1894

January

12th - Sch. Robert J. Edwards wrecked at Sable Island on her homeward passage from a Newfoundland herring trip, and all her crew drowned. Sch. Flash sailed for Newfoundland on this day on a herring trip and has not since been heard from; crew of six. Sch. Henrietta lost on a Georges trip with crew of fourteen men.

13th - Sch. Susan L. Hodge disabled in the gale and abandoned at sea when her crew were taken off by the French steamer LeBretagne. During the height of the gale, while the crew were lashed to their placed on deck to prevent being washed overboard, a huge sea broke across the decks, snapping off both masts close to the deck, breaking the bow-sprit short off, and carrying everything movable overboard, leaving the wrecked schooner on her beam ends. Edward Stevens, one of her crew, who was in the cabin, was caught by the pig iron ballast which broke from the floor and came near crushing him to death. From Saturday to the following Wednesday the sixteen men comprising her crew saw nothing of any vessel, but at nine p.m. of the latter day the LeBretagne hove in sight, bore down and took them off. All the schooner's boats were swept overboard when she was thrown down, as well as the beef and pork, and most of the water supply, and there was nothing on board to eat but brine-soaked biscuit on which the crew subsisted for five days and nights, carefully husbanding their small supply of water. Just previous to being taken off the kerosene oil can exploded while a torch signal was being prepared, and so the vessel on fire which gained too rapidly to be extinguished.

17th - John Edren, age 19, a Frenchman, lost overboard from sch. Valkyrie off Thacher's Island on the passage home from Placentia Bay, N. F. Edward Frost, 25, a native of Argyle, N. S. and Alexander Swim, 28, a native of Barrington, N. S., washed overboard from sch. Elmer E. Randall and drowned.

18th - William H. Burns, 50 years of age and married, one of the crew of sch. Fannie S. Orne, drowned in Samuel Lane & Brothers' dock. His family resided in Newburyport.

24th - William Closson, age 50, a native of Deer Island, Me., a widower with two daughters, one of the crew of sch. Grace E. Freeman, died in his berth while in port.

26th - Cornelius Powers, 20, and Joseph Powers, 32, of sch. Edward P. Boynton, natives of Toad Cove, N. F., lost their way in a snow storm near their home which they were going to visit, and were frozen to death. Their bodies were found. The vessel was wrecked later on the same trip.

29th - Sch. Gertie E. Foster wrecked on Strawberry Point, near Liverpool, N. S. and five of her crew drowned. Sch. Aberdeen wrecked in a snow-storm on her return from a Georges trip, at Pebbly Beach Cove. Three of her crew swan ashore, and the others reached the land by means of a plank.
Thomas Cunningham, mate, with a wife and family in Cape Breton, Raymond Burke, single, from Pubnico, N. S., and Julian Rowe, single, from St. Pierre, Miq., washed overboard from sch. Opheus on the way home from Newfoundland with a cargo of frozen herring, and drowned.

30th - Sch. Brunhilde broke adrift on Banquereau and was struck by a sea which hove her on her beam ends. After awhile she righted with every boom and gaff broken, every dory smashed and the gurry pens and checker-boards and most of her sails gone. She was kept afloat by pumping and bailing until Feb. 6 when her crew were taken off by the sch. Laurel and she was abandoned and set of fire.

February

Charles W. Green, 40, of Portland, Me., one of the crew of sch. Polar Wave , died on Georges from a hemorrhage. His body was brought home.

3rd - James McDougall of sch. Essex capsized in dory and drowned on Cashes.

