USA > New York > Suffolk County > Bridgehampton > Sketches from local history > Part 15
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29
"The late Edward Richard Shaw of Bellport. L. . and New York, a well known educator and schol- or, was fond of gathering up the legends and tradi- tons of the beaches and wearing them into little stories. He published a book which he called "The Pot of Gold'-A Story of Fire Island Beach. One f the tales told in this charming little book, is of a trange ship which appeared one day opposite Bell-
"In answer to a prearranged signal from the shore, she landed after night-fall, bags and barrels of money and plunder, to be buried later in the sand dunes. AAn approaching storm, as well as a fierce quarrel among the sailors over the division of the booty, frustrated their plans before they were com- pleted and led to their hurried abandonment of the ship, which was left to drift about, the sport of the wind and waves.
"A few days later, the tale relates, she came ashore at Southampton, and was the 'Money Ship' of our story.
"The origin and history of the 'Money Ship' will always remain a mystery. Southampton whalemen, who were boys at this time, but who afterward be- came familiar with ships of many countries, agreed that she resembled in build and rig the vessels sailed along the Spanish Main, going occasionally to the West Indies, or perhaps to the coast of Africa for slaves.
"Revolutions were common then as now in South American States, and it was not unusual for a rich merchant to be compelled to flee from his country, taking his fortune with him, which was apt to be in gold and silver.
"Whether this ship had been on such an errand. and had been captured from her owner, either by his own mutinous crew or by others, or whether she was a pirate or a slaver, will never be known.
"It is often said, that with the advent of stcam and the disappearance of sailing vessels, the romance has gone out of sea life. It may as truly be said. that the romance and the tragedy as well, has gone from the life of the Long Island beaches.
"Wrecks like the Money Ship, and the Sylph, and the Helen, all happening within a decade at South- ampton, are no longer possible."
J. H. P."
Then came the Irish emigrant ship Susan. From this, all on board were saved and taken to New York by stage coach, the only means of conveyance at that time.
On August 5th of the year 1851. the ship "Cath- erine" of Liverpool from Dublin with 300 passen- gers was wrecked at Amagansett. No lives were lost, but the ship became a wreck, and the lower por- tion of her hull is still there in the sand, and at low tides may be seen.
There is an item of local history so closely related
SKETCHES FROM LOCAL HISTORY
to one of the shipwrecks on this coast that I think it should be mentioned. It was probably in the 1830's an English ship came ashore at Mecox. (I have never been able to ascertain the exact date, neither am [ positive as to her name). On this ship were the brass works for three hall or grandfather's clocks, all alike. When the underwriter's agent sold the cargo at public auction, these clocks were sold. Judge Abraham T. Rose bought one, Judge Osborn of Noyack another, and John Cook, my grandfather on my mother's side bought the third. I think the cases for all three clocks were made in Trenton, New Jersey. Miss Mary Rose Rogers of Sag Harbor had the .\. T. Rose clock, and at her death it went to New Jersey. Mrs. Gertrude Osborn Jewett has the Osborn clock in her home in Chicago. Miss Belle C. Cook of Southampton. L. I. has the Cook clock in her home in that town.
The next ship we will mention is the Louis Phil- lippe. one writer says, 'from Bordeaux,' which may be right. I cannot say, but in this account I will quote from a diary written and kept by Samuel A. Cook, of Mecox, who was an eye witness: "On Thursday, April 14th, 1842, came ashore at Mecox. at 3:30 A. M., the Ship Louis Phillippe. Capt. Cat- off of New York, a Havre Packet of Soo tons bur- then, belonged to the Union Line, loaded with dry goods, and trees, champagne, &c. Ship insured for $50,000.
"Monday, May 2, got the Ship off at 7 P. M. May . 3. Ship taken in tow by the steamboat 'Mutual Saf- ety.' "
What made this event notable was the fact that such a variety of trees and shrubs were left here. and set out about this community. The most beau- tiful of all these trees were the lindens, which may be seen to this day in many door yards, beautiful in symmetry and appearance. The fruit trees doubt- less were of varieties good for that day, but would not be considered good at this time. I know this from personal experience. The chestnuts were not good, like our American chestnuts, but the beeches. laburnums and other shrubs appeared to do well. There is another wreck recorded in the same diary referred to above that is not mentioned by any other historian and this is rather a singular fact owing to its significance. It is as follows : "June 27th, 1851. Came on shore, Barque Henry, of London, loaded with Chalk and Linseed Oil, and 104 passengers,
who were all saved. Oil saved also, Ship and Chalk lost."
