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.