The life savers of Cape Cod

by J. W. Dalton

HISTORIC WRECKS.

Thousands of lives have been lost in the wrecks that have taken place along the shores of Cape Cod since the Mayflower cast anchor in the harbor at Provincetown in 1620. There is no record of the disasters previous to the establishment of the United States Life-Saving Service in 1872, other than mention in town records and histories of the dates and circumstances of the most memorable, or those attended by great loss of life.

The first shipwreck on Cape Cod, of which there is any record, occurred in 1626, when the historic ship Sparrowhawk, Captain Johnson, from England, with colonists bound for Virginia, stranded on the shoals near Orleans, and became a total loss. The story of the wreck is told by Governor Bradford in his diary of the Plymouth Colony. The ship’s bones were discovered in a mud bank in 1863, the washing away of the shore line disclosing them to view.

BRITISH FRIGATE SOMERSET.

AN OLD WRECK.

Another historic wreck was that of the British frigate Somerset, which stranded on Peaked Hill Bars, Nov. 2 or 3, 1778. The Somerset was one of the fleet of British men-of-war, whose guns had stormed the heights of Bunker Hill, and terrorized the commerce of the colonies. She was at anchor in Boston Harbor the night that Paul Revere made his famous ride. When she met with disaster she was in pursuit of a fleet of French ships, which were reported to be in Boston Harbor. The Somerset had been at anchor in Provincetown harbor for some time, leaving there a few days before she was lost, to go in search of the French ships. She struck Peaked Hill Bars during a northeast gale, while trying to round the Cape, and enter the harbor at Provincetown. She had a complement of four hundred and eighty men, and is supposed to have carried sixty guns, thirty-two, twenty-four, and twelve pounders. She struck on the bars with terrific force, and instantly the seas began to pound her to pieces. She was finally thrown up on the beach by the tumultuous walls of water, and Captain Aurey and the few of the crew who had not perished reached the shore.

MATILDA BUCK.

The residents of Provincetown viewed the wreck from High Pole Hill, and summoned Capt. Enoch Hallett, of Yarmouth, and Colonel Doane, of Wellfleet, who, with a detachment of militia, made Captain Aurey and the survivors prisoners.

Captain Hallett took charge of the prisoners, marching them up the Cape to Barnstable, and later to Boston, Colonel Doane being left to look after the wrecked craft. There was much jubilation on Cape Cod and in Boston over the disaster. The bones of the Somerset remained buried for a century, when the shifting sands exposed them to view. Relic hunters soon carried away nearly all of the wreckage that could be obtained, and the shifting sands have again entombed what remains of the famous old frigate.

Another historic wreck was that of the pirate ship Widdah, which was lost near the site of the Cahoon’s Hollow Life-Saving Station in 1718. The ship was commanded by Captain Bellamy, and carried twenty-three guns and a crew of one hundred and thirty men. Captain Bellamy had captured seven vessels off the shores of Cape Cod, and on one of them had placed seven of his crew. The captain of the captured ship ran his vessel close to the shore, and the seven pirates were taken prisoners. Later six of them were executed in Boston. The Widdah soon after was driven ashore during a gale, and all hands, save an Englishman and an Indian, were lost.

A BAD WRECK.

A scene of awful terror occurred when the Josephus, a British ship, was wrecked on Peaked Hill Bars in the year 1842. She had a cargo of iron rails. Her crew had been driven to the rigging as soon as the vessel struck, and one after another they were seen to fall into the raging sea. Those who had gathered on the shore could hear the despairing cries of the imperiled crew, but were powerless to aid them. At last two of the spectators, Daniel Cassidy and Jonathan Collins, procured a dory, and against the earnest pleadings of their friends, and in the almost certain assurance that they were going to their death, pushed off from the beach, saying as a last farewell, “We can’t stand this any longer; we are going to try and rescue those poor fellows if it cost us our lives.” Half-way out to the wreck the two heroes successfully battled with the sea, then a giant comber, catching their frail boat, carried it along and buried it under tons of tumbling water. The gallant men were seen to rise and struggle desperately to reach the overturned boat, but perished in the attempt. The men remaining in the rigging of the Josephus were soon after swept to death by the monstrous waves that tore the ship to pieces.

