Thursday, March 15, 2012

Schooner John N. Parker ~ 8 January 1884

Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1884:

The schooner John N. Parker, of Seaford, DE, from Philadelphia, PA, bound to Norfolk, VA, with a cargo of coal, and having a crew of 6 men, was carried out of her course by stress of weather and stranded at 7 o’clock in the morning, about four miles southwest of the Durant’s Station (6th District), North Carolina, a heavy southeast gale and high sea prevailing. At the time she struck she was in a crippled condition attempting to enter Hatteras Inlet for a harbor. Her situation was discovered immediately by the station crew, who hastened to her with a beach apparatus. There was such a heavy surf running that she had already commenced to break up. The first and second shots fired were unsuccessful, the third shot carried the line across the vessel. In sending off the whip the shot line parted owing to the strong current and the working of the vessel. By this time the vessel had driven nearer in toward he beach, head on, and communication being soon re-established, the life saving gear was at once rigged and the people landed and taken to the station, where they were supplied with dry clothing and cared for until able to depart. Four of the men left on the fourth day after the wreck on the schooner bound to Philadelphia, while the captain and mate remained a few days longer. The vessel and cargo became a total loss and the men themselves lost everything except what they stood in.

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