The Tragic Final Voyage of the Schooner Frank W. Howe
A lumber-laden schooner breaks apart near Ilwaco after a week of suffering at sea, claiming two lives.
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.
The vessel lost and two of the crew dead is the story told of the three-masted schooner Frank W. Howe, Captain Keegan, bound from Ballard for San Pedro with lumber, which went ashore near Ilwaco yesterday. One of the lost was the Chinese cook, who was carried overboard by a breaker after bravely taking a trick at the wheel. The other was a seaman, who was killed by being struck by a flying block. The Howe left Port Townsend about eight days ago. The second day out her rudder became disabled, and from that time it was trouble and suffering. The vessel sprung a leak, became water-logged, and finally went ashore near Hay View station. Her people clung to the rigging until the life-saving crews from North Head light, Long Beach and Fort Stevens, after a terrific struggle, managed to reach them. Seven of the crew of nine were safely brought to shore. Captain Keegan was badly injured. The Howe was a vessel of 483 tons, owned by a syndicate of Puget Sound shipping men.
“One of the lost was the Chinese cook, who was carried overboard by a breaker after bravely taking a trick at the wheel.”
Maritime disasters were a common peril for the timber industry that built the Puget Sound economy. Today, the life-saving stations mentioned have evolved into the modern U.S. Coast Guard, though the treacherous currents near the mouth of the Columbia River remain as dangerous as they were in 1904.
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