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