In 1848 the brig Cactus was lost on the bars along the back of the Cape.

WRECKERS AT WORK ON KATIE J. BARRETT.

Along the shore near the Cahoon’s Hollow Station the immigrant ship Franklin was deliberately run ashore in 1849, and many of her poor, helpless passengers perished in the disaster. This was one of the most appalling disasters that ever occurred on Cape Cod. Speedy retribution came to the officers of the ship for their terrible crime, the captain and nearly all the others losing their own lives in the wreck. The late Capt. Benjamin S. Rich, afterwards of the United States Life-Saving Service, was the first to discover the wreck, and also found a box containing some papers that subsequently proved that the disaster was intentional.

KATIE J. BARRETT BREAKING UP.

The year 1853 was a memorable one in the history of Cape Cod, there being twenty-three appalling disasters along its shore during that period. Among the vessels lost were many ships and brigs well known in shipping circles in Boston and on Cape Cod. The weather was bitter cold and violent storms swept the coast when most of the vessels were lost, so that nothing could be done to assist the imperiled crews, and those who did reach the shore perished from exposure on the desolate uplands and beaches.

In 1866 the White Squall, built for a blockade runner, while on her way home from China, struck on the bars along the back of the Cape and became a total loss.

The wreck of the Aurora is known to Cape Codders as the “Palm Oil Wreck.” The vessel was loaded with palm oil from the west coast of Africa. She struck on the bars off the back of the Cape, and was a total loss.

Another terrible disaster was the wreck of the schooner Clara Belle, coal laden, which stranded on the bars off High Head Station, on the night of March 6, 1872, at the height of a fearful blizzard. Captain Amesbury and crew of six men attempted to reach the shore in their boat. The craft had gone but a few yards when she was overturned, throwing the men into the sea. John Silva was the only member of the crew that reached the shore. He found himself alone on a frozen beach with the mercury below zero. He wandered about during the night trying to find some place of shelter, and was found the next morning by a farmer standing dazed, barefooted, and helpless in the highway three miles from the scene of the wreck. His feet and hands were frozen, and it was a long time before he recovered from the effects. The schooner was driven high and dry on the beach, and when boarded the next day a warm fire was found in the cabin. The haste of the crew to leave the vessel had cost them their lives.

KATIE J. BARRETT JUST BEFORE HER FOREMAST FELL.

The first fearful disaster after the life-saving service reorganization, took place on Peaked Hill Bars, March 4, 1875, when the Italian bark Giovanni became a total loss and her crew of fourteen perished. The bark stranded too far from the beach to be reached by the wreck ordnance used in those days, and the surf was pounding on the shore with such fury that a boat could not be launched, much less live, in the sea. No assistance could be rendered the poor sailors, and one by one they dropped into the sea and were lost.

The most appalling disaster in the history of the life-saving service on Cape Cod was the wreck of the iron ship Jason, on the bars at Pamet River, Dec. 5, 1893. Twenty-four lives were lost. The ship was bound from Calcutta, India, for Boston, with a cargo of jute. Captain McMillan, who was in charge of the ship, had a crew of twenty-four men, including an apprentice, Samuel J. Evans, of Raglan, England. Thick weather prevailed off the coast for several days preceding the disaster, and Captain McMillan, not being in possession of reliable information as to his position, obtained it from a New York pilot boat.

When about one hundred miles off the coast he unfortunately shaped his course to the westward for the purpose of raising some landmark. When the Jason approached the Cape, the wind was blowing a gale from the northeast, and the atmosphere was thick with rain, which soon turned to sleet and snow.

AT THE MERCY OF THE SEA.

