Title(s) from item.
[Additional information from item] Deck. We couldn't keep a lookout forward on account of the seas that broke over her, and how we escaped being swept overboard is a miracle. The man lashed to the wheel was nearly killed by a sea that broke over the vessel and swept her from stem to stern; the galley was flooded, the water was two feet deep on the cabin floor; everything moveable head been swept by the board, our boat had been torn from the davits, and we were at the mercy of the storm in less than two hours after it struck us. We were trying to work the schooner off shore into the teeth of the gale, hoping to get down past the sunken sand rips off Nantucket, when we would get plenty of sea room to the leeward, but it seemed a hopeless task. Our foresail had been torn into shreds, the mainsail close reefed was just standing the fearful blast of the gale. We kept her headed to the wind as best we could; but she kept falling off until all believed that we would fetch up on Chatham bars before morning. The captain was the meekest man you ever saw. He was scared to death and gave up the command of the ship to the mate and went below. The mate was a nervy fellow and not a bit scared of the water. We battle with the sea and storm all night expecting that we would be driven ashore every moment, but to our joy just at the crack of day we cited the Nantucket Shoals lightship on our starboard bow about a half mile away. It was a close call for us, but we got by the sunken shoals and managed to hold her up until we got in under Nantucket and anchored. We made Sankaty Head light just at night, and soon after we found the water shoaling and dropped anchor off surfside about eight o'clock. The water was comparatively smooth off the beach there, and we had quick as you can, "said Capt. Cummings. "And Col. Jordan, you get your room take off your clothes and get into bed at fast as possible. I'll bring the tea to you; it will fix you up all right and you will be better in the morning. I knew that Coll. Jordan overtaxed his strength," said Capt. Cummings. He is suffering from a chill and the poor fellow can hardly walk to his room. " Capt. Cummings helped Coll. Jordan to this room while Mrs. Cummings prepared the tea. 'Take a good drink of this," Said Capt. Cummings as he handed the steaming cup to Coll. Jordan, "it will warm you up and drive that chill out of you. This is great stuff for breaking up colds. Col. Jordan drank a full cup of the tea and Capt. Cummings tucked the bed clothes about the young man, and placing a little bell by the bedside, told him to ring it if he needed anything during the night. It was now nearly eleven o'clock, the wind was blowing a hurricane and the snow was coming down in blinding clouds; the old house was shaken to its very foundations, and the thunder of the sea as it beat on the shore could be plainly heard above the roar and din of the storm. "It's an awful night," said Capt. Cummings to his wife as the two stood by the open fire, "and I am afraid that some of the fellows that was off the cape today will get into trouble before morning." "I'm afraid so too," said Mrs Cummings. "It is no use to go to the shore to look for wrecks tonight," said Capt. Cummings, "a boat could not live in the sea that is running, and besides there are not men enough on Cape Cod to get one off from the beach in such a gale."
Preferred Citation:
Boston Herald-Traveler Photo Morgue, Boston Public Library
Notes (acquisition):
Gift; Boston University, College of Communication, 1977/1978.
IIIF Manifest