Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2014, All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== Old Shipping Days in Oswego by J. Leo Finn, 1972 This book furnished with the cooperation of The Oswego County Board of Supervisors -157- WRECKS IN AND NEAR OSWEGO The British fleet of 1755-56 was destroyed here including the Oswego, Ontario, George, Vigilant, London, --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -158- WRECKS IN AND NEAR OSWEGO Halifax and Mowhawk. The Lively was captured at sea June 27, 1756, Captain McFunn, and was renamed the Farquer. It was recaptured at Fort Niagara in 1759. Captain Housman Broadley's account of the defeat of the British forces at Oswego (Admiralty 1, volume 1487, 3 frames), reported that the Officer commanding the forces failed to provide him with sufficient notice that he intended to surrender and thus it was impossible for Broadley to set fires to all the vessels "which I certainly should have done had he informed me of his intentions in time enough". In an "Extrait des Nouvelles in Canada 1756" it was reported that, because the French did not have enough seamen to man the captured British vessels, it was decided to burn some of them (Manuscript Group 1, C11A, volume 101, page 461). There were two others of this period that were lost at Oswego. The LaMarquire DeVaudreuill, a square topsail schooner, built 1754-1755 at Fort Frontenac. She was captured in 1758 by Colonel Bradstreet and was des- troyed at Oswego after being used as a transport. The H. M. Brig. "Williamson" was the ex-French Brig "Outaouaise" (Capt. Labrocquerie) built near Point au Baril in 1758. She was the last French vessel on the lakes, being captured in the St. Lawrence by gunboats under Colonel Williamson of Amherst's army. She was wrecked near Oswego in 1761. Another early wreck was the schooner Washing- ton, built 1797 at Presquile, (Erie) 80 tons. (Also re- ported built at Sandusky.) Purchased by British buyers and then taken on huge skids during the winter of 1797-98 across Niagara portage road to Lake Ontario. She was --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -159- WRECKS IN AND NEAR OSWEGO renamed Lady Washington. She was wrecked near Oswego 1803. On May 5, 1814 when the attack was made by the British fleet upon Oswego, Alvin Bronson had a schooner called the "Syren" lying in a slip at the foot of Cayuga Street. He scuttled her in the slip to prevent the British from taking her away. The U.S.S. Growler was a schooner of 53 tons, manned by 40 men and armed with 2 guns, later with 7. She was purchased in 1812, and captured August 10, 1813 by British forces. At the same time that the "Syren" was scuttled, May 5, 1814 the Growler, Captain W. R. Wool- sey, U.S.N., was lying in the harbor loaded with rigging and stores for the new frigate then in the process of con- struction at Sacketts Harbor. She was sunk by the Cap- tain and it is believed she was raised and taken away by the British. (There are some historians who say that she was not raised.) Before the war, she was known as the "Penelope" and was owned by Alvin Bronson and Daniel Hugunin, and sold to the government. The sloop-of-war "Madison" was dismasted and sunk at Sacketts Harbor after the War of 1812. In 1813 she was raised and fitted out as a merchant vessel by Capt. Robert Hugunin and was wrecked at Oswego in 1835. A large number of disasters have occured in and around Oswego and hardly a year went by but one or more Oswego vessels were lost, generally with a loss of life. Among other thrilling stories found in Captain Van Cleve's interesting work is an account of the wreck of the schooner "Sophia" written by Captain H. N. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -160- WRECKS IN AND NEAR OSWEGO Throop, who was her master. The little craft was of but twenty-five tons burden, and it was on August 22, 1828 that she was lost, about six miles east of Big Sodus Bay. The vessel was loaded with corn. On the passage from Pultneyville to Oswego, during a heavy northwest wind it was discovered that the vessel was sinking. In two minutes from the time the discovery was made the vessel sank, leaving Capt. Throop and the two sailors who made up the crew, struggling for life in the water. They were four miles from land and the water was very rough. The two sailors were drowned in a very few minutes. Captain Throop was standing in the cabin when the vessel went down and was drawn fifteen feet under water by the suction. He was an excellent swimmer and by a great effort he reached the surface. He grabbed a small piece of a board and with the assistance of this, after a hard swim, managed to reach shore. It took him four hours to accomplish the feat and he was so exhausted that he was unable to stand on his feet for more than an hour. He walked one mile on the beach and five miles through the forest bare-footed, when he reached a farm house where he rested 28 hours. He then walked home. In 1831 Henry Fitzhugh built a schooner in Oswego and called her the "Henry Clay". He placed in command an experienced sea captain