The life savers along the shore at Nauset first saw the Jason, and word that a ship was in dangerous proximity to the shore was sent along the Cape to all the stations. The Jason was last seen just before five o’clock by the day patrol of the Nauset Station. The life savers, knowing that she could hardly weather the Cape, kept a sharp lookout for her, and at all the stations the horses were hitched into the beach carts and every preparation made to go to the assistance of the ship without a moment’s delay. It was a fearful night along the shores of Cape Cod, the coast guardians having all they could do to go over their patrol. Nothing was seen or heard of the doomed ship up to seven o’clock in the evening, and the life savers hoped that she had managed to work offshore or around the Cape. At half-past seven, however, Surfman Honey, of the Pamet River Station, burst into the station, and shouted, “Hopkins (the north patrol) has just burned his signal.” A moment later Hopkins rushed into the station and reported that the Jason had struck on the bars about a half mile north of the station. Keeper Rich and his crew were ready for the emergency, and, with the beach cart, rushed to the scene. The shore was then piled with wreckage, and the slatting of the sails of the wrecked ship sounded above the roar and din of the storm. A careful lookout for the shipwrecked seafarers was kept by the life savers as they hurried to the scene, and Evans, the sole survivor of the disaster, was found clinging to a bale of jute. He was clad only in his underclothes, and was almost totally helpless.

SHIP JASON THE MORNING AFTER SHE WAS WRECKED.

The wrecked vessel was sighted through the storm and a shot promptly fired over the craft, but the crew had perished almost as soon as the ship struck, and the efforts of the life savers were of no avail. The ship (it was afterwards learned from young Evans) broke in two almost as soon as she struck, and the members of the crew perished shortly after. Evans told the author that as soon as the ship struck he put on a life-preserver and took to the rigging. The captain ordered the boats launched, but they were smashed as soon as they struck the water. While clinging to the rigging, considering what was best to do, Evans says that he must have been hit by a big wave or wall of water, as the next that he knew he was on the beach and the life savers were taking him to the station. The bodies of twenty of the crew were found and buried in the cemetery at Wellfleet. Evans soon recovered from the effects of the buffeting he received by the seas, and returned to his home in England. Part of the ship is now visible at low tide, and is an object of much interest to visitors to Cape Cod.

SAMUEL J. EVANS, SOLE SURVIVOR OF WRECKED SHIP JASON,

With life preserver which he wore when cast ashore.

The wreck of the ship Asia, in which twenty lives were lost, occurred on Nantucket shoals, near the Great Round Shoal Lightship in February, 1898. The ship was on her way from Manila for Boston, and was commanded by Captain Dakin. Besides the crew of twenty-three men Captain Dakin’s wife and little daughter were aboard.

The ship struck on the shoals during a furious northeast gale and snowstorm on Sunday afternoon, but did not begin to break up until the next day.

When the ship commenced to pound to pieces, the mate and the few members of the crew who had not been swept overboard did all in their power to assist Captain Dakin in shielding his wife and daughter from being swept away by the seas which were breaking over the craft. Before the ship broke up, the mate lashed the captain’s daughter and himself to a big piece of wreckage, hoping in that way to reach the shore. Captain Dakin and his wife were swept to death before they could fasten themselves to any of the wreckage. Of the whole number aboard the ill-fated craft but three were saved. These were sailors, who clung to a piece of the ship, and after drifting about in Vineyard Sound for several days, were picked up nearly dead and placed aboard one of the lightships. The bodies of the mate, with his arms locked about the captain’s daughter, and both securely lashed to a piece of wreckage, were picked up a few days later in Vineyard Sound. Both had been frozen to death. But few of the bodies of the other members of the crew were found. The ship became a total loss, and the following day there was not a vestige of her left to mark the spot where the tragedy took place.

SHIP ASIA WRECKED ON GREAT ROUND SHOAL.

The schooner Job H. Jackson was another terrible wreck that occurred on Peaked Hill Bars. The schooner struck on Jan. 5, 1895, during bitter cold weather, and the crew were driven into the rigging. A fearful sea was pounding on the shore, and it required the combined herculean efforts of the Peaked Hill Bars, Race Point, and High Head life-saving crews, with their life-boats, to rescue the imperiled seafarers, who were badly frost-bitten and helpless when taken from the wrecked vessel.

