Friday, December 7, 1900
Lost the Entire Crew
A special dispatch via the Publishers Press
brings the sad news of the loss of a Gloucester craft and all her crew, the little sch. Mary
A. Brown falling a victim to the terrible fury of the gale of last night and
being driven to her destruction at Hampton Beach, while her crew of hardy fellows yielded
their lives in the raging surf.
The dispatch states that the schooner went
ashore at Hampton Beach about 2 Wednesday morning. The discovery of the disaster was made
by one of the patrolmen of the life saving station at the beach, who in pacing the strand,
found pieces of wreckage. He notified the life saving crew and an investigation showed
that the disaster occurred three miles south of the station.
When discovered there was nothing left of the
unfortunate craft but broken bits of wreckage. She had gone to pieces when she struck.
Nothing could be seen of a crew and a vigilant search failed to find any trace of them. It
was evident that all hands were lost and later on one of the bodies was recovered, but has
not been identified.
The Mary A. Brown
was 15/65 tons gross, 14.87 tons net, built at Bath in 1876 and owned by John Mositer of
East Gloucester. The craft was engaged in Ipswich bay market fishing and carried a crew of
six or seven men.
A second special dispatch says that there is
nothing now left of the vessel, which was a total loss an hour after she struck. The first
pieces of wreckage were discovered by Surf Patrolman Burke, floating in the surf. He
immediately investigated and located the wreck three miles south of the station and a
short distance off from shore, the sea making a clean breach over her.
He notified Capt. Smart of the life saving
crew at Hampton Beach all of whom hurried to the scene of the disaster. Seeing that there
was no hope of saving the vessel, Capt. Smart ordered his men to patrol the beach and keep
a sharp lookout for bodies. At 5 o'clock the body of a middle aged man came ashore and was
given into the charge of Coroner Smith and the selectmen of Hampton.
The news of the loss of the Brown will come as
a severe blow to many in this city who knew the unfortunate men who sailed in her. She
carried a crew of five men as follows:
Capt. Arthur E. Aldrich, 40
years, a native of London, leaves widow and one step-daughter
Abram Pennery, steward, 64, widower, leaves a daughter in Boston
Charles J. Green, 60, married, leaves a widow and two children
Thomas Saulnier, 40, brother-in-law of the master, native of Yarmouth, N.
S., leaves widow and family
Benjamin Johnson, alias Benson, 40, single, native of
Nova Scotia
The captain was also known as Arthur
Ross. |
