Newspapers / The Coastland Times (Manteo, … / Feb. 17, 1939, edition 1 / Page 8
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Page Eight THE DARE COUNTY TIMES L “Pioneer” Wreck Yielded Bounty Everything From Bibles to Cabbages Cast Ashore Capt. Jim Howard Saved His Liquor By MARY MATTHEWS It was like manna from heaven when the vessel “Pioneer,” a heav ily loaded wooden freight steamer was wrecked off Ocracoke in a violent storm back in August, 1920. I ‘Pioneer” and remembers these in cidents concerning it. He believes the “Pioneer”’ to be the last wood- Friday, February 17, 1^1 COAST GUARD AT ITS BEST IN RESCUE OF WELLS CREW OFF OCRACOKE SEPT. 1914 (Continued from Page One) this time the wind had shifted on them again to the southwest, driv ing him towards the shore more swiftly but being a seaman-bom, he bent on new sails made of 00 canvas, yet it met the fate of the other; went out of the bolt rope as fast as the wind could strip it, and in trying to keep the ship off the en steam vessel seen in these parts, and when it hit it went into pieces; beach the top of the redder head Everything from bibles to cabbages and sank almost immediately. The 1 wrung off. Nothing now was left floated ashore. Hams, bananas, ship struck during the day timei gallant captain, with both barrels of flour, casks of alcohol, and was plainly visible from the anchors, all his sails and his redder bladders filled with snuff, and a shore. The observers on shore wind and pint deal of canned food canle could see the boat break into pieces waves would carry him, and into the Island, which was flooded and disappear into a raging sea. by the tide, and everywhere folks Mr. Meekins recalls the auction were knee-deep in water sweeping held in connection with that part ir.' valuable debris as things wash- of the cargo not taken by the na- e’l by them. tives during the storm. There • One old fellow threw away his were only two magistrates on Ocra- oM shoes when he spied a new pair coke and both were fighting each drifting toward him only to find other for the privilege of selling the new ones were both for the the cargo. A 60-gallon container 8.0,me foot. to try and look out for the wo.men, children, and the crew that were still entrusting their lives to his seamanship. Now the picture shifts to a little wee bit of land on the north end of Ocracoke Island, and the south end also; to the life-saving crews that were watching the deep not One woman gathered of alcohol to be auctioned off had knowing what was going on out up enough bladders of snuff to fill been considerably decreased by the a barrel which she proudly kept up- frequent visits of natives down to stairs in her house for all to marvel take a little drink' or two. Finally, at. She happily contemplated a a few days before the auction, future with a plenteous supply of Captain Jim Howard stopped them snuff. , by planting himself firmly on top The entire crew of the “Pioneer” of the barrel and guarding it with was saved, and they joined the his life. When the barrel was^ Islanders in rescuing the cargo, brought up for sale at the auction “Come on over to my house— Captain Jim was astride it, and he there”s plenty to eat” was the cry was sold with the barrel. He of the generous native to any bought it himself for five dollars, stranger anound, for the wrecked So keen was the auction that one cargo had yielded more than barrel of flour brought six dollars, enough to supply the Island with And after the sale the strangers a day’s rations. Theodore S. Meekins, promi- for the auction were treated grand nent real estate and insurance ly by the natives before time to de agent here, saw the wreck of the part. , there but an awful storm. Roscoe Burras, now a leading business man of Hatteras was on watch in the Lookout Tower at Hatteras Inlet and his eyes scan ning the horizon dimly made out in the mist some poles. He made alarm to the keeper, who within a moment was in the tower, one look convinced the old man they had work and a-plenty of it on their hands for the next several hours. The keeper called the keeper of Durants Station, Capt Homer Styron, and informed him GOOSE SHOOTING CASE IN HYDE CO. COURT Defendant Freed For Shooting Fowl That Ate His Oats and Beans The Swan Quarter courthouse was crowded to capacity Monday to hear the case of State vs. Israel Blount tried. Blount was charged with obstructing game wardens in the discharge of their duties, by ordering them off his property. Prom the evidence presented, Blount was engaged in shooting Canadian geese that were eating his oats and beans, when the war dens swarmed down on him and at tempted to take his gun. J. C. Groce, recorder, ruled that a man had a right to protect his property to the extent of shooting and killing geese that were de- s+.roying his crops. And the case was dismissed. Hi,s Honor flayed the game wardens and served no tice on them that in the future he would uphold any farmer of Hyde County in shooting wild geese that destroy thousands of dollars of crops in the county each year. And he further said that if the farmer should kill geese destroying who had come down to Ocracoke! what was about to take place, and ‘ ' ’ ^ requested that he come and bring all the help he could as it would all be needed. In the meantime he ordered both horses hitched; one to the service beach cart and the other to the work cart and part of the gear transferred to the latter, in order 5 that it would make it lighter on so he himself should horses, as the sea tide was con tinually sweeping the beach and it looked like it was going to be a if the surfmen his crops he must leave them on the ground and notify the game wardens to come and bury them, to prevent a