named Campbell, who had little respect for lake navigation. On her first trip from Oswego to the Welland Canal the vessel cap- sized off Niagara River. The captain and a young son of Captain Elias Trowbridge of Oswego, and all except the mate and one seaman were drowned. About ten o'clock on the evening of December 10, 1832, the schooner "Caroline", owned by J. C. Trow- bridge & Co. and commanded by Capt. Joel F. Tyler, --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -161- WRECKS IN AND NEAR OSWEGO sailed from Oswego with a cargo of merchandise for Ogdensburg. About two hours after leaving Oswego she capsized. There were on board besides the captain, Tracy Cornwall and James Baldwin, seamen, and Solo- man Foster, a passenger, who was afterward killed in the pilot house of the steamer "United States", in the patriot war. There was also on board a clerk named James Thompson, who was the only person lost. After much suffering the men landed on the Main Duck Island and were taken off by Captain John Eno, of the schooner Huron, and landed at Cape Vincent. The capsized vessel was afterward towed to Sacketts Harbor and her cargo removed. On the night of November 29, 1834, the schooner "Jeanette", Captain James King, with a cargo of wheat and walnuts, attempted to enter the harbor of Oswego in a severe gale. She was dashed with great force against the east pier and broken to pieces. Captain King, Gerrit Van Alstine, mate, and William Van Alstine were drowned. Two of the crew saved themselves by jumping to the pier. All the persons drowned lived in the town of Scriba. On Tuesday morning, November 12, 1835, the schooner Medora was wrecked near Little Sandy Creek, about 25 miles down the lake from Oswego. She was commanded by Captain Archibald Morse. Besides the captain the crew consisted of Hezekiah Morse, Nelson Hivies, Benjamin Dusenberry, Henry Hill and a man named King. There were also two passengers on board, Thaddeus Clark of Oswego and a stranger from St. Cath- erines. All were lost and their bodies were never found. The vessel and cargo were owned by Truman Wyman of Oswego. The wife of Thaddeus Clark mentioned above was remembered by many people. She lived for many years in the old Mansard block, over Gilchrist's store in West First Street. She was very old and feeble when she died. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -162- WRECKS IN AND NEAR OSWEGO During the storm in which the "Medora" was lost, the schooner Robert Brice, owned at Henderson, was lost with all on board, including Elias Everette, a passenger from Watertown. It was a disastrous storm all along the lakes. The "Atlas", a small schooner, sprang a leak off Oswego in 1840 and foundered. The steamer Telegraph was laying in Oswego. Her captain being ashore, Captain Joel F. Tyler took command of her and went to the assist- ance of the Atlas. They found nothing but some debris. She was loaded with stone from Chaumont Bay. In 1848 the propeller "Genesee Chief", bound up the lake ran down and sank the schooner "Cuba" owned by Henry Fitzhugh & Co. of Oswego. A long litigation fol- lowed, ending in a judgment of $18,000 against the pro- peller. In 1839 an incident occurred which illustrates how trifling a matter is liable to lead to international complications, and was particularly interesting just at this time. The schooner "G. S. Weeks" was loaded by Henry Fitzhugh of Oswego, with a general cargo for St. Lawrence River ports. Among the cargo was a small six pound cannon, consigned to Ogdensburg. Having also some goods to deliver at Brockville, Ontario, the vessel called there and some of the loyal Britishers were startled by seeing the cannon upon the deck. They concluded to take possession of the vessel, and they took the cannon on shore and fired it several times in honor of the capture. It was not many hours before the steamer "Oneida" with Col. J. W. Worth and United States troops, arrived on the scene and demanded the surrender of the cannon. The demand was refused amid great excitement and there was great danger of a collision for several hours. A steamer then arrived from Kingston, with Governor Sir George Arthur and British troops, and there were good prospects --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -163- WRECKS IN AND NEAR OSWEGO for a first-class muss, when the British decided to give up the gun. The schooner "Mohawk" was lost near the east pier at Oswego in 1849, and the J. P. Hale was lost at Ford's Shoals in 1856. In 1857 a great freshet occurred in the Oswego river and four schooners were carried out into the lake and two of them, the "Belle Adkins" and the "Wide Awake" were lost. Among other disasters of a more recent date that occurred in and about Oswego were the following: Schooner "Ontanagan", lost near the end of the east pier; schooner "Baltic", lost inside the harbor; schooner "Coquette", lost at the east pier; schooner "Aus- trua", lost inside the harbor; schooner "Belew", lost on Galloup Island; schooner "Volunteer", lost in Mexico Bay; schooner "West Wind" and brig "J. S. Harvey", went ashore east of