Further evidence of this wreck is as follows : When I was a boy James Cunningham owned the lot on the corner of Lumber Lane and Huntington Path. He worked out some by the day for my Father, and told me this story. He said that he was one of the passengers on this Barque. He went at once to work for Capt. Thomas Sayre, at Flying Point. Again, Capt. Sayre told me the same story. This James Cunningham was father of William Cunningham, many years conductor on the L. I. Railroad, and grandfather of Harold Cunningham, who was commander of the Steamship Leviathan. when that vessel was used as a transport during the World's War, and later Captain of the United States Steamship "George Washington."
The British ship "Circassian" was an iron ship of 1,558 tons, built at Belfast, Ireland. in the year 1856, and in 1875 was owned by De Wolf & Com- pany of Liverpool, England. Her dimensions were, length 242.1 feet, breadth or beam 39 feet, depth 22.4 ft. On Monday, the IIth of December, 1876. the winter term of the Bridgehampton Literary and Commercial Institute began school. Was there a school session that morning? I should say not. for sometime during the previous night or else that morning. the English Ship Circassian struck on the outer bar a little way west of the Mecox Life Sav- ing Station. There was no use to try to have school that morning, for every scholar was on the beach, as was almost every resident of this community. The new life-boat had not at this time been brought back from the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, so they had to use the old metallic boat. The crew of the L. S. Station, who manned the boat that morn- ing, were Baldwin Cook, Captain, and Gurdon Lud- low pulled the bow oar, Samuel Cook, John .1. Sandford, Forest Stevens, Samuel Howell, and Erastus E. Halsey. Hiram Sherrill of East Hamp- ton, was one of this crew. They made several at- tempts to launch the boat earlier that morning, but failed because the sea was too rough. About 1I o'clock they succeeded. Capt. Henry E. Huntting, who was Superintendent of Life Saving Stations for this District, was on the beach. When they launched the boat, Gurdon Ludlow lost his sou'- wester so went bare headed. (I can see the whole affair at this time, as if it had been but yesterday).
{ 102 }
SKETCHES FROM LOCAL HISTORY
The crew all wore cork jackets or life preservers. Around the outside of this boat and quite near the gunwale was a tube or fender, about four inches in diameter. When the order was given to 'send hier,' Capt. Cook, being at the stern, was the last man to jump aboard, and when he sprang, the upper part of his cork jacket struck the underside of the tube or fender, so he could not get aboard, but hung by his arms outside the boat. The crew rowed out be- vond the breakers, when two of them took in their cars and pulled the captain into the boat. I was there at the time, and as a boy took it all in. They brought one or more of the officers ashore, who went at once to telegraph the ship's agents in New York. .A wrecking tug with lighters and crew soon came and began work. The rescued crew of the 'Heath Park' who were at this time still on board, together with most of the crew of the Circassian were sent to New York. It was at the work of lightering or unloading this ship, that ten Shinnecock Indians were employed. One man who worked at this job told me that in removing the cargo much was taken from under the center hatch, this made the ship heavy at either end, which was thought to be the real reason why she broke in two. On the 29th and 30th of December, there came on a terrible storm. Capt. Luther Burnett. a surfman unexcelled by any, went with his crew out to this ship, and urged those men to come asliore, for said he : "This is your last chance, for no vessel can withstand the coming storm, and my boat will be the last to come out here." The sea at that time was very rough and angry. The Indians were good surfmen and knew the facts just as well as did Capt. Burnett, and prob- ably would have gone ashore, had it not been for the 'false courage' that was dealt out to them at this time. Then, the line or rope from the ship's masthead to the shore, on which the breeches buoy was operated, by which, if left. all could have been brought in safety to the shore, was ordered cut and wist off, by those in authority on the ship. Of course the reason for doing this was, that they expected to that the ship at the next high tide, and were so sure nof doing this that they threw away all precaution. "I so exposed themselves to dire disaster. That ', a fearful night for those on board that ship. their fate was evident to all, but how about those on shore, who could hear amid the howling tem-
pest, and above the raging billows, the songs and prayers of those in peril, and they absolutely unable to render any assistance. It was an experience that went with those men to their last day. How often have I heard some of them tell it. One man said, "I have sailed the seas from the Arctic to the Ant- arctic, yet have I never witnessed such a heart- rending sight." Four men jumped from the ship with a buoy or fender, and clung to it. The storm had broken and the moon shone out, so that those on shore could see them. The waves and set car- ried them along to the east almost half a mile before they came near enough the shore to be rescued, they were then almost dead; I think one did die soon af- ter. Luther Burnett and Gurdon Ludlow were the two who pulled the men out of the water. The dead, frozen bodies were picked up all of the way from the wreck to Montauk. The white victims are buried in the old graveyard at East Hampton. The ten Shinnecock Indians (a list of their names is as follows) are buried in the graveyard at Shinne- cock :
Warren Cuffee Franklin Bunn
David Bunn Oliver Kellis
William Cuffce John Walker
Robert Lee Russell Bunn
George Cuffee Lewis Walker
Benjamin F. Hope was a jeweler and watch and clockmaker and did business in Sag Harbor for many years. After the Circassian was wrecked he obtained some of the brass work from this ship from which he made a clock. I think it is still keeping good time in that town.
