The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1952-02-22

clnlLy OF the wreck. IL was IHe
scene of disaster. 1t was a true
realization of shipwreck.
Mr.. Poland said: I'VE heard &C
counts from the rescuers of van
dalism that was almost hard to be-
lieve, of goulism that was almost
incredible, committed by some of
the negro residents of the beach,
and also by a number of whites.
We were told of how the dead
were robbed of valuables and cloth
ing, the sacred person of the fe-
male not being a bar to this saw
ageness of barbarism. We cannot
here relate them. They are a blot
upon civilization that makes a
blush come to the cheek and sor-
row to the heart.
Life Saving Facilities
Inadequate
Charles B. Dickman, first mate,
said: "The lives of over 100 men
and two females may be justly at
tributed to the culpable negligence
and inefficiency of the Life Saving
Station"
The Norfolk papers were very
bitter in commenting on the wreck.
They said:
"The survivors were in a terrible
condition from dysentery, contu-
sions, pneumonia, pluerisy, rheu-
matism, catarrh, wounds and
sprains. Money was raised by the
people of Norfolk to care for the
survivors, they being all poor who
had no means with which to care
for their destitute conditions. The
old Church of st. Pauls was offer
ed for a hospital to take care of
the wounded. The Cygnet and
Croatan, government vessel s,
brought the dead and wounded to
Norfolk. Sleeping apartments for
them were maintained in an old
store on Market Street"
The next morning the Norfolk
papers said:
"The Metropolis is a most
thorough wreck. She has gone to
pieces and broken up into kindling
wood. She must have be- n
thoroughly rotten and never fit to
put to sea. The only parts of it
that are visible are an iron davit
and a part of the boiler. The beach
is strewn with fragments of the
wreck, in some places piled several
feet high. There was no recovery
of the bodies this morning (Feb.
p. The rapidity with which the
vessel broke up is strikingly evil
dent from the fact that a bar of
railroad iron came ashore on por-
tions of the wreck. The oldest resi-
dents of th< beach say that they
have never known more complete
wreck. It was criminal to send her
to sea, as the debris shows how
rotten the timbers were. Mr.. w. A.
Poyner, who has large experience
in breaking up vessels of all kinds,
says he never saw such rottenness,
and the general opinion expressed
is that the lives lost were a sacri-
flee to a criminal negligence Who'll
ly objectionable"
Terrible Suffering
The natives were described as
being on the scene in great num-
bers, gathering in the debris while
many bodies were strewn about
them on the beach. Sixty survivors
were kept at the Lighthouse and
fifty at the Currituck Shooting
Club. The wretchedness and mis-
! cry of the rescued, their -pitiable
! plight and appearance could not be
| portrayed. Huddled together, al
most naked, many wounded and
! bruised, many in need of clothing
=. the story is one of horror. 1t
is one that speaks with no mincing
words. 1t is one that will arouse
an indignation, righteous and
just against those who put at the
mercy of the ocean waves nearly
$50 lives in a vessel that was in
every respect unseaworthy, that
was as rotten as punk, and that
could be likened to a death trap.
while deepest censure should
be put upon the guilty parties who
were responsible for sending the
hulk of the Metropolis" to sea, 8
like censure is due the Govern.
ment for the miserable apology Of
what is termed life saving sta.
tons. To think Of it, on a coast
like that of Currituck, Kitty Hawl
and Hatteras, a coast that j:
strewn with milestones of wrecks
dismal gravestones of disaster
that stations are provided some II
and 20 miles apart, stations witt
only a crew of seven men to each
this force to patrol beach of th'
i length stated, with no appliances
! in the shape Of horses, or teams t
move with clerity, the life saving
apparatus to give aid to the wreck
ed, is a crime unpardonable--f
crime that cries aloud for redress.
SfMN1k..orxrIsrO x.gatx1s