Oswego. The schooner "Hastings" foundered west of Oswego in 1867; the "Carthagenian" went ashore below Oswego in 1867. The fog bell that was used on the schooner Carthagenian was for years used in St. John's Chapel, cor- ner of East Twelfth and Mitchell Streets. The "Norwegian" was lost in 1870; the brig "Halifax" was lost in Mexico Bay; the schooner "Orient" capsized off Stony Point in 1876; the schooner "Kate Kelly" went ashore under Fort Ontario in 1876; the "Gannet" in 1874 and the "Prince Albert" about the same time. The resurrection of the schooner "Sam Cook", from the bottom of the St. Lawrence River where she lay with a cargo of iron ore for three or four years and the work of transforming her into a coal barge at Ogdensburg, recalls the part she played in a scene enacted off Oswego harbor on November 29, 1875, which will never be forgotten by those who witnessed it. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -164- WRECKS IN AND NEAR OSWEGO The day previous several Oswego vessels, among them the I. G. Jenkins, Nevada and Sam Cook left the Welland Canal together, bound for their home port on the last trip of the season. With the coming on of night a terrible gale arose and the lake was lashed into a fury by a wind that blew over fifty miles an hour. It was known in the city that the vessels had left the Welland Canal, and when the howling storm struck the city where were anxious hearts in many homes and grave fears were felt for those out on the lake. Those who survived the storm described the night as one of terror. The schooner Jenkins, Capt. John Brown, with a crew of seven men, was overwhelmed by the waves, it is sup- posed, only a short distance from the harbor. Save a few splinters of wreckage and a Newfoundland dog known to have belonged to Capt. Brown, that were found on the beach, nothing has since been heard of the unfortunate vessel or her crew. The tragic event has since been made memorable in song. The dawning of the morning of the 29th found many people on the shore of the lake, watching in the storm for the vessels. About nine o'clock the Sam Cook and the Nevada hove in sight. They were coming under bare poles, their canvas having been blown to ribbons. The lake seemed to be in a terrible rage and the waves ran as high as the house tops. The vessels were rolled and tossed about like cockle shells and it was not thought that they would make the harbor in safety. The news soon spread that the vessels were in sight and a large crowd collected along the west banks. The Cook was commanded by Captain James Scott of Oswego, and his crew was made up of his brother, and the captains four stalwart sons. The rest of the family were on the shore and watched with anxiety and longing every movement of the vessels. The two schooners were nearly side by side, as they neared the harbor the huge waves would roll nearly over them. They were --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -165- WRECKS IN AND NEAR OSWEGO both covered thickly with ice. As they came nearer the sailors could be seen clinging to the rigging. As the vessels were so near together, it was thought impossible that they could enter the harbor safely, and as they ap- proached the then dangerous entrance, all the watchers held their breaths. By a kind hand of Providence at just the right moment both vessels were lifted high on the crest of a breaker and with a side-long lurch both were rolled inside the piers. A prolonged shout went up from those on shore, but the fury of the storm drowned its echo before it reached the wet and half-drowned sailors. Almost immediately on gaining the entrance, the Cook was again lifted high in the air and when she came down, struck heavily on the bottom of the river. But for this fact, she would have collided with the Nevada. After the Cook struck she began to fill and was run on the river bottom further up. It was then ascertained that the crew were nearly perished with fatigue and cold, and almost helpless, and the wonder is that they succeeded in guid- ing the craft to the harbor at all. They were taken ashore and kindly cared for, and with one exception were all alive and sailing in 1884. The other vessels that were out in that memorable storm, with the exception of the Jenkins, all reached some har- bor of refuge, more or less damaged. The Sam Cook was built by Goble & MacFarlane in 1873 and was at that time owned by A. G. Cook. WRECK OF THE U.S. TRANSPORT MAPLE LEAF In Willets Point Museum, L.I. there is a small piece of timber, all that remains of a war vessel whose history is linked to that of Oswego by an exciting in- cident and a catastrophe. It bears the following inscription: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -166- WRECKS IN AND NEAR OSWEGO "Piece of oak from wreck of U.S. Transport Maple Leaf, blown up by a torpedo in the St. Johns River, Florida, about fifteen miles above Jacksonville. This boat was a side-wheel steamer, built in Kingston, Ont. in 1850, and was run on the lakes and on the St. Lawrence River. Her boiler burst in 1850 or 1851, in Oswego harbor. She was