WRECKS AND RESCUES ON LONG ISLAND
Moriches
KEEPERS:
E. D. Topping
1849
Alvah Jones 1854
William Smith
1871
James Rowland
1872
Mahlon Phillips
1873
Sidney Penney
1873
Gilbert H. Seaman
1887-1904
Charles T. Gordon
1904-CG era
STATIONS:
1849 Garage type
building,
1872 red roof,
1887, wings added
1912-13 Lorain
type, destroyed by '38 hurricane
1942 modified
Lorain type, one of the few stations replaced after the '38
hurricane. It is still in use.
The
first Moriches Station was built by the Lifesaving Benevolent
Association of New York with money furnished by the U.S.
Treasury Department. Moriches was number six of the first 14
stations erected in 1849-50 on Long Island.
The second
station was the "red house" design that, was
prevalent along the south shore. All of the early stations of
this design had wings added in 1887. The L.S.S. Annual Report
for 1912 reported that "contract was also entered into
during the year for rebuilding the Blue Point, Moriches and
Rockaway stations to replace structures that no longer suited
to the needs of the service." The old buildings were
probably sold. The stations were replaced with the Lorain
type. The property was sold to the government by Charles T.
Gordon. Moriches remained until September 21, 1938 when it
was destroyed in the great hurricane. Both of these stations
were located just south of Swan Island about a mile and a
half east of the present Moriches Inlet.
The present
Coast Guard station was built in the winter of 1941-42 on the
mainland. It appears to have been styled after the Lorain
type of building.
The first keeper
retained by the Lifesaving Benevolent Association in 1850 was
Edward D. Topping (1802-1873). He lived on Main Street in
East Moriches. In 1854, Alvah Jones was appointed keeper by
President Franklin Pierce's Secretary of Treasury James
Guthrie at $200 per annum.
Of all the Long
Island station locations, Moriches has the dubious honor of
having the most shipwrecks. The coastline is no different
than the rest of the south shore. There seems to be no
rational explanation for the wrecks, a few of which are
chronicled here.
WRECKS:
MAJESTIC
In the year 1845,
the brig MAJESTIC from the Mediterranean struck in the
daytime near the area that's now the west 'etty of Moriches
inlet. It was warm when she struck and all aboard made it
safely ashore aided by the oil of peppermint and anise cargo
that broke open and smoothed the seas.
CONSTITUTION
The British ship
CONSTITUTION was driven ashore during a severe nor- easter in
January of 1850 with about 210 immigrants including many
women and children. The crew and passengers took refuge
during the storm in the newly completed Life Saving
Benevolent Association boathouse after being rescued.
(Bennett, Surfboats, Rockets etc.)
PERSIAN
The ship PERSIAN stranded in April 1853 with 218 passengers
and a crew of 25. Capt. E.D. Topping wrote the following
letter concerning the operation to Walter Jones, Esq.,
President Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company: "...I
should have given you immediate notice of the disaster, but
the Captain informed me that he had written. I sent his mate
to the city, and I presumed that you would get the earliest
information, as I was engaged (in) getting the passengers and
baggage on shore. The unfortunate passengers have expressed
their thanks for what your Benevolent Association has done
erecting houses for the shipwrecked on our shores. The storm
of Sunday was very severe. Many of the passengers are sick
(smallpox); and one of them, who was unable to walk, had to
be lifted on a litter. The women and children, and the sick,
would have perished but for the life-boat building, as it was
nearly impossible to get them off the beach. On the day of
landing, the life-boat (belonging to the Life Saving
Institution) performed her part nobly; had it not been for
her we should have not been able to land all the passengers
that day. There is some trifling damage done to the boat. We
landed all the sails and sent the passengers and baggage to
the depot. (Yaphank). We have not been able to get at the
cargo today; but hope to do so tomorrow. The ship is badly
broken up, and I presume she will be a total wreck. A
schooner and two steamers came here today; but we were unable
to communicate with them, the sea was running so high, and
was not deemed safe to land. The chief officer will deliver
this to you, and give you all desired information. Any
further information you may require will be forwarded
promptly.- Yours very respectfully, E.D. TOPPING."
