A Storm at Sea: The Powhattan Disaster

167 years ago today on april 16 1854 it was easter sunday and a powerful nor'easter that unique kind of storm that comes when a cold canadian air mass meets the warm gulf stream was pounding the east coast of canada and the united states the storm would cause the sinking of a ship the powerton in a story that would rival the the most dramatic tragedies of human literature the victims of the powhatan disaster deserve to be remembered well nor'easters aren't uncommon this one was particularly violent the new york daily herald wrote from halifax in nova scotia to petersburg in virginia from coney island to buffalo we have the same story of a furious gale of rain hail and snow beyond all precedent for the season the storm was startling striking so late in the season the brooklyn evening star lamented at this rate we might expect the peach trees to blossom about the 4th of july and our first native strawberries about the 1st of august the historical record shows that the storm starting on the 14th was a major coastal storm which dumped rain sleet and snow across the east 24 inches of snow fell in parts of northwestern new jersey if the storm was terrible on land the new york herald wrote of the condition of new york city yesterday we do not have the heart to speak it was truly terrible at sea it became known as the pax storm pacquiao and in 2014 the washington post noted that the origin of that name is unknown but it might be related to a ship that was lost in the storm of which there were many the risk of such a storm was not lost on edward jennings of long beach new jersey jennings was a wreck master the position had to do with cargo from wrecked vessels the website 12 february 1997 a virtual museum dedicated to the memory of the deaths of three coast guardsmen in a 1997 rescue attempt explains that local wrecking crews wanted to earn a living off salvaged goods insurance companies wanted to limit their liability the government wanted tax revenues and some devious vessel masters wanted to commit fraud states soon found it necessary to designate wreck masters in each community to oversee the disposition of shipwrecked vessels and cargo jennings who operated a hotel on long beach island was familiar with the risks of such a storm on saturday the wind blew with great violence from the northeast the scene ran very high all day and i suppose there would be many wrecks along the coast from barnegat to egg harbor jennings prediction was correct and he would be a unique witness to one of those wrecks a shipwreck is always a tale of woe but the shipwreck that jennings was about to witness was a particularly tragic tale not the least because he was there to tell it to give voice to those so many who had no voice because no one survived to tell the tale the powhatan was a packet boat a term for a medium-sized vessel designed for passenger freight and male transportation the ship had been built in baltimore in 1836 and made trips across the atlantic from england france in the netherlands to new york in baltimore it was a square rigged three mass sailing vessel of about 600 tons berthen the ship departed the port of lavra france about the first march carrying more than 200 german immigrants bound for new york city and under the command of captain james meyers of baltimore little could they have known that they would be sailing directly into what weather historian david loveland would later call one of the great coastal storms of all times the pound encountered the storm on the 15th and it was too much for the ship the danville vermont north star explained she was an old ship it could not be easily managed in such a storm as that in which she was lost she'd been running before the gale before bare poles for hours on saturday and toward evening that day was discovered about 10 miles below barnacult inlet the new york times reported after baffling about for hours under bare poles the captain found himself irretrievably entangled in the shoals according to the freehold new jersey democrat on sunday april 16th jennings observed a ship thumping on the bar about 100 yards from the shore the ship was being battered against the shoals but was only some 100 yards from shore there was hope that the ship could be helped in 1848 new jersey representative william augustus newell had advocated for an act to establish life-saving stations along the coast of new jersey and to new york the act would be called the newell act the act allocated ten thousand dollars for surf boat rockets carinates and other necessary apparatus for the better preservation of life and property from shipwreck on the coast of new jersey these were unmanned stations administered by the united states revenue marine and were run with volunteer crews much like a volunteer fire department one such station had been established in the town of harvey cedars just six miles away from where the poutine was stranded and that station had perhaps the best equipment of the time to help a ship in the palatine's position a joseph francis life car the national museum of american history explains the device patented by joseph francis in 1845 it was one of the most successful life-preserving devices developed at the time buoyant and pod shaped the metal life car was used to rescue shipwreck victims when the vessel was foundering near land while standing on the beach a person from a life-saving station used a cannon-like gun to shoot sturdy lines out to the ship which would then be tied to the ship's mast the life car was attached to and pulled along these lines up to four people were bolted into