In 1878 the schooner Loretta Fish came ashore just east of Sagg Lane, loaded with yellow pine lumber for the United States Government; crew and lumber saved, vessel lost.
August 7th, 1879. the steamship Lizzie, of the Vanderbilt Line, 12 hours out from New York. bound for Liverpool, loaded with wheat and 100 head of beef cattle. The cattle were driven or push- ed overboard, swam ashore, and were shipped from Bridgehampton to New York by railroad, all save one, which became ugly and had to be killed, Stepli- en Sayre doing the job. The ship was gotten off with no loss of life.
June Ist, 1882 the Brigantine Daylight. came
{ 103}
SKETCHES FROM LOCAL HISTORY
ashore at Georgica. April 7th, 1894, the schooner Benjamin B. Church, came ashore off Mecox, total loss. The crew consisting of 8 Portuguese, were all saved, also a fox terrier, and maltese cat. Sep- tember 11th, 1894. the four-masted schooner, John K. Souther, came ashore off Mecox, gotten off without loss. In 1896 the full-rigged ship Otto came ashore opposite the old Sagg beach road, was gotten off.
Mr. Adams mentions the Lloyd liner that drifted all the way from Cape Horn. and finally came ashore at Mecox. I cannot give any definite in- formation about this. In the year 1880 the schooner Ralph Howes came ashore opposite Georgica Pond : total loss.
In June of 1891, the brig James Abbott came ashore at Wainscott, opposite the Town Line. To- tal loss. In March of 1897 the schooner Julia A. Warr came ashore opposite Fairfield Pond, loaded with lumber ; total loss.
About the year 1852. the brig Martha C. Titus. came ashore near Fairfield Pond, loaded with porter and other merchandise. The porter was sampled by many, Silas Pierson among the rest, who said he "never saw the briers so thick on the beach before. he kept catching his toes in them, so he could hardly walk." Part of her cargo was flour, the vessel was a total loss.
In the year 1855 the "Robert" came ashore at Wickapogue. loaded with 1.000 casks of Madeira wine. from London. 600 of these were reshipped from Sag Harbor. the other 400 disappeared. Then there was the "Currant ship." which became a wreck: the "Sugar ship." which was saved; the Hattie C. White loaded with flag stones was lost. The Emily B. Souder, from the Mediterranean with fruit, was lost. Then the Mesopotami. otherwise known as the peanutt ship. Dec. 6th, 1871 ; the brig. William Creevy, with a cargo of salt, was lost.
ยท
In February of 1874. the French ship ". Vlex- ander Le Valley." came ashore at Wickapogue load- ed with ale, porter, wine, potash and rags. The of- ficers and crew were all saved. and the cargo as well. This is the first ship that I ever went on board, and I well remember the experience. This ship was ashore for some months, when at a very high tide she was gotten off, and a tug started away
with her, when the tow line broke, and this time she came up high and dry. She was then sold to Mat- thew Gregory, who wrecked her and carted the iron plates to Sag Harbor, and reshipped. The wooden deck planks and timber were sold to the farmers for building purposes. There are some of them on my farm, that were bought by my Father. This is a different version than that given by some. but I know I am correct. One of her hoisting en- gines was bought by Charles Henry Topping, who installed it in a machine shop in Bridgehampton. and the other was bought by Sidney Havens of Towd and installed in his saw mill.
