January 27, 1932
Flee Burning Vessel
Men on Grace and Evelyn Take
To Dories—
Craft Burns to Waters Edge
All Hands Reported Safe – Vessel One of Finest of Local Fleet
Total Loss
Sch. Babe Sears, Capt. Joseph
Sears of this port, arrived at the Boston fish pier this morning from Georges,
having on board four of the crew of the sch. Grace and Evelyn,
who were forced to flee their craft on Georges, Monday morning. The other five men are
safe on sch. Gov. Al Smith, due to arrive any time.
The fire which started in the engine room about 8
o’clock spread with such rapidity, that the men had barely time to escape with their
lives. Soon after leaving the burning craft, she was ablaze from stem to stern. The crew
stood off a distance in their dories, powerless to aid and watched their vessel burn to
the water’s edge, before she sank.
Four of the crew were taken on the Sears
and the other five on the Gov. Al Smith, which crafts were
fishing in the vicinity at the time. All lost their belongings except the clothes in which
they stood.
The Grace and Evelyn is owned by
the Sch. Grace and Evelyn, Inc., a corporation of New York fish merchants, and is worth
approximately $60,000. She is insured through the agency of Fitz J. Babson
company, the amount not stated, but believed to be in the neighborhood of $40,000 on the
vessel and her equipment.
The craft is a comparatively new boat, having been built at
Essex in 1925. She was 88 feet long, 81 tons gross and powered by a 150-horse-power
engine. Since being built, she had been used as an off-shore dragger. |
