Page 51 - Wreck of the Dochas & the Etta Stewart
Published by Ronald Caplan on 1994/6/1 (204 reads)Carroll at any time. It is possi? ble that later the master of the Dorcas expected that the wind would veer to the S.W., hauled his vessel more off shore to obtain an offing, which may account for the lighthouse keeper not see? ing him. Had he attempt? ed to get into Jeddore Harbour, under the circum? stances which then existed, he would have been s'> running a serious . * '??*?'''':, ''''r-'''-- -' _ risk, as night was ''' ''''''- - • '?'*??''??''" *Xt'i '' coming on and Graves in Loch End Cemetery, Catalone. the frequent squalls of rain would probably have prevented those on board from seeing any great distance from the Dorcas. From the po? sition the vessels were obsen/ed in, near Egg Island, to Shut-in Is? land Reef where they were stranded, is 24 miles, which could have been made by them in six hours with ordinary weather. About half past 10 or 11:00 P.M. the wind suddenly shifted to the south and blew with hurricane force, which must have raised a heavy sea and caused the vessels to labour heavily. They were both lying in a dangerous position, between two opposing seas, and would probably have taken large quantities of water on board. It was difficult even for one vessel to take care of herself in such a sea. The commissioner is of the opinion at this time of great anxiety the iwo vessels were entirely at the mercy of the waves. The sea broke Left to right: Angus McDonald, Alex McVicar, Hector McDonald. over them fore and aft and the quantity of water taken on board the barge might have rendered her unmanageable, and as she lost her steerageway every effort that may have been made by the master on the Dorcas to keep the vessel up to the sea, they were both driven helplessly towards the coast. The night being dark, the wind howling about the masts and rigging of the vessels, with the terrific sea breaking over them, sweeping the decks with blinding spray, they could have had no possible means of ascertaining the rate of drift to leeward, or the correct position of the steamer. So great was the vio? lence of the wind, it is stated by one of the witnesses that his house shook like a leaf and the sea spray blew over the cliff, 90 ft. in height, at Half Island Point, near the home of the witness, sweeping a thou- sand feet across the fields. No signals could have been made to the barge from the steamer and even at times during the violent squalls they must have been out of sight of each other. THE NOVA inifnrMusEUM Museums filled wUhGivcd Stuff! Follow the key to these Great Museums... . Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History Halifax . Maritime Museum of the Atlantic Halifax Ross Farm Museum New Ross Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic Lunenburg Wile Carding Mill Bridgewater Perkins House Liverpool Ross-Thomson House Shelbume The Dory Shop Shelbume Harrington Woolen Mill Harrington 1 Old Meeting House Harrington 1. Firefighters Museum of Nova Scotia Yarmouth I. North Hills Museum Granville Ferry i. Prescott House Starr's Point Open all year* Open all year* Open all year* -Oct. 15* - Sept. 30 -Oct. 15 -Oct. 15 July 1-Aug. 31 - Sept. 30 to Sept. 30 Open all year* 1-Oct. 15 1 to Oct. 15 Shand House Haliburton House Uniacke House Lawrence House Fundy Geological Museum Balmoral Grist Mill Sutherland Steam Mill McCulloch House Fisherman's Life Museum Sherbrooke Village Cossit House Nova Scotia Museum of Industry Windsor Windsor Mount Uniacke Mai tl and Parrsboro Balmoral Mills Denmark Pictou Jeddore Oyster Ponds Sherbrooke Sydney Stellarton June; to Oct. 15 June 1 to Oct. 15 June 1 to Oct. 15 Open all year* June 1 to Oct. 15 June 1 to Oct. 15 June 1 to Oct. 15 June 1 to Oct. 15 June! to Oct. 15* June 1 to Oct. 15* call for information 755-5425 >Ci!
Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to the PDF version of this content. Click here to download and install the Acrobat plugin