SINKING OF THE STEAMER PORTLAND.
“Every Soul on Board Has Undoubtedly Been Lost, The Exact Number Not Known, but is Estimated at Over One Hundred.”
“Not a Fragment of a Lifeboat or Life craft among the Debris From the ill-Fated Vessel Which Has Been Washed Ashore — The Theory Prevails That They Were Carried Out to Sea and Not Blown Anywhere Near the Coast.”
PROVINCETOWN (Mass.), December 1, 1898 — The steamship Portland, plying between Boston and Portland, was swallowed by the sea in last Sunday’s storm off Highead. Of all the ship’s company of over 100 souls, not one survived, and the story of the disaster will never be told. Sixteen bodies have come ashore, and it is not likely that many more will be recovered.
Nearly every sea captain and mariner on the Cape, on being asked for an opinion, states that everyone on board undoubtedly was lost. One feature of the disaster is the absence of any fragments of a lifeboat or life raft among .the debris from the Portland, which has been washed ashore. One theory is that the boats and life rafts were carried far out to sea, and were not blown anywhere near the coast.
Old mariners say they cannot understand why the steamer, which, about 9:00 o’clock Saturday night, just before the gale broke in its full fury, was sighted between Thatchers Island and Eastern Point, Cape Ann, by the schooner Maude N., did not put into Gloucester harbor when it was apparent from the fall of the barometer that a violent northeaster was approaching. Why the Portland ever left Boston at all Saturday night is a puzzle.
The exact number of persons who were carried away from Boston by the Portland will probably never be known, as no list of passengers was retained on shore when the vessel left Saturday. Many estimates of the number on board have been made, but the estimates seldom agree. C. F. Williams of Boston, agent of the Portland Steamship Company, places the total number of persons on the steamer at 100, or possibly 105. This estimate, however, is generally regarded as rather small. It has been stated that the number was as high as 155, but Mr. Williams denies that so many sailed on the Portland. It is probable that 120, including passengers and crew, is near the correct number. The crew of the Race Point Life Saving Station, which is located at the tip of Cape Cod, report that on Sunday morning, during the hight of the storm, they heard four sharp whistles from a steamer, which were recognized as a danger signal. The signal was heard at about 7:45 o’clock, and the crew hastily manned the boats to give assistance, if possible. The weather was so thick that it was impossible to see any distance off shore. The crew could locate no steamer, and the blasts of the whistle were heard l only once. The men are now of the opinion that it came from the Portland sometime before she foundered, for it is generally believed that she went to the bottom, and was not wrecked by going on shore.
The absence of any large sections of wreckage from the Portland! on the coast is accounted for by the theory that the hull itself went to the bottom. The largest piece of wreckage reported up to sunset was a piece about thirty feet long. Before the ill-fated steamer took her final plunge the passengers and crew, it would seem, adopted all means at their command to save their lives, as is shown by the large number of life preservers and belts found among the, first portions of the wreckage.
The first body from the wreck came ashore at High Head, which is a few miles further down the outer coast of the Cape from the Peaked Hill station. The next bodies found were picked up at points further south on the same day, and the life preservers, woodwork, two or three pieces of baggage, lard, tobacco, paper and other stuff from the cargo began to pile up on the shore south of High Head. Little wreckage was found north of that point. The swift undertow off shore carried an immense amount of debris and’ many bodies south as far as Mononomoy Beach and Nantucket Sound. The northern limit indicates that the wreck was near High Head.
Large numbers of volunteers, including several persons who had friends or relatives on board the steamer, assisted the surf men in patrolling the beaches. From the tip end of Cape Cod to Mononomoy there are ten Government life saving stations, and all the crews have been on duty almost constantly since last Saturday evening, when the great blow set in. On Monday and yesterday several bodies were sighted in the surf some distance from shore, but they disappeared from view before they could be secured. The body of a man at an undertaking room here is supposed to be that of William Mosher, a business man of Gorham, Me. A body supposed to be that of John Walton, second engineer of the Portland, came ashore off Nauset yesterday. The schooner King Philip of Fall River has been totally wrecked on the Cape. The crew, probably numbering ten men, have been lost. The schooner was of 1,224 tons gross register.
THE STORM’S FEARFUL HAVOC. BOSTON, Nov. 30 — News of the loss of the Boston and Portland Steam Packet Company’s steamer Portland, off Cape Cod, and the death of more than 150 persons, comprising the passengers and crew of the steamer, and news from hitherto unheard of ports on Cape Cod showing that at least a score and a half of vessels were wrecked along that shore, with the loss of twelve lives, has come as a dire climax to the previous report of disasters resulting from Saturday night’s storm. There are still other places to be heard from on both sides of the Cape, which have not been reached by train on account of washouts, and which are cut off from, other means of communication by broken wires, blocked highways and shattered bridges.
Up to this morning, while the total loss of life cannot be estimated with any degree of accuracy, it is known that more than 200 persons perished. This estimate is made on the basis of only one from each crew reported missing, and each of which would include at least three, while the larger schooners have seven or eight men on board.
It appears that the bulk of the damage was done between Cape Ann, where a score or more of vessels were lost, and Cuttyhunk, where the steamer Warwick is on the rocks. From present reports it is known that fifty-six vessels have been totally wrecked, while forty-nine are ashore with hardly a chance of being saved. Of the fifty-six total wrecks, barges not included, forty-three craft aggregate 12,202 gross tonnage. Of those in perilous positions, twenty-eight aggregate 7,159 tons. The stranding of the big English liner Ohio, and the ocean tug Tamaqua are not included in the estimate given, nor many of the big coal barges ashore in Boston Harbor. The position of these latter craft is now dangerous, for they are exposed to the northwest storm which began this morning.
