Good Afternoon, Today I want to share with the group(s) a newspaper article I found while researching the Bath (Maine) schooner "James S. Lowell", captained by Captain Freeman Reed, of Boothbay. The incident is a well-known sinking of the USS Tallapoosa, after being struck by the James S. Lowell, near Martha's Vineyard. This account was published in the St. Paul Globe, St. Paul, Minnesota, August 23, 1884. It fives a detailed account of the incident, as well as many names. I am researching the James S. Lowell, and am primarily interested, right now, in finding details of the loss of the Lowell, reportedly in 1889 in the North Atlantic, along with Captain Freeman Reed. If anyone has any information on that incident, I would be greatly appreciative. Thank-you for your time, -David Reed The Greater Swanville Metroplex, Waldo County, Maine ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------- The St. Paul Daily Globe Saturday Morning, August 23, 1884 Page 4 CHANDLER'S YACHT SUNK The U.S. Naval Steamer Tallapoosa Sunk in a Collision, Said to Have Been Caused by a Wrong Order to the Helmsman Secretary Chandler Not on Board - Four Men Missing - Personal Effects Lost The Vessel Can Be Raised and a Fat Job Provided in Repairing Her --- College City, Mass., August 22 - The United States steamship Tallapoosa sank off this coast last night. The survivors landed at Woodsholl [Woodshole]. She collided with a three masted schooner and lies with the mainmast and the top of the smokestack out of water. It is reported eight lives were lost by the disaster. THE PARTICULARS Boston, Aug. 22. - The facts of the sinking of the Tallapoosa are as follows. The Tallapoosa, with 190 men and officers, was bound to Newport to take on board Secretary Chandler. At 11 o'clock last night, during a thick fog, three miles east of Oak Bluffs, Martha's Vineyard, she was struck in the bow by the schooner James S. Lowell, of Bath, Capt. Reed, from Baltimore for Portland, with a cargo of coal. Her side was crushed in and she sank in five minutes in ten fathoms of water. As she went down her whistle was blown as a signal of distress and heard by the steamer Gate City, which came to her assistance and rescued the crew with the exception of the surgeon and one man who are said to be missing. The Gate City blew a whistle and the steamer Fish-hawk, lying at the wharf at Woodsholl, sent her steam launch. The Gate City lay to until 3 o'clock transferring the crew to the launch. They all landed at Woodsholl. The Tallapoosa lies on what is known as Smash meadow. The smoke stack only is visible. The schooner Jas. S. Lowell has aboard several of the Tallapoosa passengers. HOW IT HAPPENED Capt. Reed, of the schooner James S. Lowell, states that he was passing through the sound last night with a strong southwest wind, all said set and was going at nine knots. The night was clear but dark. When two miles away the lookout reported a light ahead. Shortly it was seen to be a red light, and he said, speaking to the wheelman, "Red, Lord keep her straight!" I stood near the wheel during all the time and the course was not altered until word came that the green light could be seen to avoid collision, seeing the steamer was doing nothing to avoid us, I ordered the helm dropped head down, but before it could be done, and before my vessel had altered her course at all, the two vessels struck each other, their sterns seemingly coming together exactly. Our vessel's stern glanced by the Tallapoosa's and penetrated her hull. After the vessels stopped the steamer swung round along side of the Lowell and her crew might have jumped on board, but it was not then known what was the condition of either vessel. After getting my family into the boat I examined my vessel and found she was leaking quite badly, though not in immediate danger of sinking. The Tallapoosa drifted away from us and sank within ten minutes, before many of the officers and crew had left her. As she went down those who could do so took to the rigging, and were taken off later. The schooner Mary A. Wood came along and assisted in saving crew, and later the steamer Gate City was signaled and came to our assistance. After all who were saved had been transferred she steamed away to Woodsholl. Our vessel was badly damaged, the stern being started and the wood ends injured. She made twenty-one inches of water in a short time. We were under way proceeding to Vineyard Haven." Touching the collision, Captain Read says: "It is the most careless piece of work I ever saw. The night was clear and the lights of the Lowell were burning all night and were perfectly visible a long distance. NEGLIGENCE OF THE OFFICERS There was some difficulty in obtaining the story of the steamer's officer, her executive officer, to whom the reporters were referred, declining to make any statement. One of the men on the look out of the steamer says he saw the schooner's light fifteen minutes before the collision, and reported the fact. Several of the crew of the steamer acknowledged the steamer to be at fault, and admitted that the schooner was steering south-east by south, and the steamer in exactly the opposite direction, with the sailing vessel having the right of way by law. many men were in the water, being fished up an hour after the sinking of the vessel. Numerous wrecking schooners and teh steamers Fish Hawk and Verbena are cruising about the sound in the vicinity, seeking to secure bodies of the drowned and any wreckage. THE MISSING