Schooner Future ~ January 1913

NORTH CAROLINA MARITIME MUSEUM

Beaufort, NC

www.ncmaritimemuseum.org

On this day in 1913 the Evening Star of Washington D.C. reports on a ship that wrecked off the North Carolina Coast. The schooner Future is wrecked in a storm 100 nautical miles SE of Cape Lookout. She departed from Tampa, Florida on December 7, 1912 en-route to Maryland with a half a million feet of lumber on board. The wreckage of the Future stayed afloat and drifted as far north as the New Jersey coast. The Jan. 15 article was followed by two more which revealed that five of the nine crew members survived and were picked up off the wreckage by a passing steam ship.

Schooner George W. Wells ~ 3 September 1913

The George W. Wells was the first six-masted schooner ever built and
the largest sailing ship to wreck on the Outer Banks. The interior of her cargo
holds was compared to the interior of a cathedral.

SCHOONER GEORGE W. WELLS WRECKED BY STORM NEAR HATTERAS
Special to The Washington Post

Norfolk, Va., Sept. 4 -- Life-savers of Hatteras, Ocracoke, and Durants Neck stations established a new record for bravery when they rescued 20 men, 2 women, and 2 children from the six-masted schooner George W. Wells, which went ashore yesterday 3 miles north of Hatteras Inlet, during the terrific storm which swept the Virginia and North Carolina coast. The schooner, which was one of the largest afloat, is a total wreck.
     The vessel was bound from New York to Fernandina light. When discovered by life-savers the men and women were clinging to the vessel's riggings.
     The wind was blowing 70 miles an hour, and the rain fell in torrents. After several unsuccessful attempts the life-savers finally succeeded in reaching the schooner and all were taken off.
     An unknown schooner, with only one mast standing and no signs of life on board, is ashore 3 miles north of Ocracoke. The revenue cutter Seminole has gone to her assistance. Two miles farther south an oil steamer flying the British flag is also ashore. Life-savers have been unable to learn her name, but are making strenuous efforts to reach her.

SCHOONER THAT WENT ASHORE HAS GONE TO PIECES --
LOSS OF LIFE SMALL
The Lowell Sun, Massachusetts

NORFOLK, Va., Sept. 5 -- With the telegraph wires still down it was impossible today to get detailed information of the havoc wrought by Wednesday's storm on the North Carolina coast between Cape Hatteras and Ocracoke on the lower coast. The six-masted schooner George W. Wells, which went ashore short of Hatteras, has gone to pieces.

The twenty men, two women and two infants rescued from the schooner are being temporarily cared for in the vicinity of the Ocracoke Inlet and Durant lifesaving stations.
The schooner reported ashore three miles north of Ocracoke turns out to be a four-master sighted in distress 12 miles off shore with her main top-mast and bowsprit gone. This vessel is believed to have been the schooner Annie R. Heidritter, heretofore reported drifting helplessly eight miles southwest of Diamond Shoals.

Unless the Ocracoke disaster is confirmed, the loss of life appears to have been very small.

CAPT. JOSEPH H. YORK
Information found at www.villagecraftsmen.com. Photos courtesy of Capt. York's great great grandson, Jean-Pierre Fortin

.
As the George W. Wells approached the shore, Capt. Joseph H. York ordered her anchors lowered, but the chains parted, and the Wells was driven onto the beach near the present day pony pen.

     Surfman Roscoe Burrus at the Hatteras Inlet station had spied the Wells. Well aware of the difficulty of attempting a rescue in hurricane force winds, Keeper Barnett requested assistance from Durant’s Station on Hatteras Island. Crews from all three stations arrived at the wreck between 3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Reports indicate that they participated in one of the most daring and courageous rescue operations ever recorded.

     Surfmen from the Hatteras Inlet station had harnessed ponies to their beach apparatus cart which was heavily loaded with breeches buoy, pulleys, sand anchor, various sizes of hemp line, brass Lyle gun and other equipment. The sea tide was rushing over the beach, inundating the cart as every wave passed by. After two miles the ponies balked and refused to continue. Without hesitation the surfmen hitched themselves to the cart and pulled their equipment the remaining six miles, often in water up their waists and through quicksand, to the site of the wreck.  

     Keeper Barnett’s first two shots from the Lyle gun fell short of the Wells. He fired five more shots, but none succeeded in getting the breeches buoy to the schooner. The last line parted as it was being hauled to the vessel.  

     Finally Capt. York tied a line to an empty oil barrel and sent it adrift. After an hour the life savers were able to reach the barrel by wading into the sea up to their necks. Soon afterwards they were successful in sending the breeches buoy out to the stranded schooner. Captain York secured the hawser high up on one of the masts, and signaled that he and his crew and passengers were ready to abandon ship.

     By 11 o’clock that night all 26 people (20 crew members, three women, and three children) and a large Saint Bernard dog were brought safely to shore. One of the passengers was barely able to keep his two year old child’s head above water as they were pulled to safety. Capt. York was the last to leave his crippled ship. He carried the Saint Bernard and a red lantern, the latter of which he dropped into the ocean just before landing on shore.

Schooner Grace G. Bennett ~ 1913

The three-masted Bennett, under the command of Captain S.H. Larmore, was sunk to her hatches 1-1/2 miles west of southwest point. Built in Bethel, DE in 1893, she was en route to Baltimore, MD from Washington with a cargo of lumber. Captain Larmore was traveling with his wife, four daughters and crew who, according to the wreck report, was mate George Bennett, cook Richard Ford "colard" and sailors Drennen Larmore and John Smith "colard."