Handling the
lifeboat was Capt. Norton Raynor along with Jonathan S.
Robinson and others of East Moriches. The LSBA keepers
usually did not go out in the lifeboats, leaving that job to
the volunteers.
FRANKLIN
On July 17, 1854
sidewheeler FRANKLIN grounded at Moriches in a dense summer fog. She was a wooden ship propelled by steam and sail, 265
feet long, with 150 passengers and a crew of 50. Her cargo
was mail and goods valued at one million dollars. The
passengers and mail were promptly brought
ashore and taken to the train in Yaphank. Among the
passengers were 12 nuns and a parrot valued at 60 dollars. A
wrecking company tried with many ships to refloat her, but to
no avail. Her cargo consisted of silk, cured calfskins, guns,
crockery, shetland ponies and liquor.
While the
passengers were boarding the surfboat for the trip ashore, a
mother accidentally dropped her baby overboard! Sims Havens,
who at the time was running a beach pavilion nearby, jumped
in and resctied the baby. Ile mother was so glad that her
baby was brought safely ashore, she dropped down on her knees
and kissed the feet of Havens.
The passengers
were transported to Manorville where they were too late to
catch the one daily passenger train to New York. The local
people took in the passengers for the night. It was
discovered that one of the passengers had small pox pustules
on his face. He had been trying to hide his face but a young
boy yanked away his shawl that he was hiding behind. The
unfortunate man placed himself in voluntary quarantine but
the damage was done. In spite of the home remedies applied,
one person caught and died of the disease, while several
others contracted the disease, but recovered.
Keeper E.D.
Topping sent Sidney B. Topping to Wall Street in Manhattan to
inform the owners. The last train from Yaphank had left, so
he rode horseback to New York, stopping at Babylon for a
fresh horse. The relationship of the two Toppings is unknown.
Captain James A.
Wotten stayed in Center Moriches at the boarding house of
Frances Booth, (now 86 Union Avenue), for some time to
oversee the unloading operations. He gave his telescope to
Mrs. Booth to show his appreciation. Recently a relative
donated it to the Moriches Bay Historical Society, where it
is on display along with a chair and cabin door that was
salvaged. Captain Wotten commanded the armed steamer FULTON
during the Civil War and captured many prizes.
Some of the goods
were damaged and the crockery and guns were lost. Some of the
crockery has washed ashore, but as far as is known, the guns
were never seen again. They were supposedly packed in crates
full of wax to protect them.
The sand soon
built out to the ship and the Underwriter's man hired over
100 men to off load over 800 tons of cargo onto wagons that
were backed up to its wooden hull, before it was damaged by
the sea. The cargo then had to be transported to the bay side
of the beach and onto small sailboats for the trip to the
mainland. The water was too shallow for the five lighters
standing offshore to be used.
It was reported
that in trying to free her, the stern was wrenched off and
washed ashore.
Captain John
Lewis bought the wreck of the FRANKLIN and removed the shafts
weighing 15 tons each and shipped them to New York. These
shafts were exceedingly valuable and had taken six years to
manufacture. Captain Lewis had a barge built to hold them.
The seven-foot
figurehead of Benjamin Franklin ended up on a lawn across
from the Episcopal Church in Bellport. From there it is
believed to have ended up on Cape Cod.
The engine frame
remained plainly visible for many years. In 1931 it was just
west of the new Moriches Inlet.Before the inlet broke through,
bootleggers operating from just outside the three mile limit,
in force at that time, would load up small boats with bootleg
booze and take it to the FRANKLIN, where they had a line
rigged to the beach. It was used to get the liquor to shore
for further transport in the bay. It is said that Coast
Guardsmen used to supplement their low pay by not noticing
this activity near their station. Offshore ships were
signaled by oil lanterns of different colors burning in an
upper story window of the abandoned old East Bay Hotel at
Great Gun Beach. During this period of time the bar at the
Hotel came alive on Saturday night, but all traces were gone
by daylight. (personal reminisce of the editor).
During World War
11, the Army Air Corps had a target range on the beach near
there. The planes also used the old wreck as a target. In
October of 1956 the Coast Guard declared it a hazard to
navigation and had a Navy underwater demolition team blow it
up, and in 1978 they came back and finished the job.