menace to the public health. And, if the game wardens failed to do be indicted. At the close of the case order was heard to restore to the court j hard pull even as farmers cheered the decision and) could make it. congratulated the freed defendant. Go. T. Davis, Hyde County repre sentative, appeared for the de fendant. , Pythons generally are sold to zoos by the foot. A 25-foot python sells for about $40 a foot. WE WANT LETTERS ABOUT OLD WRECKS For the best letter sent us about some adventure during shipwreck and danger in the old days, we will give a prize of $5; for second best, $2, third best, $1. The contest is open to everyone, but must be about bonafide happenings. Letters eligible for prize-winners must contain not less than 1,500 words. Address: Feature Edi tor, Dare County Times, Manteo, N. C. iem.. ' w. Smokers find GmeFs Gstlier lbbaca)5 are Soothing to the Nerves^,“‘«g^^^'’^sS so i\rJ. o THE MAIL MAN brings our bank to you You can make deposits by mai] with the greatest of ease. And here at the bank your mail deposits are handled with the same care as those you make in person. So when it’s inconvenient to come to the bank-BANK BY MAIL. First and Citizens National Bank Eliza’beth City, N. C. The keeper, David W. Barnett re quested one of the surfmen, now a retired Boatswain (L), James H. Garrish, of Ocracoke, to take his pony and cart in order that the men could be abreast of the ship when it struck that the sailors might see that help was coming. Intending to send Barrish on to Ocracoke Station for help as they had no telephone any further south than Hatteras Inlet Station, leav ing the crew under the command of Uncle Rob, the No. 11 man, to rush the apparatus as fast as pos sible, but when the keeper of Hat- ,teras Inlet arrived abreast of the ; wreck th keeper, Williams, had in |the meantime done the same thing that Capt. Barnett had done. He ;saw what was going to happen and he had rushed on ahead with one of his men, leaving his crew to fol- ! low up with the apparatus from Ocracoke Station. I But going for the apparatus was jvery slow even for good horses. ! For the crew had only gotten about two miles below the Station with the sea tide washing into the carts and the horses just could not pull the apparatus any further in the face of the wind and tide, so Uncle Rob hitched himself and the rest of the crew to the carts, and with the sea water above their waist, they dragged the carts to the scene of the wreck four miles further on. Just turn to your imagination and think of walking six miles in water above your waist, helping pull a cart loaded, that large horses could not pull. By the time that the apparatus arrived from Hatteras Inlet, the apparatus and crew arrived from Ocracoke, the crew in a few minutes arrived from Durants and the unloading of the carts began. The Lyle gun could not be placed on the beach as it would soon be covered with water, so the shot line boxes were placed upon one another and the Lyle gun placed upon them, and the first shot was fired for the relief of the stranded crew and passengers consisting of women and children. But owing to a gale of wind blowing right into the mouth of the gun, the charge lof powder having to be so heavy, the shotline burned off and the shot went on to sea leaving the line on the beach, this was repeat ed several times with the same re sult. Capt. York, the master of the schooner was every bit a seaman. He soon saw the would-be rescuer’s plight and the wind blowing direct ly on the beach, tied a line to a barrel and set it adrift, and this was going well to aid an early rescue as the barrel was coming with the line directly towards the men on shore but Capt. York had overlooked something. He had a negro seaman who had gone crazy the third day out. The negro saw the barrel drifting with the line and cut it in two, leaving their plight as bad as ever. Then Capt. York would not let a crazy negro beat him, so he got another line, made it fast to a dory and set her adrift. That little boat was the liveliest thing into the sea one ever seen. Everyone would think the sea was going to get her, but when the roller would pass, the dory would still be on top and whes at last she made the shore she only had about/ three barrels of water aboard. Now the communication had made with the ship; the whip line was bent onto the rope from the dory and the crew of the ship soon had hands upon the hawser that was to effect a rescue that would go down into History as being the greatest on the island of Ocracoke, and possibly the Atlantic coast, by beach apparatus operated by Coast Guards. Capt. York noted the distance of his vessel from shore and knowing the great weight of some of his crew, and passengers, made for the crosstrees with the whip line, and himself with the aid of another big, fat Irishman remained there until the hawser arrived and saw that both was secured safely and prop erly and everything set for the breeches buoy to be sent off before, he signaled to the shore. Now, with the already tired men, who had on foot helped drag their beach apparatus six miles in waist deep sea tide had to set about dragging women, children and men ashore in a breeches buoy one at a time. The buoy was sent for its first trip, and the signal was given to haul away, which was promptly executed as everybody wanted to know the name of the ship, where from, where bound, the number of passengers, if any, the number lof crew, and all about the wreck in general. Well, the buoy arrived at the beach and the usual designated men assisted the man out and the usual question was asked. How many in crew? The man replied, “Don’t know,” “What?” someone asked, “Don’t know how many on board?” “Yes,” he replied. “How