the airtight compartment they laid flat as they were hauled through the rough waters to the safety of the shore jennings reported i immediately sent those men with me to the government station house distant about six miles for the life car mortar and other wrecking apparatus jennings could see that the ship's deck was crowded with people when the surf ran out i could get within 75 yards of the vessel he wrote 75 yards doesn't seem like much but that day it was a terrible distance jennings wrote the surf ran mountains high indeed i never saw such a sea in my life the democrat explained that they were twisting the ship about in the sand as if she were merely a cork boat the times noted that it was observed by the anxious eyewitnesses on shore that directly she struck she hauled to the wind from which circumstances it was impossible for any of her passengers to leave without certain death being the result jennings was now alone watching the battered boat and his passengers on deck being washed over by waves jennings reported several persons now began to be swept overboard when captain myers hailed me through his speaking trumpet and asked me for god's sake to try and save some of those who might happen to wash ashore but there was no rescue to be had the north star reported that not a survivor could be found among them the violence of the waves the blows with which they'd received by being thrown against the ship and the force with which they were tossed upon the beach had killed all of them the democrat lamented all had breathed their last before they'd reached the beach jennings was able to call to myers that there were no survivors and myers asked if help was coming soon jennings hoped so counting on the men he had sent to the station but the north star reported that at the time the storm was raging fearfully captains jennings men started from the government house on sunday with a lifeguard mortar but some of them became exhausted and they were obliged to return nearly frozen to death the ship started to break up before jennings eyes at about five o'clock pm sunday the ship keeled over to the windward to the shore the sea then of course made a clean breach over and passengers began to be washed off in great numbers the sea running mountain is high and completely hiding the vessel from my view i could no longer hold any communication with the captain i never saw him afterwards denning could see bodies in the surf as the vessel slowly came apart losing its masts about dark the sea rose to a great height and one large wave fully 100 feet high struck the unfortunate vessel and at one moment the hull was scattered into fragments which tossed wildly through the surf millions have died in shipwrecks in history in fact the old daily courier of alt illinois noted on april 26 1854 that more than a thousand people had died in atlantic shipwrecks in just the first four months of 1854 but the poutine disaster carried a special weight occurring so close to land and a direct view of jennings he wrote the shrieks of the drowning creatures were melancholy indeed but i could render them no aid the democrat reported nothing remained to mark the spot where the ill-fated chip had went ashore except surging waves beating upon a fragment of the hulk which lay on the beach the men from the station made it there on monday but it was too late the democrat continued all had sunk captain officer crew and passengers of 250 persons not a soul was left to tell the tale the scene was frightful one man was found about 50 yards from the beach upon the sand hills and a child in his arms and from his condition it is supposed that he alone of all on board reached the shore alive and crawled out over each of the waves in order to save his own life and that of the infant in his arms fell down exhausted in the sand and was frozen to death during the night the child was firmly locked in his arms quite dead the sea has taken so many lives that it's sometimes difficult to remember that they were all individuals that each loss has meaning among the wreckage for example was the chest of the ship's first mate ambrose kingsland rogers in which were several letters pieces of poetry a daguerreotype likeness and a lock of a lady's hair a love to which he would never return the new york times said of the powhatan that its loss was more disastrous and melancholy than anything that has come under our notice for some time but at least there was someone there to hear their cries the same day that the palatine had left france the ss city of glasgow had left liverpool also bound for new york with 480 people on board it never arrived it's fate unknown the melancholy voices of the victims of the powhatan disaster seem to cry out in the name of so many lost at sea as a historian i can tell you that it's much easier to tell a story of joy than a story of woe it would be more fun to tell you that right as things seemed at their worst that rescue arrived that the ship made it to shore but that's not always how history works sometimes history is a man standing alone on a beach watching a disaster unfold and not being able to do anything about it and in times like that the role of the historian becomes crystal clear to keep those voices alive to remember them because they deserve to be remembered i hope you enjoyed this 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Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 137,392

Keywords: history, history guy, the history guy, new jersey, shipwreck, powhattan disaster

Id: KZdwsQYEv0A

Length: 11min 54sec (714 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 16 2021