CHASTENAN & SOUTHERNER
August 20, 1856
found David Y. Edwards Sr. of Manorville along with others on
the beach at German Flats opposite Moriches where they were
mowing salt hay for his farm animals. While there, a bad
storm came up and a brig came ashore onto the bar and started
to break up. He, being a strong swimmer tried to enter the
water to swim out to the wreck. His friends attempted to stop
him so he went on down the beach a distance and swam out to
the ship. One by one he brought each man from the wreck. On
the last trip out he got a spike through his foot from a
piece of lumber, but he was able to complete his mission. A
friend named Dave Thompson ran home and got his father's
horses and brought David Edwards home.
He was later
hired to cart full bales of calico goods from the wreck. He
brought home some of the calico from broken bales.
The vessels were
the brig CHASTENAN and the schooner SOUTHERNER, according to
a letter from the Life Saving Benevolent Association. Gilbert
B. Miller of South Haven had reported the incident to them. He wrote that,
"the brig of Captain Marshall (CHASTENAN) was broken
opposite this place (South Haven?) and immediately the
schooner came ashore. The spike went clear through his foot
and crippled him for life." The second vessel was the
schooner SOUTHERNER which came ashore at the same time. It
may have been rigged as 'a barge.
From the minutes
of the board of managers of the Life Saving Benevolent
Association of New York held in December of 1857:
"A pecuniary
reward and a medal inscribed as follows.. were presented in
June to David Edwards for highly meritorious conduct in
endeavoring to save the crew of the brig CHASTENAN, and the
schooner SOUTHERNER, wrecked on south beach, Long
Island 1856."
David had gotten
a message to meet an agent at the Manorville railroad
station. He went fearful that they were after him for the
broken bales he had taken home. Instead the medal was
presented to him.
IRENE
It was January of
1857 and Oliver Chichester was sitting in his home on Main
Street in Center Moriches when he spotted the tall masts of a
ship ashore on the beach. In those days, most of the timber
near the bay had been cut and used for fuel or house
building, so the ocean was visible from Main Street. He
gathered a number of men and headed for the beach over the
ice on the frozen bay. These volunteers dragged a boat from
Mastic beach to the Center Moriches beach and attempted to
launch through the frozen surf. Their first attempt was unsuccessful but after gathering more manpower, they were
able to bring the crew of the IRENE ashore. They were housed
in the Long Island Hotel in town. The following Sunday Capt.
William Penny's house next door caught fire from an
overheated stove and the crew of the IRENE put it out.
The Hempstead
Inquirer of January 21, 1857 stated that, "The ocean
opposite Moriches has been frozen so that the boys have
skated a considerable distance from the shore, entirely
around the wreck of the IRENE, which recently went ashore at
that place."
ROSINA
The bark ROSINA
came ashore a little east of the station on February 1, 1871.
Her cargo was cognac. A story written in 1900 in the
newspaper, Brooklyn Eagle, states that there were still
samples of the ROSINA's cargo to be found in East Moriches
houses.
In an interview
printed in the Brooklyn Eagle of September 1, 1934, 80 year
old Capt. John Penny told the reporter that when he was still
a boy, he used to go to the station with Capt. Smith. When
the ROSINA broke up, he said he "walked miles on the
cases of brandy that were strewn on the beach when the vessel
broke up." He managed to get 17 cases of brandy home.
When his father heard what he had done he "ran a high
temperature and made me give them up."
The Captain's
wife and two children were aboard as well as their governess,
Mary Curran, a Nova Scotia girl. The first mate of the
ROSINA, George Goddard, married the girl and settled in
Patchogue. The Goddards had two daughters and two sons, one
of whom, George Goddard, Jr., served first at Lone Hill as a
temporary member during 1910 and 1913 and later at Georgica
Station where he advanced to keeper.
George Goddard,
Sr., volunteered to be a surfman at the Blue Point station
when the USLSS was organized, entering the service in 1879 at
the age of 35, and became a member of the Surfman's
Benevolent Association. He held the position for 18 years. In
1897 he became keeper of the Lone Hill station.
