Sixteen Lives Lost at the Rigolets Three Schooners Going down in the Storm
Submitted by Larie Tedesco
Daily Picayune 10-05-1893; pg 6; Issue 254 Col. A


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Imposing Considerable Suffering Upon the People There.

New Orleans Fishermen at Lake Catharine Rescued After Being Hemmed in
Since Saturday.

A watery grave!

Sixteen men meet a horrible death near the Rigolets.

Three captains and thirteen sailors go down in the storm and are lost
forever.

The little lumber city of Pearlington, full of woe and sorrow, and women
and children weep over the tragic ending of those dear to them.

The first news of any disaster at Pearlington to the shipping and the
sailors was received yesterday, when the reporter for the Picayune visited
the Rigolets and vicinity.

The dead are:

Captain Stephen Peters and five sailors on the schooner Angeline.

Captain Wm. Delavier, of the schooner Alice McGuigin, and five of his
sailors.

Captain _____(name unknown), of the schooner Addie Eads.

There are rumors of several other disasters and loss of life, and rumors
that more men are missing from the neighborhood of Pearlington.

It was impossible to get to Pearlington yesterday, and rumors had gained
currency in the neighborhood of the Rigolets that twenty-four men had been
swept ashore near that settlement. The reports of the disasters were at
first doubted, but as the day rolled by in the Rigolets confirmation made
belief of the mishaps permanent and dispelled all doubts of the loss of
the schooner.

The two-masted schooner Alice, McGuiggin, belonging to the Poitevent &
Favre Lumber Company, left Pearlington on Sunday last in command of
Captain Wm. Delavier, with a crew of five men. The last seen of them was
when they were sailing out of the grief-stricken city of Pearlington.
Little did they think of the terrible death that awaited them on the water
which, at the time of their clearance, was smooth and tranquil.

The storm struck the vessel when it was heading into the lake
Pontchartrain, and it was driven back down through the rigolets and out
into lake Borgne. It was found upside down in the lake by the Pearlington
mailboat and towed ashore. There was no sign of human life about the boat,
and a yawl was found tied to the stern of the vessel. It had never been
molested. The yawl was full of water. The schooner was mast downward when
found. Captain Delavier and his five men were drowned and none of the
bodies have been recovered from the waters. It is believed they were
washed out into the lake Borgne and will never be heard of nor seen, much
less rescued and brought to the stricken relatives. The schooner was
righted, towed to shore and tied up.

The schooner Angeline and all her crew met a similar fate, and neigher the
bodies of the men nor the vessel has been seen or heard from since Sunday
night. The vessel, in command of Stephen Peters and his crew of five men,
left Pearlington Sunday night, and was not long at sea when struck by the
destructive and death-dealing hurricane. The vessel went to the bottom,
and all the men went down with her. The schooner was a two-masted and the
property of the Poitevent & Favre Lumber Company.

The schooner Addie Eads has not been seen since Sunday, and it was
reported from Pearlington last night at the Rigolets that the vessel, with
the captain and all the crew, had gone to the bottom, and had met a fate
similar to that which ? the ill-fated schooners in command of Captains
Peters and Delavier. Not a vestige of the ship or anything whatever about
her were found or learned, except that it is certain that she is lost.

Dr. Salter, the officer in charge of the Quarantine station at the
Rigolets, was seen by a reporter yesterday near his post of duty. He had
been apprised of the disasters and gave additional details of the loss and
destruction of the crews and the vessels. He was positive early in the
afternoon, and when the information was first received, that it was true,
on account of tallying reports and the manner in which it was received by
him. He was seen later in the evening and had received information , he
said that confirmed the story of the drowning of the men and the
destruction and foundering of the vessels.

Rumor was current in the region of the Rigolets last night at 9 o’clock,
and just as the reporter for the Picayune was leaving on a special train,
that twenty-four negroes and white men had been drowned around
Pearlington.

Nothing could be ascertained as to the manner and cause of drowning and
death of so many men in a place where property has not suffered as
severely as in some other sections of the country.

The schooner R. O. Elliot was reported last night as lost in the
neighborhood of Brown’s island. None of the particulars could be learned
and no one know the names of the officers on the lost ship, as reported is
the neighborhood of the Chef.

