Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2014, All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== Old Shipping Days in Oswego by J. Leo Finn, 1972 This book furnished with the cooperation of The Oswego County Board of Supervisors -169- WRECKS IN AND NEAR OSWEGO The schooner Wood Duck left Frenchman's Bay Nov. 6, 1880 with 4700 bushels of barley for Irwin and Sloan, Oswego, and was caught in one of the hardest gales of recent years, ranging from 28 to 36 miles per hour from SSW which started at midnight. She arrived at Os- wego about noon having been buffeted about like an egg shell. The waves washed clean over her and the crew were constantly in water up to their knees and in great danger of being washed overboard. The main gaff topsail was entirely carried away, her fore gaff topsail torn to ribbons and the small boat and big tow line washed over- board. A great crowd was attracted as she neared port. The backwash from the piers made it impossible to enter the river without assistance. The tug Wheeler, Capt. Ferris, went to her aid. They managed to get a heaving line aboard after great difficulty as she drifted past the east pier. Due to the seas and the footing on deck they were obliged to abandon the attempt. Capt. Marks who was at the wheel, steered her ashore at the best possible place which was about 300 to 400 feet east of the Life Saving Station. The tremendous waves lifted her up the shore within 50 feet of the high water mark. Capt. Black- burn and the crew at the station then had little difficulty in removing the crew after Wm. Walters of the Life Saving Crew went aboard and made the necessary lines fast for the breeches buoy. The crew consisted of Capt. George Marks, Mate George Moore, Cook Thomas Edwards and seamen Thomas Mansfield and John Marks. About 2,000 bushels of the barley was expected to be found dry and lightered. The Revenue Cutter Manhattan and tug Sey- mour tried in vain to remove her. Capt. Marks and Capt. Mansfield who paid $3,000 for her the previous season, sold her to McCarthy and Marsh for $200, who stated that they would break her up as it seemed impossible to re- move her as all the tugs were laid up or departed for the season. Capt. Marks received $2.80 for freight. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -170- WRECKS IN AND NEAR OSWEGO The schooner Snow Bird left Toronto Thursday Nov. 11, 1880 with 90,000 feet of lumber for John K. Post & Co., Oswego. She was caught in a gale after mid- night and arrived Friday about 10 A. M. and tried to make the harbor with the assistance of the Tug Wheeler, Capt. Ferris, and Tug Morey, Capt. Pappa. The Wheeler got a line on her bow and broke it and the Morey succeeded in getting a line on her stern. A large wave hit the Morey and flooded her fire hole. The same wave tore the davitts and the small boat off the schooner. The Morey got clear and the Snow Bird went ashore stern first at the east end of the pier. Barby, one of the crew tried to get off on the pier by climbing out on the jib boom and dropping while the huge waves were washing over it. Smith of the Life Saving Crew and George Doolittle went out on the pier and helped him as he dropped on the pier nearly exhausted. Dr. Stock- well was summoned and administered restoratives. The Snow Bird was owned by Capt. Beard and Capt. Clarkson of Toronto. Part of the deck load was lost and it was be- lieved she would be taken off without further damage. The crew was Capt. Andrew Beard, Mate Robert Madhurst, Cook Daniel Sullivan and seamen James Randall and John Barby. Capt. Ferris and Capt. Pappa deserve hearty commendation as none but those who have tried, know what difficulties arise to get a line aboard a vessel with moun- tainous seas running and both tug and vessel rolling from side to side. The heavy seas of the 16th refloated her and immediately put her aground again a short distance to the east where it was believed she would break up during the winter as the season was closed. The schooner American, in tow of tug Proctor, foundered Oct. 2, 1884 on Lake Ontario. On Oct. 29, 1885 the schooner Addie Membury, Capt. John Barley, Sacketts Harbor, hit the breakwall near --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -171- WRECKS IN AND NEAR OSWEGO the beacon light and drifted into the new harbor and ground- ed near the government pier at the foot of West Third Street. The schooner George B. Sloan, Capt. John McDowell, was lost early on the morning of Oct. 30, 1885 when it hit the west outer breakwall during a storm. The cook, Eliza Tackleby of Broghton, Ontario, was drowned when she went below decks to get her satchel. It was 10:30 A. M. Nov. 16, 1893 when the schooner Flora Emma broke loose from her moorings in the west harbor where she had been tied up with a load of lumber for the Box Shop. It had been blowing 30-40 MPH out of the west all night with a blinding snow. As she drifted past the DL&W trestle, Capt. Thomas Fox's son jumped on the dock and tried to get a line out but with