He retired in 1915 at the age of 71 after 35 years in the
USLSS. (Gonzalez p.90)
A three-foot-long
swivel cannon that came off the ROSINA was found on a piece
of wreckage by Sims Harrison Havens and was given to the Long
Island Maritime Museum in West Sayville, L.I. by his great
grandson, Raymond Havens of Moriches.
ROBERT FLETCHER
The British bark
ROBERT FLETCHER came ashore here on February 4, 1872. She was
out of Whampoa, China for New York. Captain Brown, her master
stated that he had bad weather for several days and was
unable to make any observations. Her masts were cut away to
prevent her going to pieces. Captain Bishop, local agent for
the Coast Wrecking Company rendered assistance and aided in
removing the cargo of tea and silks. The FLETCHER came ashore
only a few rods from where the bark ROSINA struck the
previous winter. (Sag Harbor Corrector, Feb. 10 1872).
26 years later, a
Cannon removed from this ship was being used in East Moriches
to celebrate Washington's birthday, when 4 it blew up.
Fortunately, no one was hurt. (Patchogue Advance,
Feb. 24 1898).
OREGON
It was March 14,
1886 and the Cuinard liner OREGON with 845 persons aboard was
due to dock in New York in a few hours, when at 3:45 a.m. a
lookout shouted an alarm, because there was a three masted
schooner sailing on a collision course. There wasn't enough
time to avoid a collision and the schooner struck the
OREGON's side. The schooner sunk with all hands and not a
clue as to her name. The OREGON had three holes in her side
and was taking on water rapidly. The flooding soon stopped
the engines and the Captain sent up distress flares. These were spotted by
two small vessels, the pilot boat PHANTOM and the FANNIE A.
GORHAM. The two smaller vessels took as many as they could
hold from the lifeboats which were ferrying passengers from
the sinking vessel. Shortly thereafter the German passenger
ship FULDA arrived. The passengers were again transported by
lifeboat from the two small sailing vessels to the FULDA for
transport to New York along with many sacks of mail.
At dawn a search
was made for survivors of the schooner, but none were found.
The OREGON sunk slowly, bow first in 130 feet of water. It
was reported that at one point the bow was on the bottom and
the stern was still afloat. During the Summer, divers removed
cargo including mail and cotton.
The crew of the
Forge River Station went out in their surfboat to a yawl
signaling them about a half-mile offshore. In it were the
Pilot, third officer Taylor and three sailors from the
OREGON. As a heavy sea was running, Taylor was the only one
in the yawl that would risk landing with the lifesavers
through the surf. The yawl put out to sea and was picked up
by the FULDA.
Joe Gallo, a
diver from Center Moriches, has made many dives on and around
the OREGON. He states that there is an identified iron hulled
sailing vessel with the bow smashed in near the OREGON site.
The schooner
CHARLES H. MORSE carrying a cargo of coal disappeared at the
same time and is believed by some historians to be the
mystery ship.
PERSIAN MONARCH
On the night of
May 2, 1894 the British Steamer PERSIAN MONARCH grounded. In
the morning she was boarded by the keeper and a surfman, who
brought a message ashore from the master to his agents in New
York. The keeper summoned a volunteer crew as the regular
crew were off for the summer. The Potunk crew came down and
aided the Moriches crew ferrying messages and tidal
information to the steamer. The vessel was towed off by the
wreckers on the fourth.
On the fifth a
vessel was heard whistling off the station in the fog. The
keeper fired his gun to warn her off the beach. She turned
out to be the tug J.D. JONES with two barges in tow. She was
going to use them to unload the PERSIAN MONARCH. The tug was
notified that the vessel had left on the third.
GEM
On Feb. 5, 1895
the Dutch brig GEM anchored about three miles offshore and
signaled that she was in distress. The surf was high and the
weather was extremely cold and the keeper waited a day before
conditions let film launch a surfboat and board her. The surfmen found the men badly frostbitten and the ship leaking
badly. 'Re master requested a tug be summoned. Shortly after
the life savers left, the ship's anchor cable broke. The
master beached his ship near the station. With the assistance
of the Potunk station crew the ship's crew were removed by
surfboat and treated at the station. "On the afternoon
tide the abandoned vessel went adrift in a waterlogged
condition." (USLSSAR)
"T'he brig
GEM came ashore Tuesday near the Moriches Life Saving
Station. Wednesday, the life savers succeeded in rescuing the
crew, who were nearly all suffering from exposure. The life
savers had a hard time of it, as the air was bitter cold.