The schooner Two Brothers was severely damaged in the storm, and her crew
had a frightful experience in their battle with the turbulent and furious
elements. Captain Worley states that the schooner started from the second
station, through the Blind Rigolets. The vessel was unmanageable during
the hurricane, and was lifted by the swift tide and the rising water
through the Catherine Lake. The ship went through the grass of the swamps
and in some places was blown where the weeds were high out of the water.
It went away around the canal is that neighborhood and came back to the
bridge near the Rigolets, making a trip never before made by a vessel. It
was damaged and badly beaten up but the men were glad to get out with
their lives.

The marine quarantine station near the Rigolets came in for a share of the
general loss, and was battered up severely by the hurricane. The loss
sustained at the station will aggregate fully $1000. The storm raged
Sunday night until 2 o’clock before any damage was done to the building,
fences, etc. The watchman reported all well at 2 in the morning, but
shortly after the velocity of the wind increased to such a degree that the
weak places about the station were obliged to give in and succumbed to the
fury of the terrific blasts. At 2:30 o’clock the boathouse and the wharf
were blown away, and disappeared altogether from the knowledge of the
officers. The tide carried the wharg away completely, and the fences were
blown down all around the station. A steam launch belonging to the
government was broken from her mooring and washed to the sea. The launch
together with all the small vessels and the yawls, with one exception,
were carried away in the tide of

water. They were surely foundered, as nothing has been heard from any of
them since the storm.

When at its height the water was within 3 feet of the officers’ quarters
and the waves beat with the fury against the walls of the lighthouse and
the small buildings surrounding it. For a time the whole station was in
danger of being destroyed and swept away. The water was at one time within
3 feet of the officers’ quarters. Dr. Salter has been unable to make any
reports as the wires have all been down and the mails cut off.

The whole population in the neighborhood of the Rigolets are suffering
from want of provisions and from being cut off from all communication with
the world. Something will have to be done for them soon. Every fisherman
has suffered some severe loss and, as the whole territory was overflowed,
the provisions and means of living have been destroyed to a great extent.

The special train which arrived at the Rigolets last night from the city
about 9 o’clock brought provisions for the army of men now working hard to
replace the tracks washed away by the tide. On the return of the engine
and the car attached three gentlemen were picked up near Lake Catherine
who had been fishing since last Saturday, and who had been hemmed in by
the tide, with scarcely anything to eat and no prospects of relief. The
party was composed of W. H. Mansell, C. A. Anderson and J. N. Hardy. They
had gone out on a jaunt to the lake to fish and were stopping in the
“Happy Family Club Building.” They intended to return to the city Monday
last and had only enough provisions to last the for that length of time.
The storm beat against the clubhouse. The water was 16 inches deep in the
clubhouse and they were obliged to spend the night in there thinking every
minute would complete the demolition of the building that protected them
from the fury of the

storm. Their provisions were exhausted and they had very little to eat
except fish. The say the wind caused the water to rise, and that it has
never been known to rise so high before in the state of Louisiana. It was
by 3 feet the highest tide of water ever known. The whole country was
completely submerged, and nothing during Monday was visible but water,
which spread out in an exhaustive sheet that spread as far as the eye
could reach. The gentlemen say they never before knew the wind to blow up

Such a tide of water except by the east winds, whereas this tide was
caused by winds from the northeast.



Vessels Sunk

Many Seamen Lose Their Lives in Mississippi Sound

Pearlington, Miss., Oct. 4 – (Special) - News of the many disasters along
the gulf coast from Sunday night’s storm is coming in slowly, but enough
is know, however, to assert that fully three-fourths of all the vessels on
the Mississippi sound, from Pearl River to Biloxi or Scranton, are either
wrecked or capsized. The worst feature seems to be the great loss of life
attending the disasters. Among the vessels known to be lost are the
schooners Alice McGuigin, Angeline, New Union and Eliza B. The three first
were owned by the Poitevent & Favre Lumber Company, of this place, and the
last by E. G. Goddard, of Logtown.

The schooner Victoria has just arrived, bringing the body of the captain
of the Alice McGuigin, which was found near the mouth of Pearl River.
Another body was found, which was supposed to be that of a young colored
man from New Orleans named Manuel Munro, who was making a pleasure trip on
one of the wrecked vessels. The four schooners above named had on board,
altogether, twenty-three men, and it is supposed that all are lost.