no success and she continued down the harbor and through the gap. The tug E. J. Redford lying near by was alerted by the Coast Guard and went to her assist- ance. They tried in vain to get a line on her. The high seas and blinding snow were too much for them and as both tug and schooner were being set up against the east pier. Capt. Fox knew that they were doomed when he heard the tug blow to back up. He ran to the cabin to get his wife and brought her on deck over the scattered lumber and forward from where the crew was taken off by Capt. Anderson of the Coast Guard and his crew after setting up apparatus to get a line aboard. Mrs. Fox was taken off unconscious but was quickly revived at the station. Capt. Fox was owner of the Flora Emma. It was a poor season and he carrie no insurance and he was de- livering his first load of the season. This left him penni- less and a subscription was taken up at the John S. Parsons ship chandlery among friends in the city to get his crew back to Port Hope, Canada. The crew of the Redford was not so for- tunate. When Capt. Featherstonehaugh blew to back up, the tug did not respond, as something was wrong with the rudder (prob- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -172- WRECKS IN AND NEAR OSWEGO ably line in wheel) or would not back up into high seas. The Redford drifted up against the pier with an explosion, as a steam pipe burst, scalding the engineer, John Connel. The captain said jump, and they decided to all jump together with the next sea that would put them up against the pier. That was the last they saw of the captain, as he stood with one foot in the wheel-house and the other on the rail. When they jumped, they were washed along the pier for 200'. They followed the pier on their hands and knees along the shore arm to the Coast Guard Station. Capt. Featherstone- haugh was not with them and the wheel-house was gone off the tug. The captain was found at 2:30 in the slip near the station. The Redford was owned by Connel Bros. and was built in the East Cove by Brower & Morgan in 1881. Be- sides Capt. Featherstonehaugh there were John Connel, engineer; Jerry Connel, deck-hand and George Day, fire- man as crew. The schooner, John T. Mott, sank at Fairport, Ohio in 1893 in a seventy mile gale. It was built by Goble in 1869. The tug M. J. Cummings also built in the East Cove by Brower & Morgan the same year as the Redford, 1881, was totally destroyed by fire the same date the Redford was wrecked, Nov. 16, 1893, while at the dock in Cape Vincent. She had been towing barges Noyes and American. Was owned and commanded by Capt. Tom Donovan. (Valued at $7,000). The schooner Baltic, Kingston to Oswego, via the Bay of Quinte, Nov. 24, 1894, loaded with 12,600 bushels from Richardson's at Kingston for Downey, Irwin and Co., Oswego, with Capt. Beard, his wife and three sons, John, Benjamin and Richard, a passenger Thomas Slater, --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -173- WRECKS IN AND NEAR OSWEGO a dog and a horse, ran into a breeze that seemed to freshen as the day went on. By the time she reached Oswego, it was blowing real hard with a big sea. Rather than chance an entrance to Oswego harbor, Capt. Beard chose to run up and down the lake from Oswego to Mexico Bay and return. As night and darkness came on, Capt. Beard decided to make a try for the harbor. The Charlie Ferris was laying to, waiting to assist him into the harbor. As the Baltic neared the beacon light she dove into a moun- tainous sea which turned her head to the sea and knocked her out of control and she started to drift toward the grave- yard just east of the old Life Saving Station on the Fort bank. The crew of the Charlie Ferris tried in vain to get a line on her. As the captain saw that it was no use for her fate was inevitable he turned and ran for the harbor blowing distress signals as he neared. Capt. Anderson at the station, saw the situation and he and his crew got out the beach cart and life saving equipment and followed the Baltic along the shore. She finally fetched up and settled in her last berth. On the second try, the Life Saving crew succeeded in shooting a line across her which was made fast to her for- ward mast and all hands were successfully rescued. Next day after the storm abated, the boys at the station went aboard to inspect her and found the horse tangled up in the rigging. They rigged up some slings and hoisted it ashore. On further investigation, the dog was found on the top shelf of the cupboard, a little cold and wet but none the worse for his experience. Capt. Beard and his crew had nothing but praise for Capt. Anderson and his men for a job well done. The schooner D. G. Fort had a hard trip, with Capt. W. J. Gordon in command, she ran aground coming out of Toledo. It took three tugs to pull her off. At Port Colborne, she struck and sprang a leak. She was towed to Ogdensburg where her cargo of grain was unloaded and was then towed light to Cape Vincent. There was a heavy --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -174- WRECKS IN AND NEAR OSWEGO wind from the south when she left for Oswego, Nov. 26, 1894. This wind increased to a gale. About eight o'clock in the evening a burning torch, a signal of distress, was seen several miles in the lake off Oswego by the lookout in the Life Saving Station and also by Capt. Charlie Ferris of the tug Charlie Ferris. Capt. Ferris chased the boat for five or six miles but it ran out of sight. The tug came back and lay up in shelter. At three A. M. the wind shifted to the west and increased. About five A. M. a vessel was trying to make the harbor. The Ferris went to her assistance and tried to get a line on her and saw that it was the D. G. Fort. They succeeded in getting a heaving line to her and proceeded to haul her tow line aboard the tug. This was al- most accomplished when the heaving line became untied and the tow line slipped back into the water. It was at this point, that fireman James Donovan, nearly lost his life when a huge wave nearly washed him overboard. The fact that he was able to grab a line and hang on until the wave passed over him, saved him. The wind caught the Fort and she, like the Baltic three days before and many other schooners, headed for the graveyard just east of the Life Saving Station. The Fort fetched up against the east pier and tore off many of its planks, continued to drift eastward and grounded. Capt. Ferris continued his attempt to save her until she grounded and nearly lost his tug in the attempt. The Fort settled just west of the Baltic and her stern swung in, it broke off the horn of the Baltic close to the bow. Captain Anderson of the Life Saving Station and his crew were on the shore when she hit and they shot a line across her but nobody gave it any attention. They returned to the station and got out the surf boat, Resolute, and rowed around the pier and took off the crew from the lee side. It was then learned that the reason no attention was given to the line that was shot to her to take the crew off was that all hands were below packing and trying to save their belongings. Her crew: Capt. W. J. Gordon; Mate, Albert Beaupre, Kingston, Ont; --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -175- WRECKS IN AND NEAR OSWEGO 2nd Mate Hubert Gordon, son of the captain; Seamen Lewis Debo, Detroit; Arthur Jackson, Buffalo, William Losey, Detroit and Lewis Karlson, Rockland, Maine. The schooner Albacore, built in 1873 at Port Dalhousie, with sails tattered and torn, rounded the beacon light at 7:30 A. M. Sept. 12, 1900 with a 40 MPH wind be- hind her and Captain William (Hunky) Scott with the tug John Navagh waiting for her in mountainous seas. The Nav- agh managed to get a line on her but it was too much for the little tug and both headed for the fort bank just east of the Life Saving Station. After striking bottom twice it was necessary, in order to save the tug, for the crew of the Navagh to cut the line and head for deeper water while the Albacore went aground. The crew: Capt. Charles Redfern, Lakeport, Ohio; Mate, John Hunter, Belleville; Willliam Thorn and William Tucker, Toronto; Cook Mrs. Frazier, Toronto; Passenger Hugh Carey of Oswego were all saved. Hugh said never again. Just two hours later the Navagh stood by to assist the three-masted schooner Keewatin, which was coming down the lake and sailed by Capt. James Redfern, father of Charles Redfern who had just lost the Albacore. With good sails, which the Albacore did not have, and good seaman- ship, the Keewatin rounded the beacon light and continued up the river until it bounced off the corner of the east pier losing one fender. Then the Navagh got a line on her and towed her to a berth at the foot of West Seneca Street. The T. R. Merritt went ashore the same morning as the Albacore, Sept. 12, 1900, five miles east of Fair Haven light between Nine Mile Point and the Creek. Capt. Carson, Mate Mike Melia of Port Hope, Thomas Stanton, Brighton, Miss D. McCaskill, Newboro, Ont. and two sea- men who had just signed on. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -176- WRECKS IN AND NEAR OSWEGO The schooner B. W. Folger, Kingston to Oswego 1884, with lumber for the Standard Oil Box Shop, caught fire at Kerr's Bay, Amherst Island and burned to the waters edge. Capt. Bates, owner and crew escaped. It was built in Kingston in 1853, rebuilt in 1880. The schooner W. T. Greenwood, Capt. Andrew Baird, Oswego to Toronto, Nov. 19, 1895, was wrecked at Willow Beach, 12 miles west of Charlotte. The steamer John E. Hall, owned by T. and D. Donovan of Oswego, foundered with all hands on Lake Ontario December 13, 1902, while her consort, the John R. Noyes, under the same ownership, was wrecked on Salmon Point after her crew had been taken off 25 miles in the lake, by the Charlotte Life Saving Crew. The Hall with the Noyes had left Cleveland, Ohio loaded with bituminous coal for Rathbun & Co. lumber wharves, Deseronto, Ont. in late November, and had encountered severe weather from the