Through the Bayous to Grand Pass Submitted By Larie Tedesco May 2007 Daily Picayune 10-20-1893 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ Through the Bayous to Grand Pass The Lugger Young Wallace Makes a Search for Wrecks And Bodies of the Victims of the Storm Burying a Number of Corpses of Unfortunate Mariners And Restoring Dismantled Vessels to the Tract of the Sea They Formerly Rode. The lugger Young Wallace arrived yesterday and is now lying at the head of the Old basin. A peculiar interest attaches to the movements of the Young Wallace. She is one of the few boats which survived uninjured the recent great storm, and which has resumed her voyaging on the lakes and in the bayous of the lower section of the state. Most of her companions are rotting, high and dry, in the marshes. As many lie at rest in the green depths of the gulf, their dead crews scattered in unknown graves, or sleeping, uncoffined on the sandy bottom. These little craft, engaged in the oyster trade, are famous the world over for their picturesqueness. Not more than a month ago the Old basin was full of them. They lay in numbers almost incredible all along the crumbling shores, their tapering masts silhouetted against the soft azure of the sky, and their sales, stained crimson with tanning, glinting oddly in mellow sunlight. Only the lake have the shattered relics bugun to reassemble. All during last week the busy precincts about the foot of Toulouse street were silent and deserted. One by one the dismasted sloops and schooners, sailless and scarred luggers, whose decks had been smashed into kindling-wood in the raging seas, came in and the work of repairing them has been under way at once. The Young Wallace was among the first to return. Her captain, Tony Marsarich, an Austrian, had a story to tell of the storm which, were there not others more terrible. He was lying in the Rigolets when that memorable Sunday night came on. The sky grew dark as pitch above him, and all about waves mountains high threatened to destroy the little boat. He said the water rose to a height of 8 feet in a few minutes, and before the heavy swell the Young Wallace was floated far into the marsh. How far he had no means to tell. But with the turn of the wind the tide fell, and by dawn they safely drifted back, almost to their original position. The Young Wallace was not hurt by this rough treatment, and on Wednesday last was able to put to sea again. Captain Marsarich knew that many of his countryman were lost; or if not lost had had their vessels destroyed, and would be in need of speedy assistance. Leaving the bayou Basin he entered the lakes, and proceeded to the bayous in St. Bernard Parish. The farthest point reached was bayou Bathelo, one of those streams which intersect an unknown country and wind in serpentine curves through marshes were man seldom intrudes. This is a region where the sea and the land are merged and melted into one - a land of marvelous sunsets, the very name of which is unfamiliar to most ears. The oyster banks are scattered at intervals. There may be seen wide stretches of the thin marsh grass swaying in the wind, and hiding the glassy waters, with nothing to mar its illimitable serenities but the scarlet sails of the passing luggers. Bayou Moushel is one of the waterways which flow through this section. When the Young Wallace arrived here the search for the lost was first attempted. The wreck of the schooner Gino was discovered on Thursday morning. The Gino was commanded by Semozon Lovetich. He and his crew abandoned the vessel after she was wrecked, and were brought to the city on a lugger. The boat lay some thirty feet from the water's edge, upside down; her masts gone, and only the pitiful stumps remaining. A little effort succeeded in forcing her through the oozy ground, and she was set afloat on the bayou. Captain Lovetich subsequently went after her and brought her in. Not far away from the Gino was found the Josepha, a lugger which had lost her masts. The Young Wallace stopped long enough to get her righted and on her keel in the water. Her crew of two men were still there, and sailed the boat into Bay St. Louis, where she was refitted, and is now cruising over the oyster beds near the Chandeleurs. Leaving this point, the Young Wallace proceeded to Drum bay, where a number of the fishing fleet had taken refuge against the storm, and where several had met with disaster. The luggewr Independent was encountered, up-side down, her mast driven through her planking. She was a total wreck. It was learned that her captain, John Evocich, and three of the crew, Mike Buckintosh, Antonio Dulcich had a wife and five children dependent on him. The family resides at 178 Prieur street and are reported to be in straightened circumstances. The rigging of the boat had been twisted about the hull in the most inextricable