many have you?” He said, “Don’t know.” So the order was given to “haul away,” bo send the buoy back and for some one to “watch that man,” as they saw something had gone hay-wire with his mind. Thinking to get the information from the next man ashore, they landed, the signal was soon given from the ship to haul away. The buoy was pulled about half way ashore, and nothing could be seen in it as the ship was over six hun dred yards from the beach. It was quite a pull so the buoy was ordered hauled back to the ship for a passenger. This was done and upon its arrival at the ship the signal came to haul away. When about half-way ashore nothing could be seen into the buoy so it was sent back to the ship the second time, and the signal came back to shore bo haul away, which they did, the keepers being all of them old men, and tired from their labors, did not care for any jokes had hauled the buoy on to the shore thinking to find possibly a letter explaining to them why no one had come ashore, went down into the sea as far as possible to meet it, not thinking of children being on a sailing vessel, when a little hand was seen to extend over thei side, waving a very cheerful “hello”. They said to her, “Sis, we did not think any one was in here,” she very cheerful-like said: “Well, you will know it the next time, for my mamma is coming.” They did know it the next time, the the hawser was tied at the crosstrees and on a vessel the size of the “Wells,” put it a great many feet above the water. When the little girl’s mother started her long climb up the rig ging, she made it o. k. until she got to the crosstrees. There she got hung and Capt. York had to pull her on through. She weighed about 260 pounds. They landed the lady all right but one thing was in their favor, it was not so cold, yet could enough after being dragged through the water to feel that you could enjoy being near a fire. The next person to be landed was a were safely landed and the crew, Capt. Joseph York, the master, crowled into the breeches-buoy, he waved his red lantern and with a final flourish let it drop into the sea. He had all he could do to take care of himself during the next few minutes, but no sea captain ever stood on the deck of a ship who understood or did more to comfort and to aid the rescue of his passen gers and crew than did Capt. Joseph York. In his zeal he no doubt saved many lives. Now that all were on shore, the nearest Coast Guard station, or place of shelter was about six miles to the north but providence was bringing them succor, for the tide was fall- inglThe wind had also dropped to a moderate breeze and the Life- bruises, weif man with a child about one year severs not haying rested a bit were old, who could say “daddy” and still. that was about all. As soon as the women and chil- It was now dark; the wind was dren had been landed, the keeper still blowing; the sea very high; dispatched a man to take them to the life savers still doing their, the Hatteras Inlet Station where work, nerves all strained; no din-' they were met by the keeper’s wife ner, no supper, no hot coffee; yet snd the station cook who furnished cut; thm dry clothing, warm coffee, and clothes, hands bloody and their bodies wind-beaten. | Finally as they hauled on their ^ ropes, the faint cry of a tiny child saying, “oh, oh, daddy” as the man would release his hand from the child’s mouth and nose, after the sea would sweep over them, and it was done for a moment. He did this in order that the tiny child would not swallew any water. It was better for him to smother her for a minute, than the waves for the rest of Eternity. After the man and child had been taken out of the breeches-buoy, the man fainted upon reflecting on his ex perience but he was soon revived with a stimulant from the medi cine chest with which Coast Guard carts are equipped. When this man had been revived, the opera tion of landing the rest of the crew was again taken up, and af-: ter all the passengers including women and very small children , quarters including the keeps'^® a comfortable place where they'wife, who also assisted. might, nurse their were many. The men of the service ■■ i, soon pulling their equipment bo their respective stations. quarters was promptly notified, ® cutter Onondaga arrived next and took all the rescued to folk, except the master and sister, and children, who remaiby to salvage their personal belo”^ ings from the wreck, which later sold to a g/roup of wrecked*' In the captain’s personal helob^ ings was a Saint Bernard dog, was taken off the wreck and gi'’^ to one of the surfmen, Edward b' Burrus, who is now retired. Tb dog’s name was Jerry. ^ The crew from Durants assist^ the crew from Hatteras Inlet * get their apparatus back to station and with blistered feet at blood-dripping hands the old l^^j savers of 1914 went dully ab®" their task of cleaning and stowi™ the gear in jeadiness for anotb® rescue which followed a few sho^ months after in which the ®atir commended bv Hea _ crew was Let Us Give You The Service You Need Your automobile or truck will run its smoothest and creapest if you have a good service station bo fix it up with radiator service, lubrication, cleaning and polishing to pro tect your valuable machine in cold weather. Let us give you a fair sample of our up-to-date work at this modernly esuipped station. Best brands anti-freeze, tire service and other accessories—and we believe we know how to give you the best of work at the most reasonable price. 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The Coastland Times (Manteo, N.C.)
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Feb. 17, 1939, edition 1
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