Three Sailors Drown in Squall Near Dungeness Mill
A sudden winter gale capsizes a supply boat, claiming the lives of three men just off the coast of Dungeness.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A gale from the northeast yesterday afternoon increased to a gale at 10 o'clock last night. One mate and two seamen, who were loaded with lumber at the Port Dungeness sawmill destined for Honolulu, attempted to row ashore while the wind was blowing. A quarter of a mile off the sawmill wharf, a squall struck the boat and capsized it, drowning the mate and two seamen. The other passenger of the boat succeeded in swimming off to the windward, sustained alongside of the 'Tidal Wave'. He was rescued more dead than alive. At an early hour this morning, the bodies of all the men who were drowned were found on the beach below town. One of the bodies was severely bruised. The men were under the influence of liquor at the time. The coroner held an inquest this afternoon, which resulted substantially as stated.
“A squall struck the boat and capsized it, drowning the mate and two seamen. The other passenger of the boat succeeded in swimming off... He was rescued more dead than alive.”
This 1887 report captures the high-stakes, dangerous reality of 19th-century maritime work in the Pacific Northwest. Today, Dungeness remains a site of rugged beauty, but the isolation and extreme weather conditions that claimed these lives are reminders of why modern vessel safety regulations were so hard-won.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.