The life savers of Cape Cod

by J. W. Dalton

THE MONOMOY DISASTER.

When the late Capt. Marshall W. Eldredge was appointed keeper, Captain Ellis was his No. 1 surfman. Captain Ellis served as No. 1 surfman until May 1, 1902, when he was appointed keeper to succeed his late captain, whose life was given up in an heroic attempt to rescue an imperiled crew. Captain Ellis married Aureilla M. Cahoon, and is the father of one son. The story of the terrible tragedy in which Captain Eldredge and six members of his crew, together with five persons whom they had taken from the stranded barge Wadena, perished, is best told by the sole survivor, Captain Ellis, and is as follows:—

“On Tuesday, March 11, 1902, about one o’clock A. M. the schooner barge Wadena stranded during a northeast gale and heavy sea on the Shovelful Shoal, off the southern end of Monomoy Island. The crew were rescued by our station crew. The barge remained on the shoal without showing any signs of going to pieces, and wreckers were engaged in lightering her cargo of coal. On the night of March 16 the weather became threatening, and all except five of the persons engaged in lightering the cargo were taken ashore from the barge by the tug Peter Smith, which was in the employ of the owners of the barge.

“Shortly before eight o’clock on the morning of March 17 one of the patrolmen from our station reported that the Wadena appeared to be in no immediate danger, but later Captain Eldredge received a message from Hyannis, inquiring whether everything was all right with the men aboard the barge. Up to this time no one at the station was aware that any persons had remained on the barge over night.

BARGES WADENA AND FITZPATRICK STRANDED ON SHOALS AT MONOMOY.

Wadena in foreground. In attempting to take an imperiled crew off the Wadena, Captain Eldredge and six of his crew of life savers perished, together with the crew of the barge, five in number. March 17, 1902.

“Upon the receipt of this inquiry Captain Eldredge, putting on his hip boots and oil clothes, set out for the end of the Point, where he could personally ascertain the conditions.

“Arriving there he found that the barge was flying a signal of distress. He at once telephoned me, as I was the No. 1 man at the station, directing me to launch the surf-boat from the inside of the beach, and with the crew pull down to the Point. About two and one-half miles south of the station we took Captain Eldredge aboard and I gave him the steering oar.

“The wind was fresh from the southeast and there was a heavy sea running, but all the crew were of the opinion that the condition of the barge Wadena was not perilous, as she seemed to be sound and lying easy.

“Captain Eldredge decided to pull around the Point to the barge. At certain places on the shoals the sea was especially rough, and some water was shipped on the way out to the distressed craft, but without any trouble we succeeded in bringing our surf-boat under the lee of the barge just abaft the forerigging, the only place where it was practical to go alongside.

DRILL OF THE MONOMOY CREW, SHORTLY BEFORE THE DISASTER IN WHICH SEVEN OF THE CREW PERISHED.

“As soon as we got alongside the barge a line was thrown aboard and quickly made fast by the persons on board. The persons on board the barge were all excited and wanted us to take them ashore as soon as we could. Captain Eldredge, without a moment’s delay, when he found out the number of persons on board the barge and their desire to be taken ashore, directed them to get into the surf-boat.

“The seas were breaking heavily around the stern of the barge, and there was little room for operations in the smooth water, and the rail of the barge was twelve or thirteen feet above the surf-boat. Four of the five men lowered themselves over the side of the barge, one at a time, into the surf-boat, without mishap, by means of a rope, but the captain of the barge, who was a big, heavy man, let go his hold when part way down and dropped into the boat with such force as to break the after thwart. All five being safely in the boat, two were placed forward, two aft, and one amidships, and told to sit quietly and keep close down in the bottom of the boat.

“In order to get away from the barge quickly, the painter was cut, by orders of Captain Eldredge, and the surf-boat was at once shoved off. In order to clear the line of breakers that extended from the stern of the barge so that we could lay a good course for the shore, a part of the surfmen were backing hard on the port oars, while the others gave way with full power on the starboard side. Before we could get the boat turned around a big wave struck us with fearful force, and quite a lot of water poured into the surf-boat.