12th - Sch. Maggie E. Wells, parted her cable in the great gale and was struck by a sea and thrown down and completely wrecked. Her cabin was split open, deck planks torn up, dories and everything movable on the deck swept away, wave after wave rolled around the disabled craft. Every boat was smashed to atoms, not a spar was left standing, blocks and lines were hopelessly tangled, and her cabin and hold were full of water. The captain and two of the crew were washed overboard, but succeeded in getting on board again. The crew remained on the wreck, in constant danger and suffering severely, until Jan 14, when they were taken off with considerable difficulty by sch. Magnolia of this port, and landed at Halifax. A sad feature connected with this disaster was the drowning of six men from the Dutch steamer Amsterdam in a heroic but unsuccessful effort to rescue the imperiled crew the day before they were taken off by the Magnolia.
Sch. Alert bound for the Bay of Islands, N. F., for a cargo of salt herring, wrecked on Ramea Island on the coast of Newfoundland. The captain and crew got ashore by means of a rope, assisted by the people of the island, but had a hard experience and close call for their lives. The wreck afterwards floated off and was seen by a Bucksport vessel, but doubtless went down in the gale of Jan. 30.
Sch. Col. J. H. French sprung a leak on Georges in the gale, and was abandoned and the crew taken off on the 14th by sch. Gertie E. Foster, being greatly exhausted, having been kept constantly at the pumps for nearly forty-eight hours.
Sch. Fortuna wrecked one-fourth mile off Race Pint in the gale. Two of her crew were drowned and the others had an exceedingly narrow escape on their lies. The drowned men were James McLean, who left a widow and five children in this city, and Abram Brow, married, a native of Harbor Bouchee, N. S., and formerly master of fishing sch. Blanche of this port.

15th - Sch. Porter S. Roberts abandoned at sea. She sprang a leak in the terrible gale of Jan. 13, on the coast of Nova Scotia and not withstanding constant pumping and bailing the water continued to gain and the men were soon exhausted by their severe toil as no food could be cooked, owing to the heavy weather, and they were fed on small portions of hard bread soaked with spirits until the latter gave out. They remained on the wreck until the 15th, when they were taken off, almost exhausted and half frozen, by the steamer Pavonia, and taken to Liverpool, England.

16th - Sch. Edward P. Boynton wrecked at St. Mary's Bay, N. F. The crew remained on the wreck several hours, till morning, suffering greatly from the cold, when they effected a landing with considerable difficulty.

20th - Alexander Stewart, a native of Nova Scotia, Tracy Preston, a native of Campobello, N. B., William Ferguson, a native of Finland, and Augustus Christensen, a native of Sweden, lost in dories from sch. Resolute on Banquereau.

25th - Hugh McInnis, a native of this city, but a resident for some years of Mayor's Path, Newfoundland, and Hugh McLeod, a native of Cape Breton, washed overboard from sch. Carrie W. Babson, and drowned.

March

2nd - Sch. Blanche wrecked at Port au Bas, N. F. She was carried ashore by the ice but subsequently slid off firmly imbedded in the ice, but finally drifted ashore and was sold for $125. Her crew of sixteen men escaped by jumping upon a huge cake of ice, upon which they built a fire with their mattresses to keep from freezing, and after drifting about for over twenty hours were driven ashore. Valued for $7421.

15th - Sch. Mabel R. Woolford run down and sunk by steamer Lake Ontario . Crew rescued by the steamer and landed in Boston.

16th - Daniel McIntire, 60, a native of Sidney, C. B. died on consumption aboard sch. Epes Tarr on Georges; was buried at sea on the 17th.

26th - Sch. Alton S. Marshall knocked down in a heavy gale, but after lying with the masts in the water for a quarter of an hour was righted by cutting the masts and rigging away. Two of the crew, James Barry and Herman Olsen, were knocked overboard but were rescued by their shipmates in a badly bruised condition. The wreck was tossed about helplessly on the sea until the morning of the 28th, when they were taken off by the steamer Mohawk and brought to New York.

April

Sch. Martha and Susan lost in gale with crew of ten men.

3rd - Joseph McEachern and Knute Kloster, a Norwegian about 27 years, capsized in a dory from sch. Nannie C. Bohlin on the Banks and drowned. Kloster was one of the crew rescued form the sinking sch. Susan L. Hodge by the French steamer LeBretagne.

9th - Angus Vickers washed overboard from sch. Cecil H. Low and drowned. He was 35, a native of Whittaker's Cove, N. F., and unmarried.

10th - James Mansfield, 35, a native of Newfoundland and unmarried, washed overboard from sch. Richard C. Steele about four miles southeast of Highland Light and drowned.

15th - William Olsen, 30, a native of Norway and unmarried, one of the crew of sch. Lizzie M. Stanwood, struck by the leach of the mainsail and knocked overboard and drowned on LeHave Bank. Two of his shipmates, John J. Carroll, and William Grindle, who went in a dory to his assistance were capsized and had a narrow escape from drowning, encumbered as they were with heavy boots and clothing, but were rescued by their shipmates after long exposure and great suffering.

