When the late Capt. Marshall W. Eldredge was appointed keeper, Captain
Ellis was his No. 1 surfman. Captain Ellis served as No. 1 surfman
until May 1, 1902, when he was appointed keeper to succeed his late
captain, whose life was given up in an heroic attempt to rescue an
imperiled crew. Captain Ellis married Aureilla M. Cahoon, and is the
father of one son. The story of the terrible tragedy in which Captain
Eldredge and six members of his crew, together with five persons whom
they had taken from the stranded barge _Wadena_, perished, is best told
by the sole survivor, Captain Ellis, and is as follows:--
“On Tuesday, March 11, 1902, about one o’clock A. M. the schooner
barge _Wadena_ stranded during a northeast gale and heavy sea on the
Shovelful Shoal, off the southern end of Monomoy Island. The crew were
rescued by our station crew. The barge remained on the shoal without
showing any signs of going to pieces, and wreckers were engaged in
lightering her cargo of coal. On the night of March 16 the weather
became threatening, and all except five of the persons engaged in
lightering the cargo were taken ashore from the barge by the tug _Peter
Smith_, which was in the employ of the owners of the barge.
“Shortly before eight o’clock on the morning of March 17 one of the
patrolmen from our station reported that the _Wadena_ appeared to be in
no immediate danger, but later Captain Eldredge received a message from
Hyannis, inquiring whether everything was all right with the men aboard
the barge. Up to this time no one at the station was aware that any
persons had remained on the barge over night.
[Illustration: BARGES WADENA AND FITZPATRICK STRANDED ON SHOALS AT
MONOMOY.
_Wadena_ in foreground. In attempting to take an imperiled crew off the
_Wadena_, Captain Eldredge and six of his crew of life savers perished,
together with the crew of the barge, five in number. March 17, 1902.]
“Upon the receipt of this inquiry Captain Eldredge, putting on his hip
boots and oil clothes, set out for the end of the Point, where he could
personally ascertain the conditions.
“Arriving there he found that the barge was flying a signal of
distress. He at once telephoned me, as I was the No. 1 man at the
station, directing me to launch the surf-boat from the inside of the
beach, and with the crew pull down to the Point. About two and one-half
miles south of the station we took Captain Eldredge aboard and I gave
him the steering oar.
“The wind was fresh from the southeast and there was a heavy sea
running, but all the crew were of the opinion that the condition of the
barge _Wadena_ was not perilous, as she seemed to be sound and lying
easy.
“Captain Eldredge decided to pull around the Point to the barge. At
certain places on the shoals the sea was especially rough, and some
water was shipped on the way out to the distressed craft, but without
any trouble we succeeded in bringing our surf-boat under the lee of the
barge just abaft the forerigging, the only place where it was practical
to go alongside.
[Illustration: DRILL OF THE MONOMOY CREW, SHORTLY BEFORE THE DISASTER
IN WHICH SEVEN OF THE CREW PERISHED.]
“As soon as we got alongside the barge a line was thrown aboard and
quickly made fast by the persons on board. The persons on board the
barge were all excited and wanted us to take them ashore as soon as we
could. Captain Eldredge, without a moment’s delay, when he found out
the number of persons on board the barge and their desire to be taken
ashore, directed them to get into the surf-boat.
“The seas were breaking heavily around the stern of the barge, and
there was little room for operations in the smooth water, and the rail
of the barge was twelve or thirteen feet above the surf-boat. Four of
the five men lowered themselves over the side of the barge, one at a
time, into the surf-boat, without mishap, by means of a rope, but the
captain of the barge, who was a big, heavy man, let go his hold when
part way down and dropped into the boat with such force as to break
the after thwart. All five being safely in the boat, two were placed
forward, two aft, and one amidships, and told to sit quietly and keep
close down in the bottom of the boat.
“In order to get away from the barge quickly, the painter was cut, by
orders of Captain Eldredge, and the surf-boat was at once shoved off.
In order to clear the line of breakers that extended from the stern of
the barge so that we could lay a good course for the shore, a part of
the surfmen were backing hard on the port oars, while the others gave
way with full power on the starboard side. Before we could get the boat
turned around a big wave struck us with fearful force, and quite a lot
of water poured into the surf-boat.
