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Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. ========================================================================= Formatted by U.S. Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== TEN BODIES ARE RECOVERED AT PORT ALBERT -------------- Victims Belonged to James Carruthers, and All Wore Life Preservers - Search Along Shore Fails to Dis- cover More Wreckage. -------------- (Special to The Toronto World) GODERICH, Nov. 16. - Ten more bodies of members of the crew of the James Carruthers have been found near Port Albert, and are ly- ing in a local undertaker's rooms awaiting identification. Two other bodies from the Mc- Gean, found at Bayfield several days ago, were not brought here till to- day, some difficulty having been met owing to the undertaker at Bayfield not wanting to give up the bodies, in spite of the order that all bodies are to be brought here. All wore life- preservers, one body being complete- ly clothed and wearing an overcoat and mitts. From the description given by the owners of the boat he answers the description of E. Oilson of Chicago, a Swede. Nothing was found on the other body to make identification possible. The tug Horton picked up life boat No. 1 of the Argus just outside the north breakwater, standing on end, because one of her forward air tanks being gone. The boat was badly broken. Found No Wreckage The life boat and tug Horton went down the shore as far as St. Joseph, but found no more wreck- age of importance. Capt. Whitney of the Lake Car- riers Association has arrived here and has made his headquarters at the Bedford. Everything that can be done to identify victims will be done thru that office. He left this morning on the tug Horton for up shore near Kincardine, returning this afternoon late, but nothing was found. The government launch used by V. M. Roberts also went up the shore, but found no more bodies. Capt. Babb today received a mes- sage from the constable at Zurich saying that some person was giving the farmers along the shore permis- sion to remove the wreckage. He will leave in the morning to St. Jos- eph, where he will search with the constable for this man and also store away what wreckage is left. Photograph Bodies. Photographs were taken this morning of all unidentified bodies here, these to be sent to all the newspapers, hoping that this method will assist identification. This was done on the request of J. W. Wright of Toronto. No wreckage of the Hydrus has been found here as yet. --------------------------------------- FUNERAL TODAY OF STORM VICTIM The body of Captain William H. Wright of the James Car- ruthers was brought to Toronto yesterday afternoon. The funeral will be at 2:30 this afternoon from the late captain's home, 92 Dela- ware avenue, to Prospect Ceme- tery. =================================== MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR MEN WHO PERISHED IN THE STORM ---------------------------- All Denominations Joined in Honoring Brave Sailors Who Died When Their Ships Went Down - Brass Tablet Will Contain Their Names - Sailor's Home Needed. ------------------------------ Sorrow, shown by a great silence; sympathy, manifested by hundreds of compassionate countenances; and a deep-seated yearning to help, evi- denced by an occasional burst of ap- plause. These were the prominent tones at the memorial service in Mas- sey Hall yesterday afternoon at a ser- vice in memory of the sailors who lost their lives in the terrible storm on the great lakes last Sunday. The various speakers touched responsive chords by their utterances. The real depth of the feeling of the gathering was sounded by James S. Potter, superintendent of work among sailors, who recounted his experience on the steamer Huronic, which passed thru the heart of the storm. Statements that sailors often put out in a storm against their own judgment and that disasters were often due to this action, were made by Rev. Dr. Hincks. Other speakers outlined the little that had been done for the sea- men. The service was held under the aus- pices of the Upper Canada Tract Soci- ety's Mission to Sailors on Inland Waters. The territorial staff band of the Salvation Army provided music. In forty years of work on the seas he had seen many storms, said Mr. Potter, but the one on Sunday eclipsed them all. He could not describe the fury of the gale. "On Friday storm signals were seen at Port Arthur," said Mr. Potter "sleet soon broke over that city and Thunder Bay. On Saturday the sig- nals were still flying. We made Fort William and we left for the east at 1.30 a.m. Sunday. We followed the shore. Heavy seas were running, and the wind came from the west at eigh- teen miles an hour. We longed for Whitefish Point because the captain believed we would have shelter and smoother seas. Captain Campbell - he is a brave man - was on the bridge continually from 1.30 until 6.30 on Sunday. He told us he had picked up Whitefish light. We were all over- joyed. What time we made the point God only knows. Instead of finding smooth seas and shelter we got a bliz- zard of snow and sleet at eighty miles an hour from the west. It made the ship an iceberg. The heroic captain and his crew stood by in it all. They were brave men. The captain then re- ported that he could not pick up the range lights to the Sault. There was nothing to do but put about in the sea. From eight o'clock Sunday night until six o'clock Monday morning we were battered about by a terrible sea. We were pounded and thrown about on the mighty waves until it seemed as if the good ship must yield to the storm. Never Saw the Like. "Then we felt a jar. We thought the captain had cast anchor, but a merciful Providence had cast the ship on a gravel embankment, and a sea such as I never seen on the At- lantic pounded her further out on to the gravel reef. Never in my life have I seen such a scene as I witnessed in the cabins and deckhouses of the boat. Men and furniture were thrown about. Humans were tumbled this way and that until none expected to ever see home again. "We were taken off by two tugs which had left the Sault on Monday, but which, owing to the terrific seas, had been unable to reach us until 10.30 Tuesday morning. Notwithstanding the pounding and battering she had received, the ship did not take a pint of water. We were driven to the be- lief that we had a good ship under us, besides a brave captain and a brave crew. "The men on the Huronic," declared Mr. Potter, "are just the types of men who have gone out on the other ships, never to return." Home for Sailors Mr. Potter then told of the efforts of the society to get a suitable home for sailors in Toronto when they came into port. Forty years ago the site was