22nd - Capt. David F. Smith, about 65, cook of sch. Carrie O. died of apoplexy at the hospital at Vineyard Haven, and was interred there. He was formerly post owner and master of sch. Elihu Burritt, and had a wife and son residing in Malden.

30th - John Grant, a native of Port Hood, N. S. washed overboard from sch. Maggie E. McKenzie at Iceland and drowned.

May

William Carr of sch. Fernwood, 32, drowned in the harbor at St. Pierre, Miq.; his body was recovered and buried at St. Pierre.

6th - William Chisholm, a native of Nova Scotia, one of the crew of sch. Laurel died at Dyrefjord, Iceland.

14th - Capt. John Knowles, a well-known Gloucester master-mariner, a native of Guysboro, N. S., drowned off Delaware Breakwater while on a mackerelling trip in sch. Ettie. His body recovered and brought home for burial.

June

8th - Levi Buckley, 21, single, a native of Carbonear, H. F., fell overboard from sch. Hazel Oneita while securing the riding sail and was drowned.

12th - Sch. Ambrose H. Knight sailed for an Iceland trip, and was never heard from again, with crew of sixteen men.

18th - Sch. Mary J. Wells caught fire, drove ashore and wrecked at Whitehead, N. S. Crew saved.

24th - Sandy Powler, 53, a native of Geneva, Italy, one of the crew of sch. Indiana, knocked overboard thirty miles east of Thacher's Island, and drowned; left a widow and six children residing in this city.

28th - John Doyle, 29, a native of Bay Bull's, N. F., was capsized in a dory from sch. Fortuna on Le Have Bank. After clinging to the dory for three hours he was compelled by exhaustion to loose his hold, and was drowned. His dorymate, Michael McCoady, was rescued by his shipmates an hour later, having succeeded in righting the dory, which was provided with air tanks. Thomas Houlahan, 65, a native of Ireland, one of the crew of sch. Oliver Eldridge, died in the hospital at Portland, Me., leaving a widow and two sons in this city.

July

6th - Isaac Merchant and Elias Frazier natives of Arichat, C. B., about 23 years old, went astray from sch. Mabel Kinniston off Cape Shore, and were drowned.

7th - John R. Meuse, married, and Charles Bouchie, single, both of Tusket, N. S., drowned on Grand Bank by overloading of dory form sch. Annie Wesley. Their dory was picked up by sch. Carl W. Baxter, the ping having been pulled through the bottom and other indications showing that they had made a desperate fight for their lives after being capsized.

August

7th - Sch. William H. Foye wrecked at the Magdalen Islands by mistaking Entry Island Light for Gow Head Light. Crew saved.

8th - William Gedney, 25, a native of Digby, N. S., lost overboard from sch. Mabel Kinniston in South Chanel, and drowned.

14th - Allen McEachern, a native of Port Hawkesbury, C. B., having a wife and seven children in this city, and John McEachern, also of Port Hawkesbury, unmarried, two of the crew of sch. Maggie and May went astray in a dory on Grand Bank and have not since been heard from. John McEachern was the brother-in-law of the Maggie and May's captain, Alexander McEachern.

26th - Patrick Shea of Boston, and Thomas Sullivan capsized in a dory from sch. Dora A. Lawson and drowned. A Spanish barque cruising the Bank spoke the schooner, asking for a supply of fish, and Sullivan and Shea boarded the barque, giving them what fish they had in their dory, and receiving in exchange a quantity of gin. The men drank freely of the liquor, and refused to return to their schooner as advised by their companions, but persisted in rowing to their trawl, and being intoxicated, were unable to handle their boat. Both men were about 25 years of age, and Shea left a widow.

September

Capt. Frank McIsaac, master of sch. Arthur D. Story, died on the passage home from Iceland. George Champayne, 55, a native of Malo, France, died on board sch. M. H. Perkins on the Banks. His body was landed at North Sydney, C. B., where an inquest was held. John Grant, of Port Hood, C. B., one of the crew of sch. Maggie E. McKenzie drowned on the passage home from Iceland and Greenland.

12th - George Whartell, a native of Liverpool, N. S., one of the crew of sch. Nellie M. Davis drowned by the capsizing of a boat in the harbor of Louisberg, C. B.

