The author’s home from which the passing ships are sighted and reported by telegraph or telephone to Boston and the Newspapers
THOMAS W. LAWSON
THE LARGEST SCHOONER
An interesting vessel of this class was the seven masted schooner, Thomas W. Lawson, built in 1902 by the Fore River Ship and Engine Company of Quincy, Mass. She was of steel, 368 feet long, 50 feet beam, 34½ feet depth of hold and of 10,000 tons displacement, thus being the largest vessel of this class ever constructed for sailing only.
She was built for the Coastwise Transportation Company, at a cost of about $150,000.
Mr. Lawson was a considerable contributor in the cost of her construction and the vessel was named for him.
She sailed from Delaware Breakwater on the 2nd of December, 1907, with a cargo of coal for some port in France. She carried a complement of a crew of 19 officers and men. And in a bad storm was driven on the rocks a short distance from France on Friday, December 13, 1907. There 17 men of the ship’s company perished. The vessel was a total wreck. No other attempt was ever made to construct a vessel of this type. She was too large to operate in the coastwise trade. She was a bad sea boat and not satisfactory as an ocean going proposition. The loss of her crew was not on our coast but unusual conditions surrounding the craft make it of moment to note her loss in this connection.
LOSS OF THE SHIP ASIA
This was one of the worst wrecks that had occurred on the New England coast in many years.
This ship was on a voyage from Manila for Boston with a cargo of East India goods. Approaching the Cape Cod coast she encountered a terrific storm and struck one of the outlying shoals off Nantucket.
The furious sea which drove over her decks in torrents soon began the work of destruction. When she struck the shoal on Sunday morning there was a furious northeast gale tearing the sea into a fearful condition. The next day the ship gave every indication that she must soon be a broken and dismantled wreck.