There came ashore on July 22nd, 1916, the Nor- wegian four-masted bark "Clan Galbraith," 2168 tons, 282 feet long. Capt. A. E. Olsen. She came over the outer bar at a high tide and came so far up on the beach, that one could walk down to her. She was gotten off August 4th, and I think was after- ward sunk by a torpedo during the World's War.
In the year 1828, the new brig "Mars," Capt. Ring, came ashore at Apaquogue. It became a wreck, the keel and lower frame became buried in the sand. Here it stayed until the severe storm of March 1931, when it was uncovered and exposed to view. I have a photograph of it.
There was another noted wreck that was perhaps the worst one of all. It was the clipper ship that came ashore at Montauk. In writing this account I ask the question :
Why Was The "John Milton" Wrecked?
There was a time when American-built ships were without rivals on the high seas, it was known as the "Clipper Ship Era" and extended from about 1840 to 1860. They were the fastest type of sailing vessels ever built. not designed or adapted to the coastwise trade or service, but intended and partic- ularly adapted for foreign commerce, such as the East India trade, or Australia, or China and also the Pacific coast of the United States, or in other words, for long sea voyages.
At that time there were no Panama or Suez ca- nals to cut thousands of miles off of these long voy- ages, but it meant rounding Cape Horn or Care of Good Hope, and from June to September it also meant cold, boisterous winter weather and rough seas; but few of these vessels undertook to go through the straits of Magellan owing to the danger
** The photographs of the officers were taken at the time and are still preserved by several families in Southampton.
{ 104 ]
SKETCHES FROM LOCAL HISTORY
of that passage. One sea captain told me the high- est and largest waves he ever saw were about 500 miles south of the Cape of Good Hope.
The ships of this type made some wonderful re- cords for speed. The Dreadnaught made the voyage from New York to Liverpool in thirteen days and nine hours, better time than some steamers, and a good many of the others made equally good records to China, India and Australia. The following story is of one of these ships :
On the morning of December 6, 1856, the John Milton, a vessel of 1445 tons, was lying in the har- bor of New York, thoroughly equipped and ready for the long ccean voyage to San Francisco by the way of Cape Horn. That day was her broad canvas spread, and like a winged bird of the ocean, began hier flight to that distant port. Five months from that day her anchor was cast in the sheltered harbor just inside the 'Golden Gate'.
From this port she sailed for Callao, arriving there .August 10, 1857. The stop here was very short, for two weeks later this ship was moored at the Chincha Islands; of course these dates were taken from the Log Book. Here the vessel was loaded for the homeward voyage, and on the 14th of February, 1858, had made the run back and anchor - ed in Hampton Roads, waiting for orders from the owners. On the 16th of the same month they set -ail again for New Bedford, Mass .. under favor- able conditions, weather good. On Wednesday morning. the 17th they encountered "Strong winds. and sailed under double reef top-sails." "Latter part of same day, strong gales and thick snow storm." The last entry but one in the log-book was made Thursday morning the 18th and read, "Strong gales are still prevailing and thick snow." The last entry was later in the day when the weather was "more moderate, and they turned the reefs out, and were able to make an observation and find their lati- tude." The storm must have increased later and the wind instead of driving them off shore changed and drove them toward the land ; this continued un- til carly Saturday, when this noble ship with all sails set struck among the rocks on the south shore at Montauk, about five miles west of Montauk Point Light-house. Masts, spars, sails, officers and crew, were all in one confused mass that cold. wintry morning of February 20, 1858. The whole
company on shipboard were lost, including Captain Ephraim Harding, 33 in all. Captain Harding. the first mate, and twenty-two of the crew were washed ashore and were interred in the north end of the old cemetery in East Hampton, the Rev. Stephen Mershon preaching the funeral sermon, which was afterward published. It was a sad dis- aster, perhaps more so than any shipwreck that ever occurred on this part of our coast.
