Republican farmer., 1920-02-13
FOOD SHORTAGE FELT ON BOATS HELD FAST
 IN ICE FOR 62 HOURS
CHAPIN HAS DEAD MAN ON BOARD-CREW SUBSISTS FOR DAY AND HALF ON HARDTACK-WATERS SUPPLY
 RAN VERY LOW

Short of food, coal and water and with one dead man aboard the Chapin two large Sound steamers, Chester Chapin and New Hampshire arrived in the harbor this morning after hay
 ng been ice bound a mile easl # Execution Light, for 62 hours. They tied up at the Steamboat dock, foot of Union Square.
 Captain Griffin of the New Hamp- shire, who is the commodore of the Sound fleet, says that his experiences on this trip have been the worst he has had in over 56 years of steam boating on the Sound.
 The New Hampshire left New Lon don Wednesday night for New York With a general cargo and passenger list of 30. About mile east of Exc cution Light, which is off Portchester, the steamer became fast in the ice which jan1med the western end of the Sound, and although the engines were going at full speed just before she stopped the New Hampshire -only | made three boat lengths in 30 min utes.
 i The steamer was not provisioned 1 for a long trip and food soon became
 scarce. For a past day and a half | the crew were compelled to subsist
 on hard tack.
 l The Chester Chapin, of the same I line, which was bound from New i York to New London became fast in | the ice a short distance from the ! New Hampshire after having plough
 ed her way through the ice from the | western end of the jam. Being bet 1 ter off in supplies, than the New
 Hampshire, Capt. Pettigrew ordered
 that some of his supplies be trans | ferred to the New Hampshire This was done by attaching the
 packages of food to a casting line
 which was thrown from the New Hampshire and a case of eggs can
 of milk, a bag of flour and other ar ticles of food were drawn across the ice to the New Hampshire
 The thirty passengers of the New
 Hampshire and fifty of the Chapin
 came ashore here and took the trains to their destinations.
 One of the passengers on the Chapin died this morning and the body was taken ashore here after Coroner Phe- Ian had been notified. The cause Of
 his death is not known but from his actions during the night the officers
 of the boat believed that he must have taken a drink of wood alcohol or, other poison which caused his death. He was active around the boat dur F ing the trip until last night when he began to act in a peculiar manner. | a md Fl he {oS i1o sitting in a chair in the saloon. e This is the first time in 1s years l that the ice has interfered with traffic t between New York and the Sound n ports. Even during the severe h 1 weather of two years ago the Sound S travel was not tied up by the ice. l. Some of the ice which surrounded d the steamers was four feet thick and n was hard. as marble. according to IL one of the officers. The ice jam ex- 1T tends from about a mile east of Ex-
 ecution Light to two miles west of it. The tide from Sandy Hook meets g the tide from Montauk near Fort t, Schuyler and the ice was brought in # from both sides, causing the jam. d On the Chap1n the water became so O low that the engineer had to use salt $ water for his boilers in order to save 3. the fresh water for drinking and cook
 ing The boilers are now cruSted with salt and the tubes will have to be A cleaned out when the boat arrives in New London.
 > Both steamers had just enough coal to last until they arrived in th9 T Bridgeport harbor and they will have
 to replenish their supply of coal here n before they can proceed. \ With a change of wind during the night the ice began to drift. east and
 released the steamers. They i'm
 mediately steamed to Bridgeport, this L. being the first open harbor.
 There are number of other
 steamers in the ice and they mus
 await the arrival of coal before they
 can leave as their supply is not suf t. fcient to bring them to Bridgeport Ii, The steamer Maine, which Is or .s Execution Reef. is badly damaged = about the stern with a hole fin hel d hull and the after deck is badly dam B. aged. The lighter which was sen
 from New York to take off the pas 'd sengers from the Maine broke dowr es when some distance away but another re boat succeeded in removing the pas H. sengers. The Maine lies in a danger es ous position. If the ice moves and CT gale springs up she may become as wreck.
 n, Both steamers are equipped with e. wireless outfit and the operators wer, ea kept busy most of the time sending IS messages to the Brooklyn navy yard al Passengers were obliged to wal for several hours before they coult or have messages sent to their friends.