Washington, Aug. 22. - The names of the missing from the Tallapoosa are: Past Assistant Surgeon Clarence E. Black and Geo. [George] E. Foster, a landsman. Some of Secretary Chandler's personal effects were in the vessel when she sank. ANOTHER ACCOUNT Boston, Aug. 22 - Paymaster Tarbell, who was a passenger on the Tallapoosa, says: "It was about 10 o'clock when the schooner struck. I was abed, and supposed she had gone aground. Some one called down the companionway, "All hands abandon the ship!" The men rushed on the deck, but there was no excitement. The officers and men were very cool. A few who were near the bow jumped overboard, but most of us took the boats. As soon as we were clear from the ship we could see the result of the collision. We were in channel and the schooner had struck us square on the starboard side by the foremast. The schooner's bow cut halfway through the ship, tearing a terrible hole inside, through which the water was rushing. The foremast was cut away and the schooner's bow shattered. The Tallapoosa sank in ten minutes. All that can be seen of her now is about half her smoke stack. She sank bow first, and there was no time to save anything. We had to leave just as we turned out of bed. The schooner sent boats to help pick up those in the water and to tender any assistance necessary. Another schooner also came up, and took part of the men, while the remainder went on board the schooner that run us down. She was leaking badly the captain was afraid he could not keep her above water. The water was gaining on him, so our men took turns at the pumps until he could get the steam pumps working. After that he was all right. The Gate City came up in a few minutes, and took the Tallapoosa's crew. Our men were destitute of clothes, but their wants were supplied by the officers and men. When we were together and the roll was called, and we found two men were missing. Dr. Black, the surgeon, and one of the men did not answer. They were probably drowned. No one saw them go down. When last seen Dr. Black was afloat on a rail preparing to jump. Coolness of officers and men accounts for the small loss of life. The captain told me that every boats crew was at their place, and the men went to the boats assigned them. It was rather amusing in spite of our serious situation, to see the negroes go for life preservers. They were the only ones really scared. When we reached Woodsholl, we were transferred to the Fishhawk and then to the shore. The Fishhawk at once left for the wreck. The saddest part of the accident was the loss of those men. We did not suffer any for it was a warm night. I don't know anything as to the cause of the collision. Commander Merry was on deck at the time. The captain of the schooner did not offer any explanation at the time. I was talking with him. LIEUTENANT EVERETT SPEAKS Boston, Aug. 22. - Lieut. William H. Everett, executive officer, ensign William B. Whittles, and Mate Hugh Kuhl with 100 men from the wrecked Tallapoosa arrived to-night at the navy yard, where they go upon waiting orders. Lieut. Everett says he believed the Tallapoosa did act in a manner to avoid the line water over which the schooner would cover. He was on deck at the time of the collision, but from conversation he has had since he feels convinced that the steamer was in the right. "The vessels," he says, "were coming in diametrically opposite directions. The head of the schooner should have kept straight, and we should have passed to one side of her; but it would seem as though the officers in charge of the schooner were afraid we would not alter our course, and turned their vessel's head from the proper course. Not it is a perfectly easy thing to avoid a fixed point, but when that point keeps bobbing around there is no telling what to do. The very way the schooner struck us would indicated that she had changed her course, coming as she did full head into us, instead of grazing along the side." WHAT THE SAILORS SAY Statements of others of the Tallapoosa, however, would tend to show that a different set of movements were followed. The general opinion among the sailors is that the schooner was moving in such a way as to leave the Tallapoosa the option of passing astern or across her bows. The Tallapoosa chose the latter course, and in endeavoring to glide in front was run into by the schooner. Says a sailor, who claims to have been in the pilot house at the time of the disaster: "The captain, navigator, and mate saw the lights of the schooner, but disputed whether it was a green or a red light, and finally the captain exclaimed: "Well, do something; turn her one way or the other, "and then we struck." one of the men at the wheel declares that "they gave order hard a-starboard when it ought to have been hard a-port." Whereever the fault rested, certain it is that the schooner plunged full head into the Tallapoosa on the starboard bow, and cut clear through the timbers of the vessel, opening an immense hold for water to pour in. About sixteen men were on the deck of the government boat with the watch, but according to the statements of several of the watch, they and most of their comrades were asleep forward. The men of the crew below were rudely awakened by a terrific shock, and sprang hastily from their hammocks. The water flooded both decks, and instantly the sailars abandoned everything and rushed on the deck through the debris. There they found confusing noises resounding, so as to drown all words of the