No one will ever solve the mystery of this sad event. neither have I ever seen published any prob- able cause for it; it being taken for granted that like the majority of vessels that come on this coast, they got off the right course and failed to use the lead to determine the depth of water, and then be- ing driven by an easterly gale in a hard snow storm was solution enough in this case; but I wish to pre- sent an entirely different view from the one above suggested, and one that to my mind is very possible and in fact offers an extremely probable solution as to the cause of this sad disaster. The idea is not original on my part, but one that I heard advanced many years ago by several elderly men, some of whom had been sea-faring men. my uncle, J. Law- rence Cook, being one of them. It is as follows:
This was before the days of ocean telegraph, and there was no way of communicating with a distant port, except by other vessels, and this was very un- certain. At this day and time any change in light- houses, or in the class or style of light in those houses, or even buoys, or any prospective change to be made in the near future. the date having been determined, is made known to the commercial world by telegraph or otherwise, so that every navi- gator of the high seas before leaving any port knows of these changes, and conforms to them.
It was not so in the era referred to above. . \ vessel was sailed according to the latest charts pub- hshed at the time of sailing, and on a voyage of many months' duration, perhaps around the globe. many a change might be made in these charts of which the navigating officers of a ship might be en- tirely ignorant. And there was no way by which they could get this knowledge. With this idea in view let us proceed with our story :
Ponquogue Lighthouse sometimes called Shinne- cock Lighthouse was built in 1857. and was first lighted January 1, 1858, and was made a steady
{ 105 }
SKETCHES FROM LOCAL HISTORY
Montauk Lighthouse, built 1794
light, just as Montauk had heretofore been, and Montauk was changed at that date to a flash light. Now, it is entirely probable that Captain Harding did not know of the new lighthouse at Ponquogue, nor of the change from steady to flash light at Montauk. This being the case, and pre- suming, which is entirely probable. that Captain Harding, in a lull in the storm, had sighted a steady light, thinking of course it was Montauk, steered his ship accordingly, and if this were the fact, his course would have taken him directly into Block Island Sound, just where he wanted to go.
Perhaps these men I referred to above had a rea- son for assigning these facts as the direct cause of the wreck of the John Milton. I will relate two cases.
Captain Henry Babcock was commander of the whaling ship "Washington" sailing out of Sag Harbor, and was returning from a long voyage to the South Atlantic or Pacific Oceans about the time the Milton was lost, that is, in the early part of the year 1858.
When approaching the Long Island coast at night. he sighted a steady light. He had been able to take the sun the noon previous and so knew just where they were. He also believed, unless he had made a mistake in calculating. that this light, which ap- peared to be Montauk, they had made altogether too soon. He was very anxious and worried, so much so that he called his officers in consultation.
This whole company, officers and crew. were equally anxious to get in port and reach their homes . after being away so long and favored nothing short of the quickest passage possible to their home port.
They all argued there could be no possible way of mistaking that light, it must be Montauk, for there was none other like it on this part of the coast, and what is the use of standing off and on, as they called it, and waste time, when everything is plain sailing. it is only keeping us away from home that much longer for nothing.
He must have been a man of great decision and strong will to have stood out against these argu- ments. But he did. He was not satisfied, and would not be persuaded, as much as he would like to get home himself. He felt that something was wrong, but he did not know what it was.
He was Commander of that ship, and his word was law. He gave the order to "tack ship and stand off shore." It might be said, he stood alone that night in his opinion against the whole ship's company, but when morning came, and they saw where they were, there was some rejoicing on that ship, and they thanked him for his decision. But remember, they did not know yet what was the mat- ter and did not find out until they reached port.
Ponquogue Lighthouse, built 1857
{106 ]
SKETCHES FROM LOCAL HISTORY
Now, had he yielded. to the persuasive argu- ments of his officers and crew that night, and kept his vessel on what appeared to be the right course, they would have struck the Long Island shore at Montauk about where the John Milton did.
The question is: Is the above a fair and reason- able solution of the mystery. "Why was the John Milton wrecked?"
Years afterward Captain Babcock was keeper of Montauk Light for many years.
Some claim that the John Milton was sighted by another ship the afternoon before she struck, and that they remarked that if she kept on the course she was then on, she would meet disaster. I have never heard this but from one source, so cannot vouch for its authenticity. Even if this were so, it would not invalidate the theory.
The other case I relate was the whaleship "Excel" commanded by Capt. Jonas Winters of Sag Harbor, who had a very similar experience as that of Capt. Babcock, only he almost got his ship ashore before he realized that there was something wrong and tacked ship just in time to avoid disaster.
THE WHALING INDUSTRY
The history of the Whaling Industry has been written so many times that it is hardly worth while to cover the same ground again. In this chapter I only intend to name the men from this locality who made that their life work, and relate some incidents in their lives while following that business.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.