THE GETTYSBURG TOW
On the 21st day of June, 1927, the ocean-going tug Gettysburg, of the Reading Coal Company, towing four empty barges from Portland for Port Reading, Pennsylvania, was proceeding down the coast outside of Cape Cod. When the tow had reached a point east of Race Point Light, the wind, which had been strong from the northwest, began shifting to the northeast and increasing in violence, but as it was fair and favorable for running down the coast, the tow kept on instead of pulling up for Provincetown.
Every moment the wind increased in force, and when the tow was four miles east of Highland Light the wind had increased to a strong gale and the sea had become very rough. Suddenly at noon the hawser holding the tug to the first barge snapped and the four empty barges comprising the tow were adrift in the raging sea.
Then the tug made strenuous efforts to recover the barges, but the gale and the sea made this impossible.
All the while the storm and the sea were driving the helpless barges nearer and nearer to the sea-swept sand bars where they might be torn to pieces if their keels once touched the bottom. The crews on the barges, realizing that there was no hope of the tug being able to recover them, dropped all the anchors with which they were equipped. This held them, but it was by no means certain that they would be able to do so if the sea and gale further increased.
Capt. Andrews, of the Highland Coast Guard Station, assembled his entire crew and they took their life-saving apparatus up to a point directly opposite the Signal Station of the Weather Bureau on the Highland Cliffs. The tide was running high and sweeping the entire foot of the cliffs and it might be a question whether it would be possible to use the gun and shot line from the shore. So Capt. Andrews placed part of his crew on the cliffs and the others on the beach, and there from this point they watched the situation through the night.
Fortunately the gale did not further increase and by mid-forenoon of the following day the storm had so far moderated that it became possible for the tug to return to pick up her barges and proceed to destination.
The moderating of the gale made it possible to avert what might have been another death-dealing disaster.
CLIFF WHERE THE COAST GUARD WATCHED THE DRIFTING BARGES