confusion. The anchor was found imbedded in the sand, and was among the trophies brought back on the Young Wallace's return to the city. While investigating the wreck two bodies were discovered lying in the grass near-by. They were in a very advanced stage of decomposition and it was impossible to recognize them. They had nothing on their persons to afford a clew. These two unfortunates were interred in one grave and left to endless reposoe on that lonely and desolate spot. Drum bay is near the Rigolets Quarantine Station, and within a few miles of where the lighthouse was located twenty years ago. Issuing thense, the Young Wallace passed through the Rigolets and Grand pass. Beyond the latter point the wrecked schooner Jambon was encountered. She was bottom up, and it was impossible to ascertain anything definate about her.An unearthly stench surrounded the craft. It is Captain Andro Frankilicich, who commanded her, is known to have perished, with two sailors, Frank Sucolich and Louis Frelich. It is probable that their bodies are still on the fated boat. Here, too, the Young Wallace has hailed by the lugger Annunciata. Her captain said that he had found in the marsh, near Jacques William bay,four bodies which were badly disfigured and unrecognizable, and which he had buried. Six others were seen in the same spot, but the intense odor which exhaled from the decayed carcasses was too much even for these hardened fishermen, and they could not approach them. The sloop Higo di Lario lay on the marsh at Julius bayou when the Young Wallace entered that stream. She was little more than a mass of splinters. Her crew consisted of Captain Frank Todier and one sailor, the latter of whom was brought home by the Ida and Julia. Captain Todier was drowned. No trace of his body was found, but a hat, supposed to have been his property, was found nearby. Within less than 600 years, the lugger Innocente was found, equally as badly smashed. Her captain , Mario Andrich, was lost, but the other member of the crew was rescued by the Ida and Julia, and is now in the city. At Jacques William bay, the Young Wallace met Captain Matteo Trinicicich. He had hastened to New Orleans after escaping from the wreck. Some friends volunteered to help him put his boat afloat and with them he returned to the bay. He had commenced to dig a trench to the water, and at last accounts was perseveringly plying a shovel, with good prospects of success. In Little Johson bayou, which was the last place visited by the Young Wallace with any result. The Daniello, a lugger, whose crew deserted her and are now in the city, was found some 90 fathoms away from the beach. The bayou is near lake Catherine and the other side of English Lookout, and was one of the ? least visited by the oyster fleet. The Young Wallace had an uneventful voyage thence homeward. Captain Marsarich was well satisfied with his trip. The vessels located are all from the city, and had their moorings at the charcoal landing in the Old basin. They were of varying value, the luggers averaging about $600 and the schooners as high as $1400; none insured. The loss of those enumerated above amounts to a practicle paralysis of the oyster trade. The city was dependent upon those vessels for its supply of the succulent bivalve, and naturally that supply will be much diminished by their destruction. It is thought that several of the boats reported high and dry on the marsh might be easily placed in the water if funds were available to hire men and machinery for the work. It would require $100 each to accomplish this, nothing less. The following vessels wer lost, in addition to the above, and, like them, the property of Austrians: Schooner Harrita, Captain Marco Nicovich and Sailor Charles Grandron drowned and the vessell a total loss. The captain leaves a widow and five children in Mississippi City. Lugger Angelina, Captain Cheveri Tudrschich, is ashore in Dead Man's bayou. The captain was saved, but three men were lost, named Angelo Vascino, Antonio Barraco and Angelo Laborichelo. Lugger Raffele Romano was forty miles out of Pensacola, with three survivors out of a crew of five. Captain Felix Spano, Albert Mancuso and Tanuts Acoa were lost. Lucien Samoligia and Salvador Acomonita were picked up by a steamer and brought to Mobile after spending four days without food or water on the keel of the overtured vessel. The schooner Elmer has not been found, and it is thought that all on board were lost, including Captain Tony Tudesco and three sailors. Schooner San Bartolo is reported lost, only one man being saved out of the four on board. Schooner Birdi was also lost, her captain, Antonio Barraco, and his brother, Fidele, being rescued after three others had perished. Lugger St. George is ashore somewhere in the marshes along the lower coast, all her crew being known to have escaped with their lives.