Poyner’s Hill Keeper, Captain John Thomas Wescott, and his crew of surfmen.
From Lago Mar on the Back Bay‘s original post on Oct. 24, 2020
On October 24, 1889, more from the violent nor’easter that began on the 23rd…
A fifth vessel that met with disaster on our coast in the heavy nor’easter gale that began about sunset on the 23rd was the British three-masted schooner Busiris of St. John, New Brunswick. This vessel, manned by a crew of seven men, including the captain, had sailed from St. Mary’s, Georgia, several days previously with a full cargo of lumber for her home port.
All went well until the evening of the above-mentioned day, when the weather became boisterous, with a terribly heavy head sea, causing the schooner to labor badly. At 11 o’clock at night, some twenty-five miles east-northeast of the Currituck Beach Lighthouse, the mainmast, and mizzenmast went by the board, rendering her entirely unmanageable. She fell off into the trough of the sea and drifted before the storm, completely at the mercy of the wind and waves.
The Busiris soon became waterlogged, but the buoyancy of her cargo prevented her from sinking. At 1 o’clock in the afternoon of the following day (24th), the wreck was sighted by the lookout at the Poyner’s Hill Station (Sixth District) toward which it was being driven. Station Keeper, Capt. John Thomas Wescott, Jr. led his crew into immediate action, for it was seen that the dismasted craft must come ashore nearby and that it would require sharp work to save her crew.
The apparatus cart was run out of the boat room, hauled to the beach, and, as far as possible, the gear made ready for action. An hour after being discovered, the wreck grounded some two hundred yards above the station and about the same distance offshore. The Lyle gun was soon fired, placing the shot line across the jib stay, but so far aloft that the crew could not secure it from deck, and the frightful rolling of the vessel prevented them from climbing for it.
Seeing the difficulty and not wishing to lose any time, the life savers hauled the projectile ashore and fired again. This shot landed the line within the reach of the anxious sailors, who eagerly seized it and hauled aboard the whip that the station men had bent to it. The hawser soon followed, and in a very few minutes, the gear was set up.
A tremendous surf broke on the beach, and the vessel was lying so uneasily that it was impossible to keep the hawser taut. At the suggestion of the district superintendent, who had hurried to the scene at the first alarm, cork jackets were sent off to the vessel with the breeches buoy. This proved to be a wise precaution, every man having to be drawn ashore through the surf.
Many residents in the vicinity gathered on the beach and rendered much-needed assistance to the life savers. Men were stationed constantly at the crotch to keep it upright and at the tackle, but so heavy and sudden were the vessel’s motions that the strain could not be kept on the hawser, and its bight was often in the water.
The work of landing, though expeditiously performed considering the circumstances, was attended with much labor and trouble owing to the slack line, and it would have been difficult for the station men to have accomplished it unaided. But for the cork jacket, which enabled the sailors to keep their heads above water when the buoy dipped into the surf, the rescued men would have fared badly.
One hour was consumed in effecting the transfer. The schooner’s captain was entertained by the district superintendent until after the sale of the wreck. Others of the shipwrecked crew went to the station, where they were furnished with a complete outfit of clothing (part of which was from the supply donated by the Women’s National Relief Association) until their own wet garments could be dried.
Twenty-four hours later, they departed for their homes. The Busiris and her cargo were sold at auction November 5th for a nominal sum. The following letter received by the assistant inspector of life saving stations (Sixth District) some days after the wreck plainly indicates the value placed upon the services of the life-saving men on that occasion by the captain of the schooner:
POYNER’S HILL STATION, November 1, 1889
“SIR: I beg leave to acknowledge the gallant service rendered myself and crew of the wrecked schooner Busiris, which drifted ashore dismasted and waterlogged during the terrible gale October 24th last, by the crew of the Poyner Hill Station. Their assistance was prompt and effective, and I desire to compliment them and the United States Life Saving Service in general for the efficiency displayed on that occasion. Without their assistance, all of us would have perished. I wish to extend my kindest thanks to all. Yours, ever truly, E.L. Morris, Master of the schooner Busiris.”
Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Life-Saving Service for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1890
Photograph of Poyner’s Hill Life Saving Station is the property of Norman & Sandi Roberts and kindly submitted by Ben Bateman. No part of this document may be used for any commercial purposes.
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