The schooner Daniel B. Fearing, which became a total loss on the bars off Cahoon’s Hollow Station, struck there during a fog on May 6, 1896. The life savers put off to the wreck in their surf-boat, and brought the crew ashore. A gale sprung up with great suddenness as the crew were leaving the doomed vessel, and as the last man jumped into the life-boat the masts of the big schooner fell with a crash, and the sea soon completed the work of total destruction.

JOHN S. PARKER, WHICH BECAME A TOTAL LOSS ON NAUSET BARS.

On Sept. 14, 1896, the Italian bark Monte Tabor struck on Peaked Hill Bars during a furious northeast gale. The disaster was attended with the loss of five men, whose deaths were involved in circumstances of mysterious and almost romantic interest. Three were suicides, while the manner in which the other two perished could not be certainly explained. The bark hailed from Genoa, and carried a crew of twelve persons, including the officers and two boys. She had a cargo of salt from Trapani, Island of Sicily, for Boston. The craft had been struck by a hurricane on September 9, and when off Cape Cod on the night of the 13th, in endeavoring to make the harbor at Provincetown, she struck the dreaded Peaked Hill Bars. She was discovered by Patrolman Silvey, of the Peaked Hill Bars Station. The night was pitch dark, the surf extremely high, and the bark was soon pounded to pieces. As the life-saving crews could not locate the wreck, there was nothing to shoot at and nothing to pull to, even if a boat could have been launched. It is believed that the captain was so humiliated by the loss of his vessel, that he fell into a frenzy of despair, and resolved to take his own life, and it would appear that others of his crew followed his example of self-destruction.

A TOTAL WRECK.

STRUCK WITH ALL SAILS SET.

Six of the crew managed to reach the shore on the top of the cabin, and were pulled out of the surf by the life savers. Another, a boy, said that he swam ashore. An investigation, conducted by the Italian counsel, disclosed that the captain committed suicide.

The first evidence that the steamer Portland had met with disaster during the memorable gale of November, 1898, was found by John Johnson, a surfman of the Race Point Station, who picked up a life-preserver from the ill-fated craft.

WRECKAGE WHICH CAME ASHORE AFTER THE STEAMER PORTLAND WAS LOST AND LIFE PRESERVER FROM THE ILL-FATED CRAFT.

Life preserver in right foreground.

Soon after Johnson found the life-preserver, wreckage from the steamer was seen in the surf along the shore, and within a short time the beach for miles was strewn with it. All the life savers suffered great hardship during that gale, which was the worst in the history of the life-saving service.

Twice since the establishment of the United States Life-Saving Service on Cape Cod, the life savers in the life-boats have met with disaster, and members of the crews perished in the catastrophe.

CHARLES A. CAMPBELL WRECKED AT PAMET RIVER.

LILLIE ABANDONED AND IN A BAD PLACE.

Keeper David H. Atkins and Surfman Frank Mayo and Elisha Taylor of the Peaked Hill Bars Station perished by their boat being wrecked during a second trip to the stone-loaded sloop, C. E. Trumbull, on the morning of Nov. 30, 1880, to take off two sailors who refused to go ashore the first time.

Surfman S. O. Fisher, now keeper of the Race Point Station, C. P. Kelley, now keeper at High Head Station, and Isaiah Young, who has not since seen a well day, lived to tell the story after a life or death struggle with icy seas and currents and being swept for miles along the shore before they crawled up on the beach.

But the Monomoy disaster of March 17, 1902 was the most appalling and attended with the greatest loss of life, twelve men, seven of them life savers, perishing.

SCHOONER BEING POUNDED TO PIECES OFF ORLEANS.

The conduct of the Monomoy crew on this occasion affords a noteworthy example of unflinching fidelity to duty. By long experience they were fully aware of the perils that must be encountered in going to the wrecked vessels, but it was a summons which the brave and conscientious life savers could not disregard.

The story of this disaster is still fresh in the public mind.