Some of the men had their hands and feet frozen. Charles E.
Ross, agent for the Meritt Wrecking Co., went down from here
and telegraphed for a tug to come out and try to get the brig
off. She hailed from the West Indies and was loaded with
salt. She was covered with ice and the crew were unable to
handle her. Some of them were found to be so badly frozen
when taken to the life saving station that Dr. Brundage of
Westhampton Beach was called to attend them. He said he
thought one man would have to have both feet amputated."
(Patch. Advance Feb. 8 1895)
On Friday,
February 8, 1895 the MANNING and the LOUIS V PLACE wrecks
occurred at Lone Hill, as a result of the same bitter cold
and storm.
GATE CITY
For many years
this ship ran between Savannah, Ga. and Boston, Mass.
carrying bales of cotton and other cargo. In addition to the
crew she could accommodate around 145 passengers.
On July 19, 1886
she grounded on a rock in Vineyard sound in the fog. She was
removed with considerable difficulty and repaired. She
continued in service until February 8, 1900 when she again
ran aground in a fog at nine in the evening. This time she
was one and one quarter miles west of Moriches station. The
station crew boarded her at once from their surfboat and
found three women and 45 men on board. The keeper, Captain
Gil Seaman had only five men on duty when the GATE CITY first
stranded. He removed the two women passengers and the
stewardess by lifecar, leaving a line to the steamer for use
in case it became necessary to land the men. At high water
the next morning, the steamer came in over the bar and
grounded about 200 yards from the beach. As the surf had
increased in strength during the night the keeper set up the
beach apparatus, and, with the aid of the Potunk and Forge
River crews, landed 20 men safely in the breeches buoy and
put them up at the station.
On February 10,
the surfmen were asked to put part of the crew back on board,
and wreckers took charge of the steamer. On the 13th signals
of distress were sounded from the wreck, and the surfmen
again hauled off the hawser and breeches buoy. With the aid
of the Potunk and Forge River crews once more, they landed
four wreckers and the remainder of the steamer's crew, who
were taken care of at the station until they were sent to New
York by the vessel's agent.
Captain Geoglin
and the crew stayed aboard. A second storm came and drove the
ship broadside to the beach and broke her back. Ile crew was
put ashore leaving only the Captain and the mate. The Merritt
Wrecking Company had their men unloading the cargo of cotton
bales on to the beach. During this operation, the men plied
up cotton bales. With timbers that washed ashore and a sail,
they made a hut to stay out of the weather when not working.
Later with most
of the cotton bales ashore, the rest of the bales from the
wreck were transported by surf dories to a lighter offshore
and the lighter eventually was towed to New York by Merritt's
seagoing tug.
As shipwrecks go
there was nothing spectacular about this one. The wreckers in
their efforts to remove her literally split the ship in the
middle. When this happened they had to give up salvaging her
and they began to disassemble her for scrap. Rails were laid
across the dunes and the pieces transported to waiting boats
for transportation to the mainland. The ship laid on the
beach for many months and as a result a great number of
photographs were taken. Examination of the photographs show
her being systematically stripped. In the end the remains of
the hulk was left on the beach for the ocean to finish off.
The hulk is still discernible at times just a little east of
Moriches inlet in 25 feet of water.
In the 1930s a
piece of the slip, possibly the stern post would appear in
the middle of the newly formed Moriches Inlet at low tide.
Today it is a good shallow water dive site for those who
enjoy the sport. The wreck symbol on maritime charts just
east of Moriches inlet is the remains of the GATE CITY. (The
Patchogue Argus, and many local contemporary news reports;
Gentile: Shipwrecks of N.Y.).
MILES M. MERRY
The 1600 ton,
four masted schooner MILES M. MERRY came ashore on September
10, 1907. She was hauled off by Capt. Edward G. Dennison of
the Merritt-Chapman Wrecking Company.