19th - Olaf Johnson, 33, a native of Sweden, washed overboard from sch. Gov. Butler and drowned. He was a good swimmer and battled desperately for his life and was still above water when he passed from the view of his shipmates on the schooner which had been hove down, so that they could do nothing to rescue him.

21st - John Dooley, aged over 53, a native of St. John's, N. F. , and Frank Mullowney, aged 18, a native of Witless Bay, N. F., drowned on Grand Bank by overloading a dory from sch. Dora A. Lawson.

October

Edward Taylor, unmarried, a native of Carbonear, N. F., drowned by overloading a dory from sch. Sarah E. Lee ; he was a little over 20 years old. James Hanley and Patrick Londrigan, two of the crew of sch. Resolute, went astray in their dory on the Banks, and have been given up as lost. Both were unmarried and belonged in Newfoundland.

1st - Sch. Martha C. wrecked at Bear Head, N. F. She had been on a trading voyage to Labrador and was bout home with a full cargo of herring, salmon and trout, valued at $3000. She was caught at anchor in a heavy gale, torn from her anchorage and dashed on the rocks at midnight, with a heavy sea running. The crew took to their boats and effected a landing with much difficulty. They found the place they were cast away on an uninhabited section, very mountainous and barren. With a sail and a few planks which drifted ashore from the wreck, they constructed a hut and in this lived for 13 days. The nights were extremely cold, and to keep their bodies warm they had to huddle together at night as close as possible. Their only food was a little flour wet with salt water and some of the pickled fish which came ashore from the stranded schooner. They found some fresh water in holes in the rocks and this alleviated their sufferings considerably, though it was not palatable and there was but little of it. After the first week had passed and no assistance had turned up, Capt. McDonald and one of the crew started for Bay of Islands in a dory for assistance, where they secured the service of a tug. Seven days after leaving their shipmates, they arrived back at the scene of the wreck. When they tug arrived off the spot where they were, the men were almost too weak from starvation to goo off to her in the dory. They managed to get to the tug, however, after making several efforts, and being nearly drowned by the boat filling in getting through the surf.

3rd - Thomas Norton, a native of St. John's, N. F., drowned by the capsizing of a dory form sch. Edward Trevoy; left a widow and tow children at St. Johns, N. B. His dorymate, Foster Greet, was rescued.

4th - Samuel Brewster, a native of Burin, N. F., landed sick from sch. Nellie G. Thurston, at Louisberg, C. B, where he died, aged 25 years. James Lennon, of Harbor Maine, N. F. and Dennis O'Quinn of Cheticamp, N. B., drowned by overloading a dory form sch. Thetie on Grand Bank.

23rd - Willard Thompson, a native of Lockeport, N. S., drowned by the capsizing of a dory from sch. Henry M. Stanley on Banquereau. His dorymate, Harry Sonier, clung to the bow of the overturned dory until rescued by his shipmates.

November

Sch. Parthia was boarded by a sea on the Banks in a November gale while at anchor, washing the crew about the deck, breaking one man's arm, severely injuring the captain's back and inflicting cuts and bruises on several others of the crew.

6th - Sch. A. M. Burnham was caught on the Banks in a heavy gale and was struck by a sea which carried away her head and twisted her is such a way as to cause her to leak badly. In a few moments the water was up to the cabin floor and after four hours of constant pumping and bailing there was no sign of gaining of the leak. The cabin floor was cut away and a lot of old clothing stuffed between the timbers and by constant work at the pumps she was kept afloat until she reached St. Pierre.

15th - Sch. Noonday was run into on Georges by sch. J. W. Collins, breaking off her bowsprit; the Collins lost cathead and had her jumbo-boom broken and her foresail badly torn.

24th - Sch. Senator encountered a severe gale, when one sea struck on the house and enveloped the man at the wheel, striking with such force as to bend the iron wheel-spoke which he grasped with his right hand, breaking his wrist; another sea struck the vessel just as one of the crew named Tobin was part way down the companionway going into the cabin, rolling him completely out of the companionway over the house to the rail and nearly washing him overboard. Sch. Lettie G. Howard went ashore near Highland Light, Cape Cod; her crew of twelve men being taken off with great difficulty by the crew of the life-saving station. The schooner was afterward floated.