A large vessel, supposed to be the bark Sino, is ashore on the west end of
Ship Island and dismasted. The steamer Dial and the tug Pearl Smith, with
two schooners, left here last night for Ship Island to seek the missing
crews of the lost vessels.

The roadbed on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, from Pearl river to
Waveland, is completely washed away, and west of Lookout it is nearly as
bad. Telegraph poles along the railroad are down as far as the eye can
see.

Messrs. Geo. Lhote, H. Dudley Coleman, L. Roca, T. J. Blackman and several
others arrived here last night from Bay St. Louis and left this morning on
the steamer Pearlington for New Orleans. The schooners Alice McGuigin and
Angeline have been discovered bottom upwards, three or four miles from the
mouth of Pearl River. The names of those suppose to be lost are Anderson
Thompson, Tobias Young, Samuel Young, Dan Johnson, Albert Burton, Steve
Peters Cord Galloway, Eli Galloway, Henry Galloway, Ed Grant, Louis Banks,
Wm. Delavery, Guy Freightman, John Walker, Perry Harris, John Baker, Eli
Peters, Allen Peters, Philip Peters, Elijah Williams, Geo. Scott, and two
young men from New Orleans, all colored. One of the last mentioned is
supposed to be named Manuel Munro, and is a cigarmaker by trade.

The steamer Dial has just arrived from Ship Island, bringing the bodies of
two of the crew of the schooner Alice McGuizin and one of the schooner
Angeline. The drowned men are John Walker, John Baker and Ed Grant. The
captain also reports two other drowned men picked up by him, one white and
one colored. The brig Rosalia Smith capsized at Ship Island, along with
several others. The schooner New Union broke loose from her moorings
between 6 and 7 o’clock Monday morning and drifted out to sea. The bark
Annie E. B. has gone entirely to pieces and the British barkentine
Antillas has lost her bowsprit and mainmast by collision with another
vessel.

At Chef Menteur

Mr. Paul Lafaye, cashier in the city treasurer’s office, was at his post
of duty yesterday. Mr. Lafaye, in company with Mr. Mounsell, Mr. Anderson
and Ex-Treasurer Joseph N. Hardy, left New Orleans Saturday to spend
Sunday at Lake Catherine, intending to return Monday morning in time to-
resume the daily routine of business. How they were disappointed was
partly related in the Picayune yesterday, when it was published that Mr.
Lafaye and several other gentlemen, after having experienced a terrible
night during the storm, sailed from Chef Menteur on board of a schooner
Tuesday noon and reached Spanish Fort in the evening, and then, footsore
and weary, made their way to the city on foot.

Mr. Lafaye stated to the reporter of the Picayune, who found him at his
desk yesterday, that between Lake Catherine Jump and Chef Menteur, a
distance of about three mile, the Louisville and Nashville tracks are a
total wreck. The road bed was completely washed out and the cross ties and
rails were scattered in all directions.

Mr. Lafaye and his companions, Messrs. Hardy, Anderson and Mounsell, were
at Lake Catherine when the blow began. Their clubhouse withstood the
storm, but they were exceedingly apprehensive. Every moment they expected
to be swept away in the raging waters.

When day dawned there was a scene of desolation far and wide. The waters
of the lake had risen nearly a foot and covered the surrounding country as
far as the eye could reach. After 11 o’clock Monday forenoon the wind
shifted and decreased in violence, and the flood began to subside. All the
fishermen’s and hunters’ camps at Lake Catherine suffered little damage,
but lost a few pirogues and skiffs.

Tuesday morning Mr. Lafaye determined to walk to Chef Menteur. It was a
risky undertaking, and the other gentlemen declined to go. Mr. Hardy,
being in indifferent health, could not risk the dangerous journey, and
Messrs. Anderson and Mounsell agreed to remain with him. Mr. Lafaye
started on his perilous tramp. He crawled on his hands and knees for a
distance of 100 feet through mud and slush and sea-weed, over slippery
crossties, until he reached tolerably safe ground. When he arrived at Chef
Menteur he found eighteen or twenty people there who like himself, had
been storm-bound. There were no casualties at the Chef, but many narrow
escapes. The particulars of the storm at the Chef have already been
published.

Mr. Lafaye, with other New Orleans people, whose names were mentioned in
the Picayune yesterday, returned home on board of Mr. Cheneville’s
schooner.