At 4:30 a.m. on
February 17, 1909, she came ashore a second time. Surfman
Earl Sudyam saw the schooner sailing parallel to the shore
inside the outer bar. A Coston flare was burned to warn her
of her dangerous position. The weather was clear. She
appeared to head for the flare instead of away. She ended up
300 feet from shore. She was carrying no cargo, therefore she
got well inshore before grounding. She ended up about a mile
west of where she ran aground 17 months earlier. Capt.
Dennision and his wrecking crew worked for three weeks to get
her off. The MERRY was pulled offshore almost to the same
spot where she had grounded in 1907. She was righted and
almost water free. At this time, March 4th, an easterly gale
began to rage. The vessel pounded on the sand with great
force all night and soon began to break up. By morning she
had a 45 degree list and the seas breaking over her were
tearing the planking away.
Thirty men, the
schooner's original crew and the wreckers, were taken ashore
by breeches buoy by Capt. 'Rose' Gordon and the Moriches
lifesavers, who had seen the distress signal flying. Capt.
Farrow of the MERRY and Capt. Dennison of the wrecking tug
were the last to leave. they soon recovered from their
prolonged exposure and exhaustion. Captain Farrow supposedly
turned over what was left of the copper on the hull as well
as the sails and rigging to the lifesavers for all that they
had done for him. Then on March 15, the hull caught fire and
burned to the water's edge.
A news item
written by Jeannette Rattray of 'Ship Ashore' fame quotes an
interview in the 1960s with Joe Tuttle, a retired lifesaver,
who was at Moriches during this time. He says that all the
gear and the anchors from the MERRY were shipped by freight
to the owners, Clark Brothers of Portland, Maine. But after
the CARNEGIE wreck they gave the gear and anchors to the
Moriches lifesavers. The MILES M. MERRY may be the ship who's
outline occasionally uncovers just east of the east jetty of
Moriches inlet near the GATE CITY. (USLSSAR, local newspaper
accounts)
RADWAY
The 26 foot
gasoline launch RADWAY was cruising off Speonk Point in
Moriches Bay on August 2, 1908 when she collided with a 29
foot power boat. The racing boat struck hard enough to hole
the other vessel, which soon turned over. There were six
girls and one man aboard. He managed to get life belts on the
girls. The racing boat returned and aided in rescuing the
girls. One girl was separated from the group clinging on to
the overturned boat and drowned. She had became entangled
with a fishing line from the RADWAY. Captain Gordon and four
surfmen came to the scene in a power boat owned by the keeper
and kept at the station. After searching for an hour, he
returned to the station and phoned Keeper Gildersleeve at
Potunk station and together they searched until the body was
found.
WILLIAM C. CARNEGIE
On May 1, 1909,
at 2:50 a.m. the beach patrol discovered the 5 iyiasted
schooner WILLIAM C. CARNEGIE stranded on the bar 1/2 mile
south southwest of the station. The Potunk and Forge River
stations were notified and sent crews to help. Efforts to
shoot a line aboard failed as she was too far offshore. They
next tried launching a surfboat but it was capsized by the
tremendous seas. Several of the surfmen narrowly escaped with
their lives. The crew of the schooner, seeing that there
could be no help from shore, took their yawl and rowed
offshore. The keeper notified the Revenue Cutter MOHAWK and a
wrecking company. The cutter arrived at six p.m. and aided by
a bonfire and a searchlight wielded by the surfmen on the
beach, successfully rescued the 12 freezing men in the yawl
and transported them to New York. The vessel was a total
loss. The CARNEGIE's Captain was the same one that had
grounded the MILES M. MERRY in February near the same place.
SOME OTHER MORICHES WRECKS
BON PERE, in 1837
MAIL on Dec. 23, 1853
ARGO in 1858 or 1859
VICKSHORY on Dec. 25, 1866
CHARLES W KING on Nov. 10, 1869
CAROLINE GREY Nov. of 1871
IDAHO in 1880
BRAZIL on Feb. 10, 1899
LUCY W. SNOW on Sept. 11, 1901.
