Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 September 1889 — STORMS AT SEA. [ARTICLE]

STORMS AT SEA.

Wrecks AH Along the Atlantic Coast—A Veritable Cyclone. The storms on the Atlantic on the9th,lotk and 11th are shown by the later reports to have been very disastrous. Reports from along the Jeqfev shore show wrecks everywhere, sixteen between Barnegat lighthouse and Sandy Hook. Dispatches from New York on the 13th say# The vessels at anchor along the South street piers have the appearance of having passed through a veritable cyclone. The rigging of many of the craft was torn into shreds, and bars and masts were disman- . tied, while the waves beat with great fury against the vessels’ sides, even as theyiay at their piers. A Lewes <Del.) special says: There are seventeen sails ashore, with a. full score more fast drawing upon the breakers. The crews of sixteen of the wrecked vessels are now at the Virgin House being cared for. A three-masted schooner is ashore just outside the innpr harbor and is fast going to pieces, with the crew of ten clinging to the rigging. The lines which the brave life-saving crew have shot over her are tangled in such a manner as to make it impossible to send out the car. No human power can save the sailors. If the wind continues blowing as it now is for ten hours, not a, sail of the sixty remaining ill the harbor will be . Afloat. ' . — : Advices from the Delaware Breakwater state that it was the most furious storm known to the oldest inhabitants. At least two score vessels are now beached; Both wooden piers were washed away. The beach from Rehoboth to Lewes is strewn with wrecks. It is thought at least fifty lives were lost. Men were seen clingiug to the rigging of the fast sinking vessels frantically calling for help. The life-sav-ing crew were powerless to render assistance owing to the fury of the gale. It was a terrible sight to witness, but no human power could save them. Their bodies were washed ashore and were buried in the. sand along the water. The loss to vessel property at Breakwater will reach,it is thought, $5,000,000. The hotels, bath houses and cottages at Ocean City, Md., were destroyed. The dwellers on the beach were rescued with great'difficulty. The damage is very heavy. Fifteen houses were washed"away at Sea Isle City, including four of the hotels. At Long Branch the surf ran so high that it " JEashed-theoutw>efid' of-the--grotft ocean pier- and-tossed its foam and. spray two hundred feet inland. The bluff has again been badly damaged and it will cost fully $170,000 to repair it. Bathing houses and beach pavillions were washed away. All along the coast comes similar stories. It was one of the heaviest and most destructive storms known and the damage to property will amount to many millions of dollars. The storm struck the El Mar from New Orleans to New York, about a mile north of Cape Hatteras. From that time until she almost reached Sandy Hook, she steamed in th| teeth of a most terrific storm. Heavy waves lashed the sides of the steamer and broke clear over her deck. At one time the waves rose clear to the tops of her smokestacks, which stand forty-five feet out of the water. The smokestacks looked like gigantic frosted cakes as she came into the harbor. They were covered with salt. Capt. E. A. Horton and first, officer B. A. Betf.ofc stated that the storm was the most terrible one they had witnessed during the past four teen years. At times they could not see the ship’s length. All in coming vessels report similar experiences. The storm on the Atlantic continued Thursday, with unabated fury. The loss to shipping is becoming more serious hourly, and the loss of life, when the facts be l came known, arc likely to prove appalling.