raised and used there until some time during the Civil War. In April, 1864 she was sunk by a torpedo while bringing stores from Papatka, Florida to Jacksonville. The wreck was removed to eight- een feet at low water by the United States in March 1883". This boat was formerly known in Oswego as the Comet. She ran between Oswego, Hamilton and Toronto, in connection with the Great Western Railway. She carried passengers and frequently brought excursion parties from Canada to Oswego. On one of these occasions occurred the now famous riot at the foot of West Seneca Street which was only quelled when the Mayor called out the old Oswego Guards and marched them to the wharf. The company was drawn up in line, armed with old flint-lock muskets and when the rioters saw that the soldiers meant business they stopped fighting. The fight was between a party of "Can- nucks" and some "Oswego" boys who took offense because the steamer floated the British flag. The riot was on the Fourth of July. The steamer was commanded by Captain Connors. The explosion of the boat's boiler also occurred at the foot of West Seneca Street as the steamer was leaving the wharf on her outward voyage. A number of people were killed and when their bodies were brought ashore they were laid in a row on the steps of the old City Hall in Water Street. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -167- WRECKS IN AND NEAR OSWEGO The schooner Roman, Detroit to Oswego, with a cargo of wheat, foundered on Lake Erie in a terrific gale in 1858, with the loss of all hands and loss of $16,000 to the schooner. She was built in 1842 by Doolittle as the propeller "Oswego". She was one of the first propellers built on the lakes. This class of vessel was so numerous by 1858 that they were designated the Oswego humbugs. In 1852 or 1853, the Oswego was raised and rebuilt by her original owners and renamed the Roman. The schooner Matthew McNair also foundered in 1858 with a cargo of wheat. The schooner Wayne, Capt. Atkinson, owned by M. J. Cummings and purchased the previous spring for $12,000, hit the east pier at four A.M., Dec. 6, 1877, and was a total loss. The tug Morey, Capt. Pappa, went to her assistance but got a line caught in the propeller of the tug and both were helpless. Fred Pappa was washed overboard but a line was thrown to him and he was pulled aboard. The tug Steve H. Lyons pulled the Morey off at eight A. M. the next day and towed her to the Goble dry- dock. The Wayne was newly built by Goble in 1875. The schooner Daniel Lyon, Oswego, was hit by the schooner Kate Gillette Oct. 18, 1878 and sunk at the foot of Lake Michigan. The Lyon was built by Goble & Mac- Farlane in 1873 and owned by Daniel Lyon. On Nov. 13, 1878 the schooner Speedwell was lost with a load of lumber for O. M. Bond, just east of Four Mile Point. The steam barge Norman, Capt. Goodearl burned Sept. 27, 1878 in the East Cove. Capt. Redford with tug Melvin towed her to East Island where the fire was put out. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -168- WRECKS IN AND NEAR OSWEGO The schooner Hattie Howard, Capt. Schuler Becker, Port Hope to Oswego with 271,000' of pine lumber for John K. Post & Co. November 19, 1879, hit the angle of the west inner pier and went to pieces. She became water-logged in the storm on the way down and refused to mind her rudder. John (Bar) Halleran of Oswego was mate. The cook who had been put on the pier drowned. November 18, 1879 the tug C. P. Morey, Capt. John Pappa, picked up the tug Charles M. Ritter of Buffalo drifting in the lake without steam and learned that she was part of a tow of three dredges, John Hickler No. 1, John Hickler No. 2 and the Gordon; eight dump scows and four tugs, O. A. Thayer, Philip Becker, Charles N. Ritter and John Hicks. The fleet had been working near Lachine dur- ing the season and had left Cape Vincent for Port Dalhousie. The four small tugs were assisting the tug Gardner, Capt. Flemming, of Ogdensburg, when they were caught in a snow storm. Sixteen of a crew of thirty-two, including four women, were lost. The schooner Richardson out of Kingston for Oswego with a load of grain Oct. 3, 1881, hit the old east pier at 2 A. M. and was wrecked when Capt. William McKee mistook a street light on the east side for a light on the east pier which had been extinguished by the waves during a severe storm. The Richardson was owned by Richardson and Capt. McKee of Kingston. W. J. McKee was the mate, Henry Smith and John White and John Ger- eau were seamen. The schooner Hartford owned by G. H. McKinley, W. J. Consul and William O'Toole, all of Clayton, loaded with grain, Detroit to Cape Vincent, went down Oct. 11, 1874 off Sandy Pond. Capt. O'Toole, his wife and child of a few months, and crew drowned. =========================================================================== If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access more information about Great Lakes Maritime History by by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/mi/glm/ ===========================================================================