chosen down at the waterfront, but the society had never been allow- ed to build. "What has Jack, the sailor, to find when he comes to Toronto?" asked Mr. Potter. "Nothing. He has bar- rooms and poolrooms, but there is no home for Jack to write his letters, and no place to spend a quiet hour." What the society wanted was a brass tablet to put in the sailors' home at Port Arthur, on which could be en- graved the names of the ships and names of the sailors who were lost in the great storm, so that later genera- tions could read about the disaster which befell their fathers. It was also the intention of the society to hold memorial services at Port Arthur on the second Sunday of November in each year. In closing Mr. Potter said that dur- ing the storm he had given up all hope of ever seeing Toronto again, and he had believed his work on earth was finished. He also said that Captain Wright, who lost his life in the storm, had been a friend to the society for the last 50 years. National Calamity In his remarks J. K. Macdonald said that the memorial service was the most solemn Canada had ever ex- perienced. His heart was full of emotions which he could not express by speech. It was surely a national calamity, said Mr. Macdonald, and called for reflection on the part of the nation and also on each and every individual. "We are prosperous, and we are resting on that prosperity too much," said he. "There is a lesson in this for us to learn as individuals. National hope and national prosperity are use- less unless godliness lies at their root. What have we been doing for those poor fellows who have passed into eternity? Great things have been accomplished all over, but nothing has been done for the 30,000 brave boys on the inland waters." It was up to the people to give something or to do something for the men who were daily in peril, declared Mr. Macdonald. He trusted that this calamity would be a lesson and a re- minder to the people to help the sail- ors more in the future. The power of the memorial meeting was best shown by its greatness and the silence which hung over it and the gathering itself showed the sor- row of the people better than words could portray, averred Rev. J. L. Gil- mour, D.D. The feelings of the masses had been stirred to great depths by the disaster. To Secure Memorial "We are here," explained Dr. Gil- mour, "to seek to interpret the lesson as best we may, and to behold how great are the powers which surround us and how great are the powers of God. We are also here so that if any suitable step can be taken to secure a memorial we can show that we are behind the men who undertake it in public." "At such a meeting as this," con- tinued Dr. Gilmour, "our thoughts go to those men who faced gale, faced water, and faced death. How terrible must have been the moments to those brave men when the gale beat down on them in its fury and it became apparent to them that they must face death. "Captain Scott, the south pole ex- plorer, in his dying moments, with his cold, numbed hands, wrote that he could not believe that a great na- tion like the British nation would see those dependent on explorers suffer. We are here to show that they will not suffer. Something will be done for those left by the victims of the storm." A Lesson To All That powerful, sturdy boats could be tossed about and broken to pieces by a storm in much the same manner as a boy destroys his toys, ought to be a lesson to all that there was a power far greater than any possessed by humans, said Dr. Gilmour. The disaster should teach a lesson of reverence. "In some ports services are held in the spring for the sailors and their families, and at the close of naviga- tion another service is held for the returned sailors." Dr. Gilmour con- tinued, "There will be great sorrow at the service this season, for many of the brave will never come back." Do Something Rev. W.H. Hincks made a strong ap- peal to the meeting to do "something" for the sailors who still pass up and down on the lakes. The purpose of the meeting was to prove that the sorrow of one was the concern of all and that the sorrow of one section was a sorrow in which everyone had a part. While the gathering sat in Massey Hall, said he, there were 200, 000 ships carrying the necessaries of life on the seas. There were 26,000 sailors on the inland waters. Canada was the "dearest" country in the world, vouchsafed Dr. Hincks. The last imperial book issued showed that the cost of living in Canada had in- creased in the last eleven years fifty- one per cent. Canada had undesirable pre-eminence in that respect. If it were not for the sailors the cost of living would be considerably more. "Not only do we owe the sailor a physical debt but we owe him a finan- cial debt," Dr. Hincks contended. "We want to remember the conditions they work under. Have we been ade- quately looking after the sailors, knowing that we owe them this debt? I firmly believe that there are many times when the storm signals are up that the sailor would not put to sea if he had himself to please or was dealing with a friend. But the com- panies control the ships, and therefore the sailor is often forced to leave port in uncertain weather. I am sure that often tragedies are due to the sailors having to put out to sea against their better judgment. Mitigate Danger "Canada should see to it that every ship is put on such a basis so that a sixty-mile-an-hour hurricane would not hurt the sailor boys." stated Dr. Hincks, and great applause followed. "These hurricanes should not hurt the men on the inland waters any more than it hurts the boys on the ocean. An empire with 200,000 ships should do as much as possible to miti- gate the danger which the sailors en- counter. With a sailor king on the throne - and King George is a sailor king - something should be done to protect these men. "If Britishers forget sailors God will forget them. Of that I have no doubt." said Dr. Hincks. "One thing we have not done for the sailor and that is to provide an institution for him. We have none here." President Macdonald then told the meeting of the efforts made by the Upper Canada Tract Society to get a site for a building in Toronto, how they had been promised one and how they had been thwarted for years past and prevented from time to time by the city council. Special prayers were said in all Roman Catholic churches for the men who lost their lives in the storm. A special service was held at the British Welcome League last evening, when $19.29 was collected for the sail- ors' relief fund. Sir John Willison pre- sided, and Rev. Alfred Hall gave an address. =========================================================================== SOURCE: The Toronto World, Monday morning, November 17, 1913