“Captain Eldredge stood in the stern of the boat with the steering oar
in his hand giving his orders, and the surfmen stuck to their posts.
“As soon as the water came into the boat, the rescued men jumped up,
and becoming panic-stricken, threw their arms about the necks of the
surfmen so that none of us could use our oars. The seas, one after
another, struck us, and the boat, filling with water, turned bottom up,
throwing us all into the raging sea. The seas kept striking us after
the boat upset, and we were soon in among the heaviest breakers. Twice
we righted the boat, but the seas which struck her before we could get
into her capsized her each time.
“After righting the boat twice, our strength was fast leaving us, and
we all knew that we could not survive long without assistance. The five
men that we had taken off the barge were the first to be swept off the
overturned boat and to perish before our eyes. They did not regain a
hold of the boat after she turned over the first time, and were quickly
swept to death.
“All of us clung to the boat, giving each other all the encouragement
that we could. Surfman Chase was the first one of our crew to perish,
then Nickerson and Small were swept to death. Captain Eldredge, Surfmen
Kendrick, Foye and Rogers and myself still managed to hold to the
boat. Every sea which struck the boat swept completely over us, almost
smothering us. Kendrick was the next one of our crew to perish, and
poor Foye soon followed him. Captain Eldredge and Surfman Rogers and
myself were the only ones left, and we expected that we, too, would
soon share the fate of our comrades.
“Rogers was clinging to the boat about amidships, while Captain
Eldredge and myself were holding on near the stern. Captain Eldredge
called to me to help him to get a better hold, and I managed to pull
him on to the bottom of the boat, when a sea struck us and washed us
both off. I managed to regain a hold on the bottom of the boat, and
looking around for Captain Eldredge, I saw that he was holding on to
the spar and sail which had drifted from underneath the boat, but was
still fast to it. The seas were washing me off the boat continually at
this time, and when I last saw our brave captain, he was drifting away
from the boat, holding on to the spar and sail.
“My strength was fast going, and when poor Rogers begged me to help him
climb further up onto the boat, the only thing I could do was to tell
him that we were drifting towards the beach, and that help would soon
be at hand and to hold on.
[Illustration: CHURCH AT ORLEANS WHERE MEMORIAL SERVICES WERE HELD FOR
LOST MONOMOY CREW.]
“Rogers had lost his strength, however, and failing to get a more
secure place on the bottom of the boat, feebly moaning, ‘I have got to
go,’ he fell off the boat and sank beneath the waters.
“I was now alone on the bottom of the boat, and seeing that the
center board had slipped part way out, I managed to get hold of it,
and holding it with one hand succeeded in getting my oil clothes,
undercoat, vest, and boots off.
“By that time the overturned boat had drifted down over the shoals in
the direction of the barge _Fitzpatrick_, which was also stranded on
the shoals, and when I sighted the craft I waved my hand as a signal
for help. I soon saw those on the barge fling a dory over the side into
the water, but could see nothing more of the dory after that on account
of the mist and high sea until it hove in sight with a man in it rowing
towards me. The man in the dory was brave Capt. Elmer F. Mayo. He ran
the dory alongside of me, and with his help I got into the boat. I was
so used up that I was speechless, and all that I could do was to kneel
in the bottom of the boat and hold on to the thwarts. To land in the
dory through the surf was a perilous undertaking, but Mayo, who is a
skilled boatman, carefully picked his way over the rips and headed his
little boat for the shore.
“Surfman Bloomer of our station, who had been left ashore, had walked
down to the Point to assist Captain Eldredge and crew in landing, and
when he saw Mayo fighting his way through the breakers, he ran down
into the surf, seized the little boat, and helped Mayo to land safely.
“Bloomer was told of the terrible tragedy by Captain Mayo, as I was
unable to speak at the time. As I have often said, ‘If the persons we
took off the barge had kept quiet as we told them to, all hands would
have been landed in safety.’”
[Illustration:
Seth L. Ellis
Keeper, Monomoy L.S. Station
]