start. Leaving Port Dalhousie, after the canal transit, the two vessels en- countered such heavy seas, they were put into Charlotte for refuge, and remained there until the morning of Dec. 11, when they cleared, with other shipping for the North Shore. Thirty miles in the lake, they encountered a full northeast gale, accompanied by falling temperatures and thick snow, so blinding the crew of the Noyes, in tow of the Hall, could not see the steamer. For three days, effort was made to get to a place of safety, and the morn- ing of Saturday, with the gale still raging, the Hall cast off the line. That was the last seen of that vessel. She foundered some time that day, north of the Main Ducks, where wreckage was found and identified a week later, when the tug Ferris of Oswego sought survivors or knowledge of the fate of the missing vessel. Relatives of those on board for longer than a week were without any knowledge of their fate or that of their ship until the Ferris returned with her news. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -177- WRECKS IN AND NEAR OSWEGO On board were: Capt. Timothy Donovan; First Mate Jeremiah Donovan; 1st engineer, James Donovan; Wheelsmen, Daniel Bigelow and Thomas Corcoran; Fire- men John Dixon and Thomas Tyler; Stewardess, Mrs. W. Brown, the latter a resident of Buffalo. The crew of the Noyes had a harrowing experi- ence. Buffeted by huge seas, which wrecked the galley, the vessel, which had been built as a schooner in Algonac, Mich., in 1872, and rebuilt in 1900, and converted to a barge, had 500 tons of coal on board, which made her low in the water. Captain George Donovan managed to get a small sail rigged, after leaving the Hall, and went before the wind across the lake, hoping to reach Oswego. In- stead, the next morning the vessel was 15 miles below Charlotte, where both anchors were let go. The chains chaffed through the hawser pipes, and the wind having shifted to the southeast, Captain Donovan let both cables run, and the Noyes was again helpless in the lake. Mean- while, plight of the ship had been noted and the Charlotte Life Saving Crew shipped its boat to Lakeside, and went in search of the ship. Twenty-five miles off shore, they removed Capt. Donovan, James Ryan, the mate George Premo and Mrs. Ryan who was the stewardess, and took them to Charlotte. They lost all possessions but saved two dogs that had been on board. The Noyes drifted across the lake and grounded and went to pieces on Salmon Point, near Toronto, Ont., a total loss. The Hall had been built in Manitowoc, Mich. (sic) in 1889, rebuilt in 1899, and was valued at $20,000. She had 541 tons of coal on board. In the snow storm in which the Hall and Noyes were lost, 22 inches of snow fell in Oswego and along the south shore of the lake. The steamer Niko, on December 15, clearing from Toronto, light, was caught in heavy ice floes and could not enter Oswego harbor. Captain Thomas Beggs of Chicago and members of his crew walked ashore --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -178- WRECKS IN AND NEAR OSWEGO on the ice, and foods and 20 tons of coal, the latter in baskets, were carried to the steamer, while dynamite was used to break up the ice so she could enter the harbor, two days later. TUG PROCTOR: On October 16, 1912, the O. C. & T. tug, William Proctor, Captain Nelson, left Oswego for the St. Lawrence River at five o'clock in the afternoon and ran into weather when they reached the vicinity of the Galloo Island. The Proctor was towing the barges Men- ominee, Buckley and H. B., in that order. The tow line parted between the Menominee and the Buckley. There was nothing for the Proctor to do but to continue on to Cape Vincent with the Menominee. He left the Menominee there and notified the Nicaragia (sic) which also belonged to the O. C. & T. Company and was tied up in Cape Vincent and they both proceeded to the vicinity of the tow line parting. The Nicaragua sighted a piece of wreckage and despite the huge seas, lowered a life boat and picked up Captain Derrick Durochie and his twenty year old son, Elmer, who were floating on the pilot house which had floated away from the barge "H. B.". The Proctor sighted the Buckley and managed to get close enough to the barge to throw heaving lines to the crew who were tied to the masts. They succeeded in removing and saving the entire crew, which included Capt. Morrow, his wife and one year old son and three crew members. Shortly after the crew were removed, the Buckley sank. Captain Durochie lost his wife and daughter, Alice. Three crew members were also lost on the H. B. Two members were thought to have come from Fulton. One was Stephen LaBeef, 41 years old. The schooner Lizzie Metzner broke away from the west outer breakwall opposite the D. L. & W. trestle --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -179- WRECKS IN AND NEAR OSWEGO at 4:30 A. M. October 17, 1916 during a 60 mile gale while waiting for a load of coal. She drifted out of the harbor dragging her anchors which