The number of schooners which have been driven ashore in fairly safe berths or damaged by collision or dismasted can be reckoned by the scores, and many of them are likely to be included in the list of total wrecks before the day ends. The steamer Orion, Captain Smith, reached here this morning, after an eventful passage from Newport News, during which she lost the barges Ocean Belle, for Providence, and the Enos Soule, for this port. The crew of the Ocean Belle, four men, were saved. The fate of those on the Soule is not known. The Orion with her tow ran into the heavy blizzard Sunday morning about twelve miles “southeast from Winter Quarters Shoal, and being buffeted about for some time, the Ocean Belle opened in the seams and began to fill rapidly. The steamer succeeded with difficulty in taking off the four men. In the meantime the Souie drifted away and the steamer was unable to locate her. There appears to be little apprehension for the steamer Gate City, in spite of the report which reached here last night that a life preserver bearing the name of the steamer had been picked up on Cape Cod. The steamer Chattahoochee, which arrived last night, reports having passed the Gate City off Montauk Point at 3:30 o’clock Monday afternoon, and that there was nothing amiss with the Savannah liner, as far as could be observed. The storm was over at the time the Gate City was seep by the Chattahoochee, and in all probability she is safe and near her destination, Savannah, Ga., at this time.
THE STORM CONTNUES, BOSTON — Another heavy northwest snowstorm started here just before 7 o’clock this morning and an hour later had settled down in a way that promised several inches of snow at least. A brisk wind of twenty miles an hour was blowing from north northeast. These conditions will greatly interfere with the work that is being done – at points where vessels were wrecked, as the sea is running high and the snow is thick on the water.
ANOTHER VESSEL LOST. PLYMOUTH (Mass.), Nov. 30 – A piece of bamboo picked up in the surf today brought a story of death and the loss of the schooner White Wings of Gloucester in the recent storm. It contained the following message: “We will be lost, thirteen of us, in the fishing schooner White Wings, from Gloucester. Have no bottle to put It in; everything is gone. We are about to go on a raft. Henry Willier and Frank Haskins are dead. If I could only see my wife and darling child again!
ALBERT SIMMONS.” A body found – yesterday morning on the outside beach near Powder Point bridge by the Gurnet life-saving crew, clad in oilskins marked “Haley,” is thought to be that of one of the four Norwell men reported missing from their shooting box near the mouth of North River. A six-foot steering wheel, a spar seventy-five feet long, with rigging attached, and what appeared to be the front of a quarter-deck house or the side of a steamer’s stateroom, are reported floating in the water off shore near Brant Rock. They are thought to have come from some deep sea ship wrecked further up the coast.
Storm at New York. NEW YORK. Nov. 30 — the storm which began last night with rain, followed by hail and snow, blocked traffic in the suburbs to-day, and delayed it in the city. While the storm had none of the severity of the blow of Saturday and Sunday, coming so soon on the heels of that storm, it increased the difficulties of the situation. Even the elevated lines suffered to day, and many persons were obliged to walk long distances in order to get down town.
Historical:
The Portland Gale of November 26-28, 1898, one of the most devastating storms in the history of the Massachusetts coast, bears the name of the steamer Portland, lost with all souls after leaving Boston Harbor for Maine. The shores of Hull also saw loss of life during the Portland Gale, despite the tireless efforts of the Hull lifesaving crews. The following ships were among those wrecked off Hull during the storm.
The 1898 Portland Gale (Haze Gray Photo Feature) – Haze Gray and Underway was founded in 1994 by Andrew Toppan, in the “early days” of the web. Through various name changes and relocations over the years, this site has remained dedicated to providing the finest naval history information. Today Hazegray has grown to over 14,000 files, among them over 3,000 images.
Abel E. Babcock – “Only Wreck’s Ribs Visible… Commanded by Captain Babcock, the Abel E. Babcock of Philadelphia beat heavily on rough bottom just off Stony Beach. An observer wrote: “Nothing but the ribs of the frame can be seen above the waves and nothing has been seen of the five men who constituted the crew.” The Pennsylvania coaler, a small four-master, had come ashore in towering combers during November 27, 1898, one of the worst days in Boston Harbor history. Most of her cargo of coal was recovered. While off the tip of Cape Cod, the captain had turned down a tow to Boston. This aid could have been his salvation. Read more…
Henry Tilton – Schooner Henry Tilton carrying lumber…read more
Calvin Baker – Schooner Calvin Baker carrying coal…read more
List of Lost or Damaged Vessels from the Portland Gale
Here this crew and their legendary leader will represent the numerous lifesaving crews who made heroic rescues during the Portland Gale. Without the selfless efforts of livesavers all along the coast, the death toll from this storm surely would have been much higher. The Point Allerton crew alone rescued 20 people from six vessels during the storm, despite seas so high that their surfboats could not be launched from the beaches. For more about these heroic men, see The Lifesavers photo feature.
Published on Nov 25, 2016
The story of the Portland Steamship disaster, by Matches860 (Pipes & Tobaccos, pipe smoking, and whatever else I happen to shoot.)