25th - Sch. John E. McKenzie while beating up Boston harbor, was struck by a squall while in stays and went ashore near Fort Warren, but was got off by the energetic action of the crew after three hours of the hardest kind of work. Sch. Susie Hooper was boarded by a heavy sea on LeHave Bank, sweeping her deck of everything and breaking rails and stanchions.

27th - Sch. Magnolia wrecked on Pass Island, near Despair Bay, N. S. The cabin stove was knocked over and the vessel burned to the water's edge. All the dories on one side were smashed but the crew launched the other four and after battling with the sea for nearly an hour, during which time al the boats were upset and the occupants nearly drowned, succeeded in reaching the land, wet through and nearly frozen with their clothing frozen stiff on them. All were more or less injured: Patrick Dillon was jammed under the wheel and his shipmate, thinking he was dead, pitched him down into the cabin splitting open his head and dislocating his shoulder, but he recovered consciousness and was rescued. James Murdock was struck by a piece of a dory receiving a painful wound, James O'Neil had his head cut and shoulder dislocated. Frank Marshall had his head and face bruised. John Dillon had his ankle sprained and his knee-cap badly torn.

28th - Daniel Wiley and Charles Torey were caught in a storm in an open boat about ten miles off the Cape and were obliged to pass the night at sea without fire, arriving home the next day pretty well used up.

December

John Gibbs, a native of Arichat, C. B., 26 years of age, one of the crew of sch. Louise J. Kenney, broke through the ice and was drowned while skating on a pond at Fortune Bay, N. F. His body was recovered and buried at Fortune Bay.

3rd - Sch. Maggie E. Mackenzie wrecked on Point Platte, Miq. She was bound to Newfoundland on a herring trip and was running in for the Point Platt lighthouse (which had just before been destroyed by fire) when without warning she crashed on the breakers at 3 a.m., just north of where the lighthouse stood. The crew remained on the wreck until daybreak , the seas all the time making breaches over them and succeeded in reaching the shore at five o'clock in the morning.

4th - Allan J. Larry of Philadelphia drowned by the capsizing of a dory form the sch. Elise M. Smith. His dorymate, Dominique Newhouse, clung to the overturned dory and was rescued

7th - Sch. A. T. Gifford sprang a leak one hundred and seventy-five miles at sea, but by standing constantly by the pumps for two and a half days the crew succeeded in keeping her afloat and reaching Portland.

11th - Sch. Eben Parsons was lying at a wharf in Portland when a fish store-house was burned, but someone on the wharf cut her lines and let her go adrift before the flames reached her.

12th - Sch. Richard C. Steele went ashore on Devil's Back in going up Boston Harbor, and after pounding for several days was got off Dec. 15 by two lighters and towed to Boston where she was condemned and stripped.

18th - Charles Dagle and Michael Geary were struck by a sudden squall about a mile off Eastern point in the little sloop Sea Fox . The boat filled quickly and began to sink until only the bowsprit was out of water. To this frail support the two men clung until they were discovered and taken off by the boat Grace Freeman of Boston. The submerged wreck drifted across the Bay and finally went ashore on Race Point on January 1, 1895.

21st - Sch. Matthew Keany was boarded by a sea on Georges, sweeping her deck, smashing a dory to kindling wood, and breaking one of her davits. Patrick Sheedy and John Powers were knocked down by the sea and severely injured, narrowly escaping being washed overboard. Sch. M. H. Perkins, caught in the same gale, was icing up badly and sprang a leak; one sea struck her stern, smashing dory and breaking davits.

26th - Sch. Welcome while making port, misstayed and came near going ashore on Norman's Woe, but was saved by good seamanship.

27th - Sch. Elenora went ashore on the rocks off George J. Tarr & Co.'s Oil Works at Fort Point and had her shoe ground off, keel split and rudder damaged. Patrick Cochrane of sch. Cordova was knocked overboard while engaged in taking in the mainsail, but clung to the crutch tackle and was hauled on board in an unconscious condition and with his arms severely strained. During the same gale, Capt. McNeil was struck in the head by the fore boom, and stunned, and the mate, Joachim Murray, was hurled against the wheel and had his nose injured. Eighteen barrels of salt herring were washed from the deck by a heavy sea.

31st - Sch. Addie Winthrop, while on the way home from Bay of Islands, N. F., with a full cargo of salt herring, was wrecked at Big Glace Bay, C. B., becoming a total loss, the crew saving their lives with difficulty.