Barge J.R. Teel ~ 10 Nov 1913

Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1913:

On November 10, 1913 the barge J.R. Teel was reported adrift about three miles off shore at 5:45 a.m. by Surfman Walter Yeomans. The station crew went to the vessel but found no life on board and returned to the station. The waterlogged barge stranded about one mile SSW of the station at 2 p.m.

The towboat Wellington soon arrived with four survivors in need of clothing. They had left Jacksonville, FL with the lumber-laden barge in tow but ran into a heavy gale on the 8th, and the barge sprang a leak. In attempting to remove the 5 crewmen the cook was drowned. Those saved were John Williams, Captain; Otto Tolson, Albert Myers, G.O. James, all of Philadelphia, PA. The keeper took Captain John Williams to the barge, but the houses had been washed off and all personal effects were gone. "The barge and cargo turned over to owners. Later was sold to a party at Morehead City. The barge was a total loss."

Schooner Montrose W. Houck ~ 18 February 1913

Annual Report of the Operatios of the United States Life-Saving Service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1913:

The 1,104-ton schooner Montrose W. Houck, from Port Tampa, FL, to Baltimore, MD, with a cargo of phosphate rock, misstayed, dragged her anchors, and went ashore a third of a mile east of the Paul Gamiels Hill (NC) Station. Her crew of 9 men were rescued by a boat’s crew of surfmen from the Paul Gamiels Hill, Caffreys Inlet, and Kitty Hawk Stations, after a hard battle in a fresh wind, strong current, and high sea. The vessel and her cargo, having a combined value of $70,000, were totally lost.

     About 1.30 a.m. the north patrol from the first-named station discovered the schooner near the beach and headed directly on shore. The patrol burned a warning signal and the vessel anchored. On learning of her dangerous proximity to the land, keeper Harris sent a telephone call for a revenue cutter in the hope of getting assistance in time to prevent her from coming ashore. Sometime during the forenoon an International Code signal was displayed aboard the schooner asking for assistance. Soon after the signal went up the vessel began to drag. She stranded about 11.45 a.m. 500 yards from the beach.

     After calling up the two adjacent stations, keeper Harris hauled his beach apparatus and surfboat abreast of the vessel. An attempt was promptly made by him to put a No. 7 shot line over her, using 6 ounces of powder. The shot fell short. By this time the two other life saving crews previously mentioned arrived. As the great distance between the schooner and shore rendered the prospect of effecting a rescue by the medium of line communication extremely uncertain, the life savers now resorted to a surfboat, and to such good purpose that the shipwrecked sailors were soon safely landed.

Schooner Richard F.C. Hartley ~ 2 September 1913

On the afternoon of September 2, 1913, the 469-ton schooner Richard F.C. Hartley, bound from New York to Charleston, S.C. with a cargo of salt, ran ashore on the North Carolina coast during the prevalence of a severe east-northeast gale, the vessel and cargo becoming a total loss. The schooner broke up very shortly after she struck, precipitating the seven members of her crew into the sea. Five of them were hauled out of the surf by life-savers of the Chicamacomico Gull Shoal and New Inlet Stations. The two others -- the cook and a seaman (names unknown) -- were drowned.

The Concord Daily Tribune, North Carolina, September 4, 1913

Pensacola News Journal, Pensacola, Florida, September 4, 1913

Schooner Zaccheus Sherman ~ 28 February 1913

Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1913:

The case of the schooner Zaccheus Sherman, set forth here, furnishes a good illustration of the difficulties sometimes encountered by the crews of the service in establishing and maintaining communication with wrecked vessels lying several hundred yards offshore.

     Caught in a fierce southerly gale while beating up the North Carolina coast from Port royal, SC, for New York, with a cargo of lumber, the schooner named, a 767ton vessel, carrying a crew of 8 men, was swept ashore on the night of this date 2 miles south by east of the Gull Shoal (NC) Station, taking bottom in the breakers 400 yards from the beach. She was discovered by the south patrol from the station named, and three life saving crews—from the Gull Shoal, Chicamicomico, and Little Kinnakeet stations—went to her assistance with breeches buoy gear.

     After much difficulty, due principally to the darkness of the night and to the swiftness of a longshore current, which interfered with the work of getting lines to the vessel, the apparatus was set up.

     Owing to the distance at which the schooner lay from the beach, the three station keepers present decided that the life car offered a better means of effecting a rescue than did the breeches buoy. Accordingly, some time after the corps arrived abreast of the vessel a team was dispatched to the Gull Shoal Station for a car. As a measure of precaution—well taken, as it proved—the Gull Shoal surfboat was also brought to the beach.

     Two trips between ship and shore were made by the car without accident, three sailors coming in on the first trip and two on the second. As the car was traveling seaward for the third time the whip line was parted by the strain of current and surf.

     Convinced that the three men still on the schooner would not be equal to their part of the task of putting the lines again in position, the life savers now launched the surfboat and completed the rescue.

     The keeper of the Gull Shoal Station, who was in charge of the corps at this wreck, was called upon to explain why the ship’s crew were not all landed in the two trips made by the life car, which would have obviated the use of a boat, and avoided subjecting to extra hazard both those who manned the boat and the men still on the vessel when the whipline parted. In his letter of explanation the keeper says:

     “I wrote on the car for four men to get into it, and the message was understood by the wrecked crew, but not being in the habit of coming ashore in a boat like the life car they decided that three men was a load. I made signals for four, but the only reply was to haul away. This we did. When the car reached the beach I was informed that three men were all that would get in it at one time. The captain—a very large man—was barefooted and suffering so much from swollen feet that he could not help himself very well. So he and one man got in the car for the second trip. I again signaled for more men to get in, but they again signaled to haul ashore, which we did.”

Salisbury Evening Post