The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1951-11-02
Gallant Deeds of By-Gone
Years in The Walter
Raleigh CoastIand.
WRECK OF SCHOONER
HENRY p. SIMMONS

HENRY r. SlMMONS
(NOTE: October 1889, was in
general very tempestuous month,
but there can be little doubt that
the most destructive storm exper-
fenced on the middle Atlantic coast
of the United States during the
month was that which reached the
shores of Virginia and North Car
DINA on the afternoon of the 23rd,
and ragged with great violence and
with but slight intermission until
the evening of the 9th. The cas-
terly wind blew at times with the
violence of hurricane, and drove
the sea into mountainous pillows
which endangered all craft so un-
fortunate as to be within its infiu-
ence. The low beaches of Virginia
and North Carolina were literally
stewn with wrecks, and the hardy
crews of the Sixth District were
kept exceedingly busy saving life
and property. The storm had come
with such suddenness that many
coasters weer unable to reach
harbor, and this will account for
the great number of casualties.
Other accounts of the rescue of the
crews of several vessels will be
found from time to time in these
columns. In three instances, how
ever, there were lamentable loss of
life, the particulars of which will
follow in this newspaper. The YES
sells involved were the schooner
Henry P. Simmons, Francis E.
: Waters, and Lizzie S. Haynes; all
three being wrecked within a few
miles Of each other, the first two
in the night of the 23rd and the
Haynes on the following day. The
case of the Simmons was pecul-
iarly narrowing one, as, owing to
the long duration of the storm and
the great distance from the shore
at which she sunk, it was not until
the morning of the 18th that any
thing could be done by the crews
of the neighboring stations and
then only one man was saved. The
rest of her people were lost.)
The Henry P. Simmons was a
fine, staunch three-masted schoon-
er, of about six hundred and fifty
tons, hailing from Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, and valued at $24,-
600. She carried a crew of eight
men all told, and was commanded
by Robert C. Grace, who owned an
interest in her. She had sailed from
Charleston, South Carolina, on or
about October 18th, on her way
to Baltimore, Maryland, deeply
laden with a cargo of phosphate
rock valued at $500, for use in
the manufacture of fertilizers. The
place wheer she sunk is a mile and
half to the northward and east
ward of the Wash Woods Station
(Sixth District), and little north
of the boundary line between the
States of Virginia and North Car
DINA.
The voyage was without special
incident until the afternoon of the
23rd, when the gale set in from the
northeast and with it a high and
dangerous sea, which caused the
vessel to plunge deeply and ship
great deal of water. The sole sur
vivor, Robert Lee Garrett, a color
ed man, says that the deck was so
constantly deluged by the seas that
at s o'clock, when the fury of the
storm made it necessary to take in
the already close-reefed mainsail,
the men were unable to handle it
for fear of being washed over
board, and all hands were driven
to the rigging for safety. The helm
was dashed amidships, and with no
one to guide her the schooner was
thus practically helpless, and drift
ed completely at the mercy of the
wind and waves. Rain was also
falling in torrents, so that it Was
impossible to see anything around
them, and the poor fellows were
quite ignorant of their distance
from the shore, knowing only that
they must be in the vicinity of
False Cape, Virginia.
The laboring of the vessel had
also caused her to spring leak,
and this added to the peril of the