“Captain Eldredge stood in the stern of the boat with the steering oar in his hand giving his orders, and the surfmen stuck to their posts.

“As soon as the water came into the boat, the rescued men jumped up, and becoming panic-stricken, threw their arms about the necks of the surfmen so that none of us could use our oars. The seas, one after another, struck us, and the boat, filling with water, turned bottom up, throwing us all into the raging sea. The seas kept striking us after the boat upset, and we were soon in among the heaviest breakers. Twice we righted the boat, but the seas which struck her before we could get into her capsized her each time.

“After righting the boat twice, our strength was fast leaving us, and we all knew that we could not survive long without assistance. The five men that we had taken off the barge were the first to be swept off the overturned boat and to perish before our eyes. They did not regain a hold of the boat after she turned over the first time, and were quickly swept to death.

“All of us clung to the boat, giving each other all the encouragement that we could. Surfman Chase was the first one of our crew to perish, then Nickerson and Small were swept to death. Captain Eldredge, Surfmen Kendrick, Foye and Rogers and myself still managed to hold to the boat. Every sea which struck the boat swept completely over us, almost smothering us. Kendrick was the next one of our crew to perish, and poor Foye soon followed him. Captain Eldredge and Surfman Rogers and myself were the only ones left, and we expected that we, too, would soon share the fate of our comrades.

“Rogers was clinging to the boat about amidships, while Captain Eldredge and myself were holding on near the stern. Captain Eldredge called to me to help him to get a better hold, and I managed to pull him on to the bottom of the boat, when a sea struck us and washed us both off. I managed to regain a hold on the bottom of the boat, and looking around for Captain Eldredge, I saw that he was holding on to the spar and sail which had drifted from underneath the boat, but was still fast to it. The seas were washing me off the boat continually at this time, and when I last saw our brave captain, he was drifting away from the boat, holding on to the spar and sail.

“My strength was fast going, and when poor Rogers begged me to help him climb further up onto the boat, the only thing I could do was to tell him that we were drifting towards the beach, and that help would soon be at hand and to hold on.

CHURCH AT ORLEANS WHERE MEMORIAL SERVICES WERE HELD FOR LOST MONOMOY CREW.

“Rogers had lost his strength, however, and failing to get a more secure place on the bottom of the boat, feebly moaning, ‘I have got to go,’ he fell off the boat and sank beneath the waters.

“I was now alone on the bottom of the boat, and seeing that the center board had slipped part way out, I managed to get hold of it, and holding it with one hand succeeded in getting my oil clothes, undercoat, vest, and boots off.

“By that time the overturned boat had drifted down over the shoals in the direction of the barge Fitzpatrick, which was also stranded on the shoals, and when I sighted the craft I waved my hand as a signal for help. I soon saw those on the barge fling a dory over the side into the water, but could see nothing more of the dory after that on account of the mist and high sea until it hove in sight with a man in it rowing towards me. The man in the dory was brave Capt. Elmer F. Mayo. He ran the dory alongside of me, and with his help I got into the boat. I was so used up that I was speechless, and all that I could do was to kneel in the bottom of the boat and hold on to the thwarts. To land in the dory through the surf was a perilous undertaking, but Mayo, who is a skilled boatman, carefully picked his way over the rips and headed his little boat for the shore.

“Surfman Bloomer of our station, who had been left ashore, had walked down to the Point to assist Captain Eldredge and crew in landing, and when he saw Mayo fighting his way through the breakers, he ran down into the surf, seized the little boat, and helped Mayo to land safely.

“Bloomer was told of the terrible tragedy by Captain Mayo, as I was unable to speak at the time. As I have often said, ‘If the persons we took off the barge had kept quiet as we told them to, all hands would have been landed in safety.’”

Seth L. Ellis
Keeper, Monomoy L.S. Station