April 11, 1921
Vessel Catches Fire - 12 of Crew Missing
Capt. Enos Nickerson of sch. Isabel
Parker rescued Capt. Frank Watts and eight of his crew when
the Commonwealth, blazing from stem to stern, sank in a stormy
seas, leaving the crew to pick their way in the small double dories through a storm-swept
ocean, bitter winds shrieking out of the northwest, which benumbed them. When the
men had been put aboard the Parker, nine were accounted for, and
12 others were missing.
The rescued were: Capt. Frank Watts, Boston;
Tony Foster, cook, Gloucester; Fred Wilson, East Boston;
James O'Brien, Lynn; Hiram Fender, Malden; Joseph
Cusick, Gloucester; _____ Hines, Somerville; and Joseph
Abbott, Everett. Missing are:
Bert Moulton, Newfoundland
Richard Harding, Everett
Lindley I. McComiskey, Gloucester
Henry Lee, Newfoundland
J. Meuse, Argyle, N. S.
Edward Mason, Everett
James Leary, Newfoundland
Sumner Corkum, Gloucester
Leo Powers, Newfoundland
William Enos, Newfoundland
Dennis Surette, Yarmouth
Thomas Christopher, Newfoundland
Last Friday morning, with her crew asleep in
the berths except the two watches on deck, a blast shook the craft from stem to
stern. In the darkness of the early morning, the men rushed to the deck, in time to
hastily launch dories from both nests, 12 of the men leaping into three of the dories, and
pulling away. It is this fleet of dories that is missing today, despite the fact
that Capt. Nickerson cruised around the place for hours trying to locate
them.
The story of the explosion and its attending
results, is told by Fred Wilson, who, suffering from exposure due to
being in the icy water for a half hour, is a patient at the Shelburne hospital. Wilson
says that the Commonwealth sailed form Boston April
5. She had been fishing for one day, and had caught 4500 pounds of fish when the
storm of Friday morning broke. The schooner was then hove to under trysail and
jumbo. With the exception of the man at the wheel and the engineer, all the crew
were snug in their bunks.
Wilson was aroused by someone
shouting down the foc'sle hatch that the ship was on fire. By the time they had
tumbled out and climbed on deck the after portion of the schooner was a mass of
flames. All the information they could get from the engineer who had been severely
burned, was that there had been an explosion in the engine room.
Part of the crew immediately took to the
dories, despite the raging seas, but the captain and seven men decided to stand by the
ship, as the lesser of two dangers. They chopped holes in the deck, to let the
water in on the fire. The seas put the fire out, but poured so heavily into the
holds that the schooner began to settle, leaving them no alternative but to take to the
remaining dories.
Ten minutes after the last dory got away from
the ship she sank. In the meantime, the dory containing Wilson and his mate had
capsized and they had climbed onto the bottom of it and were in danger of being swept to
their death when the schooner Isabel Parker hove in sight.
This was at daybreak Friday.
At the risk of their lives, three of the Parker's
crew manned a dory and although, according to Wilson it seemed impossible
that any small boat could live in such seas, they managed to haul the two out of the water
and row them to the safety and warmth of the Parker's foc'sle.
Capt. Enos Nickerson of the Isabel
Parker then learning form Wilson and his dory mate of the
disaster that had overtaken the Commonwealth , began to search
for the others. About 10 o'clock in the morning two dories containing Capt. Watts
and five others who had remained on board the Commonwealth until
she began to sink were sighted.
Of the twelve who lad left the ship when the fire broke out
there was not sign. Capt. Nickerson continued his search all
Friday, though the storm increased in violence during the day and that night. He
kept a watch the whole night through, and continued his search Saturday, with the weather
still very severe although clear.
The wind was from the north-north-west, and if the dories
drifted with it they would be driven to sea. Realizing the futility of further
search, he headed his vessel early this morning toward Shelburne to land this survivors,
and arrived off Sandy Point at 7:30 last night.
The Commonwealth was built at
Essex in 1913. She was 103 feet depth of hold, net tonnage 93, gross tonnage
141. She was equipped with two 50-horsepower automatic engines. Capt. Watts
was her first skipper. She was reputed one of the staunchest vessels out
of Boston.. She was Boston owned.
The local members of the crew were Joseph Cusick,
Sumner O. Corkum, and Lindley I. McComiskey. Richard Harding and
Tony Foster formerly lived in this city. |