Capt. Chauncey Deryaw and his men had dropped and headed for the graveyard east of the Life Saving Station on the Fort bank. Capt. Clemens of the station and his crew assisted Captain Deryaw and his crew, Hiram Willard and J. R. Lobb, all of Kingston to safety. The Metzner was a total loss although one attempt was made to refloat her. Capt. Deryaw carried no insurance. She was built in 1888. On the morning of Sept. 28, 1925, the steamer Isabella H. left Cape Vincent for Sodus, Capt. Baldwin, Dexter; Mate Hiram Bush, Gouverneur; Henry Lovely, Ogdensburg, engineer; Charles Thompson, Ogdensburg and Mrs. Thompson, cook; a deckhand named Serviss. Although only half loaded with rip-rap which was taken on at Alexandria Bay and escorted by the steamer Hinckley, Capt. Hinckley, the owner of both vessels, they testified later that the Isabella H. was not leaking when they left Cape Vincent. When half way across the lake they discovered that she was leaking so fast they headed for Oswego. The look-out at the Life Saving Staton had been watching her approach and notified Capt. George R. Jack- son that it apparently needed assistance. Capt. Jackson and his crew was at the scene and had a man aboard before she settled. The station crew member returned to his launch as the Isabella H. tried to make port. She suddenly started to go down fast and the crew had to take to the water. There were some thrilling moments as the Life Saving crew went to their assistance. Machinist Mate 1st class Moss went overboard and rescued one of the sailors who apparently was a poor swimmer and Boatswain Mate McCune went in after Mrs. Thompson. It was first re- ported that the fireman, Bush, was apparently trapped below as he was among the missing. It was reported at the inquest or investigation by the Steamboat Inspectors --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -180- WRECKS IN AND NEAR OSWEGO Office, Capt. Dobson, that the missing man was Hiram Bush, mate, and that the last he was seen, he was sitting on the hatch taking off his hip boots as he said he could not swim with them on. The Isabella H. was formerly the steamer Mc- Cormack of Oswego. She was brought here by Capt. Hinck- ley to carry stone. It was rebuilt at Chaumont in 1915 and renamed the Isabella H. It was 248 gross tons, 100.8' long, 25.9 beam, 11.1 draft and 150 H. P. She was not insured. The steamer Hinckley, Fair Haven to Gananoque with coal July 30, 1929, stopped at Oswego for additional pumps. The proceeded to Gananoque. They were unable to stop or keep even with a leak that developed below the water line. To prevent any casualties and prevent sinking, Capt. Hinckley changed course for Stoney Passage but was forced to put her on Stoney Point where she remained. The "City of New York" was built in Cleveland in 1863. She was the flagship of the Old Northern Trans- portation Company's Line which ran between Ogdensburg and Chicago. She was rebuilt in 1889 when they removed her passenger cabins and converted her for the coal trade on Lake Ontario under Canadian registry. On November 24, 1921 she cleared Oswego for Trenton, Ont., with 350 tons of phosphate in company with the steamer Hinckley and the steamer Phalow. Soon after their departure they encountered foul weather, wind, snow and sleet. Captain Hinckley reported that the last that he saw of the City of New York was around the Main Ducks. When the Hinckley and Phalow arrived in Trenton and the City of New York did not, Captain Hinckley notified his --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -181- WRECKS IN AND NEAR OSWEGO office in Oswego and word was sent out to keep an eye out for the City of New York. Nothing was heard of her from the various American ports that she might have entered for protection, until the steamer Isabella H., another Hinckley owned vessel, arrived at Oswego from Sacketts Harbor. Captain Fred Baldwin of the Isabella H. reported that on his way across the lake to Oswego he picked up the life boat between eight and nine o'clock that morning con- taining five bodies, including Mrs. Randall, wife of Capt. Harry Randall; Wesley Warren, Mate; Seeley's Bay; Robert and Gilbert Dorey and Francis Gallagher, Kingston. Also lost but not found were Captain Harry Randall, 32, Seeley's Bay and his ten month old daughter, and Stanley Papa, fourteen years, of Kingston. It was believed that the ship went down quickly during the night. The people in the life boat were poorly cland and were huddled under the seats in eight inches of water, except Mrs. Randall, who was the only one to have a life-jacket on. She was clad in her night gown and a wrap. She was hanging over the side with her hands in the water. =========================================================================== If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access more information about Great Lakes Maritime History by by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/mi/glm/ ===========================================================================