officers, caused by the escaping steam through the whistle. The steam was quickly cut off and then the only order of the hour was heard: "Man the boats - abandon ship." There was no confusion, but a great deal of haste. Some twenty or thirty men took to the water instead of the boats. All of this happened in a little over five minutes. The Tallapoosa had already begun to settle, and in a few minutes her hull was completely submerged. Not one of the head officers had left the craft. Captain Merry, Lieutenant Everett, Engineer Towne, Master Mechanic Steever and Walker, and four sailors took to the rigging, surmising the depth of the water was not sufficient to submerge the maintop. Ensign Whittesey and Mate Gallagher clung to the ridge rope. The schooner in the collision had stood by to aid the boats, and boats made to her as well as to a second schooner, the Mary A. Hood, which hove to in response to calls for help. Having placed the men on board, the boats returned and took the sailors floating in the water, and rescued the others from the rigging. Capt. Merry was the last man to leave his vessel, and Lieut. Everette left only just before him. No attempt was made to save personal effects. The men were later transferred to the steamer Gate City, of Boston, for Savannah, which brought them to Woodsholl. The men reached here this evening, Capt. Merry remaining with a few seamen at Woodsholl. Four men were reported lost, but of these only one was drowned. The man lost was a colored saloon hand named George Foster, belonging in Norfolk, Virginia. He had quickly seized a life preserver, and rushing to the hurricane deck threw himself, preserver in hand, over the stern. His body struck upon the monkey rail, and he was probably instantly killed, for the preserver floated, but the body was not to be seen. The other two missing men are William O'Donnell, a seaman, of Boston, and W.E. Jones, a landsman, of Wilmington. It is confidently believed they have stowed themselves away in the Gate City. Several of the sailors declare they saw Jones upon the Gate City. A few of the sailors were also injured by the falling spars and by slipping down the chains, but none seriously. The carpenter's mate, Chas. [Charles] Carlson, who went to the surgeon even when the ship was sinking, to secure treatment, was seriously injured while lying in his hammock on the berth deck, by a falling mast. His wounds are on the hand and leg. EXAMINING THE WRECK Said Executive Officer Everett: "Friday morning we went out to look at the wreck. We found only a portion of her mainmast and smokestack above the water. I think she can be raised. She is worth it. The launch, we found, had been removed from its anchorage, and we soon discovered a little schooner making off with the boat as booty. We gave chase and got it back." Lieut. Everret strongly denies the statement that the Tallapoosa had acquired an unfavorable reputation in maritime circles and says: "I never heard her called "old calamity," and I have always considered her reputation very good. She never had any serious accidents, the accident with a schooner a year or two ago being excusable. THE SPEED Master Mechanic Steever was in charge of the engine at the time of the disaster. He says they were going at nine or ten knots an hour at the time, the regular rate being twelve to fourteen. Only one boiler was in operation. They kept on at this rate until two minutes after the collision. Two bells were rung and I slackened speed. Immediately the water began to pour into the room, and he was obliged to rush out. It was exactly 11:10 p.m. when they first were struck. He went to the rigging with the captain and others. Boats made off for the schooner, each looking after himself. Captain Merry hailed them, and afterward the barge for the captain and lieutenant. he found that the general opinion is the Tallapoosa attempted to cross the schooner's bow, and got run down. The Tallapoosa, in his opinion, was a splendid boat. WHAT THE MATE SAYS Mate Kuhl says: "My state room was abaft where the schooner struck. I rushed on deck and heard some one groaning beside a fallen spar. I turned to look for the man, but then heard the order to abandon the ship, and hurried to my boat. We picked up all those floating that we could, and pulled to the schooner in the collision. I staid on that vessel with seven men, after others were taken on the Gate city, to help if necessary. We found the Lowell's wood end sprung and leaking a little, so we patched it up with bakum. She was not badly injured. The light house inspector has placed a new buoy over the wreck of the Tallapoosa in nine and one-half fathons of water. THE PAYMASTER'S VERSION Cottage City, Mass., Aug. 22. - Paymaster Tiffany, of the Tallapoosa, came here swimming. He says he was asleep when the collision occured, and on reaching the deck learned the steamer was sinking. He took his station for a time, and finding his presence there of no avail he went below, hurridly collected a few valuables, and returned to the deck just in time to dive through the stern part as the ship settled into the water. After swimming about for a time he discovered the lights by which he knew his position. He swam to the steam launch and got into it. he was subsequently taken off by the schooner boat. From his conversation it would appear that the officers of the Tallapoosa on deck at the time of the collision dispute the claim of the schooner's captain, that he did not change his course.