The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1959-01-23
Gallant Deeds Of By-Gone
Years in The Walter
Raleigh Coasfland.
WRECK OF SCHOONER
HENRY p. SIMMONS
OFF WASHWOODS 1889


general very tempestuous
month, but there can be little
doubt that the most destructive
storm experienced on the middle
Atlantic coast of the United States
during the month was that which
reached the shores of Virginia and
North Carolina on the afternoon
of the 23rd, and ragged with great
violence and with but slight inter-
mission until the evening of the
9th. The easterly wind blew at
times with the violence of hurri-
cane, and drove the sea into noun
famous pillows which endangered
all craft so unfortunate as to be
within its influence. The low
beaches of Virginia and North
Carolina were literally strewn with
wrecks, and the hardy crews of
the Sixth District were kept ex-
ceedingly busy saving life and
property. The storm had come with
such suddenness that many coast
ers were unable to reach harbor,
and this will account for the great
number of casualties. Other ac-
counts of the rescue of the crews
of several vessels will be found
from time to time in these columns.
In three instances, however, there
was -lamentable loss of life, the
particulars of which will follow
in this newspaper. The vessels in
volved 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 Hayes
on the following day. The case of
the Simmons was peculiarly har-
rowing one, as, owing to the long
duration of the storm and the
great distance from the shore at
which she sank, it was not until
the morning of the 28th 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 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 cargo of phosphate rock
valued at $500, for use in the
manufacture of fertilizers. The
place where she sank is mile and
half to the northward and east
ward of the Wash Woods Station
(Sixth District), and a little north
of the boundary line between the
States of Virginia and North
Carolina.
The voyage was without special
incident until the afternoon of the
23rd, when the gale set in from
the northeast and with a high and
dangerous sea, which caused the
vessel to plunge deeply and ship
a great deal of water. The sole
survivor, Robert Lee Garnett, a
colored man, says that the deck
was so constantly deluged by the
seas that at o'clock, when the.
fury of the storm made it neces-
sary to take in the already close
reefed mainsail, the men were un-
able to handle it for fear of being
washed overheard, and all hands
were driven to the rigging for
safety. The helm was dashed amid
ships, and with no one to guide
her the schooner was thus prac-
tically helpless, and drifted COM