wife and five daughters,
the oldest eleven, and the youngest
by boat, intending to remain at the
shore for some time longer. They
reached home this morning by train
shortly before the arrival of the
physicians body.
In the launch with DIR. Lamont were
Stephen NJ. Miller, of 124 Hillside ave-
nue., Orange, and Charles Grant, a
negro employe of the doctors. They
were thrown into the sea also, but
were kept aflot by their life preserv-
ers until rescued by the life guards
from the Shark River Life Saving
Statiot at Avon. DR.. Lamont had a
life preserVer when he went over
board, but the straps broke and he
was overcome by tie heavy seas be-
fore the arrival of the life savers
So strong was the current that his
body was washed ashore before the
return of the llfeboat with his two
companions.
Hundreds of spectators saw the ac-
cident. Big crowds both at Avon and
Belmar watched the boats struggle
to get into Shark river inlet. For
time it seemed as though the Lamont
boat would get through safely.
was Joseph p. Tumulty, secretary to
President Wilson, He has a summer
home on Shark river at Avon. He
reached Avon from Washington late
Saturday. The Tumulty residence Is
only a short distance from the ocean.
BIames Coast Guards.
Many who saw the drowning agreed
that 1t would have been ayerted had
the life guards at the United States
station at Avon been willing to take
chance with their boat. The La
mont launch was about quarter of
mile off shore at the Shark river
inlet between two heavy lines of
breakers, signalling for help for more
than an hoLg before 1t was swamped.
The guards stood on the shore watch
ing the struggles of the boat and
when asked why they did not go to
the rescue replied their boat would
not live in the sea.
They did not even bring 1t to the
shore, and more valuable time was
lost after the launch capsized while
the guards ran two city blocks from
the shore to their boathouse and back
again with the boat. When 1t was
launched 1t rode the waves without
difficulty, but in the delay DIR. La
mont became tangled In his broken
e-preserver and was drowned.
Long Run Up Shore.
The doctors summer home was at
Mantolol1ing, on strip of land
several miles south of Point Pleasant
and running between Barnegat bay
and the ocean. The three men left
there in the boat Saturday, making
the fourteen-mile run south in Barne-
gat bay to Barnegat inlet, where they
spent the night. They started up the
coast early yesterday, although con-
dtions were against them; but got as
far as Belmar without mishap. 1t
was then. decided to make the run
into Shark river, as that Is the only
inlet between Belmar and Sandy
Hook, the latter point being mora
than thirty miles north.
The Lamont boat made Its way
through one line of breakers only to
find 1t would be impossible for them
to negotiate another troubled space
which would let them through Shark
river inlet. Realizing their danger
Continued on Page 2, Column IL