The Ithaca Daily News, Monday, January 4, 1897.
THE COMMODORE SUNK.
Filibuster Steamer and Her Cargo at the Bottom
of the Sea.
ALL ON BOARD WERE SAVED.
The Overloaded Vessel Began to Leak, and Her Pumps
Refused to Work—
A Rumor to the Effect That There Was Treachery on
Board.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Jan. 4, 1897—The
filibuster steamer Commodore, which has landed successfully in Cuba several
large consignments of arms and munitions of war for the patriots, has gone to
the bottom off Mosquito Inlet, on the coast of Florida.
The Commodore left Jacksonville on Thursday
night, having been cleared by the customs authorities to carry a cargo of arms
and ammunition to the port of Nuevitas, Cuba.
Yesterday she was found stuck in the mud three
miles below the city. She was pulled off the shoal by the United States revenue
cutter Boutwell, which conveyed her safely across St. John’s bar.
It
seems that the Commodore was overloaded at the start, mainly with coal, and that
she came near capsizing while crossing St. John’s bar.
Yesterday Captain Murphy was astounded to discover
the hold full of water. He immediately set the crew to work bailing with buckets
and started up the steam pumps, but to no purpose.
Left to Her Doom.
The water rapidly gained and finally
extinguished the fires while the vessel was yet a long distance from the shore.
It was then imperative that the men should take to the boats, which they did,
leaving the ill fated Commodore to her doom.
The Commodore’s papers show that Captain
Edward Murphy is master of the vessel, and that Frank P. Grain is first mate, Felix
de los Rios second mate, James Redding chief engineer, Ed B. Ritter assistant engineer.
The crew is as follows: Franco Blanco, C. B.
Montgomery, Paul E. F. Rojo, Julio Rodbar, Ramon Hernandez, J. Hernandez, William
Higgins, Jose Fernandez, Murray Nobles, Manuel Gonzales, Miguel Fernandez, Jose
Alvarez, Buenafestusa Singy, Emelio Masquis, Joseph Dehancy, Gravier Marbury,
Modesto Leon, Santiago Diaz, Luis Surra, P. D. Pernercousi, W. A. G. Smith, R.
A. Delgado and Stephen Crane, the novelist.
The
first boat to land was one containing Delgado, Paul Rojo, Franco Blanco and
nine others, who reached New Smyrna in safety and immediately wired to Jackssonville
requesting the dispatch of the Three Friends to assist the Commodore, which they
hoped might still be afloat. The owners of the Three Friends here wired to the
secretary of the treasury asking permission to send their boat to the rescue,
but received no reply.
All on Board Saved [early
report].
Later in the day another telegram was received
stating that Captain Murphy, with Stephen Crane and 14 other men, who had taken
to the other boat, had landed safely at Ormond, 20 miles above New Smyrna, and
that the Commodore was a total loss.
This information, which is incontrovertible,
has greatly disheartened the Cubans in this city, who had hoped great things
for their cause from the result of this expedition.
The point at which the Commodore went down
is said to be about 15 miles off the coast of Florida, approximately 100 miles
below the St. John’s bar.
There seems to have been no difficulty in
saving the lives of all on board. It is said that Captain Murphy had been warned
by rivermen before leaving Jacksonville that the Commodore could not stand the
heavy cargo of coal with which she was loaded, being old and constructed of
wood, but that he paid no attention to these warnings.
There are vague rumors afloat of treachery, but
these can be traced to no substantial foundation.
COMMODORE DISASTER.
Seven of the Crew Perished.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Jan. 5, 1897—Captain Edward Murphy, commander
of the lost steamer
Commodore; Stephen Crane, the novelist; C. B. Montgomery, cook, and William Higgins, an
oiler, with four Cubans, arrived here from Daytona.
From the survivors it is learned that the men
of the Commodore left the ship in four boat loads. Twelve Cubans embarked in
the first, four more in the second, seven Americans in the third, and four, including
Captain Murphy, Crane, Higgins and Montgomery, in the fourth. The first three
were lifeboats, the last a 10- oared dingy.
The men
in the third boat lingered in the neighborhood of the sinking steamer and for
some reason the small boat foundered and sank.
The men
were ordered to swim back to the steamer, where they improvised a raft. This
the captain attempted to tow to shore, 14 miles away. Just as they started it
was observed that a negro on the raft was drawing himself along the tow line to
the dingy. The captain realized that this meant death to all, and he ordered
the raft cast adrift.
He
shouted to the men to return to the vessel, which they attempted to do, but
when near the Commodore it gave a lurch, sank, and the men on the raft were
drawn down in the vortex and did not rise again. They were James Redigan,
engineer; E. B. Ritter, assistant engineer; Frank Grain, mate; W. A. G. Smith,
fireman; Modesto Leon, Cuban pilot and guide, and Jonas Franklin and Murray
Nobles, two colored firemen.
Editor’s note:
The
sinking of the Commodore was the
subject of Stephen Crane’s short story “The
Open Boat,” which was published in 1897. Stephen Crane, author of “The Red Badge of Courage,” was a war
correspondent employed by the Bacheller
newspaper syndicate when he boarded the Commodore
on New Year’s Eve, 1896. The ship sank on January 2, 1897.
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