Tragedy in the Surf: Survey Lieutenant Drowns
A routine mission to erect a coastal signal turns fatal for a U.S. Coast Survey officer and four sailors at the mouth of Joe Creek.
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 news of the drowning of Lieutenant F. H. Crosby, of the U.S. Coast Survey steamer McArthur, last Saturday, was received in Aberdeen with sincere regret, as he had made many friends while here recently. It appears that with a crew of nine men he was endeavoring to make a landing with a small boat at the mouth of Joe Creek, about fifteen miles north of Damon's Point, to erect a signal. The boat was capsized in the surf, and he and four of the sailors were drowned, the others escaping to the shore. Lieutenant Crosby was appointed to the navy as a midshipman from New York, July 30, 1862. He leaves a wife and two children, who are now at Ocosta. The sailors were unmarried. The McArthur seems to be unfortunate. Just before its arrival here her physician died; a worker was lost about three weeks ago; and as the survivors of this accident were riding along the beach in search of the bodies of their lost comrades, the wagon ran off of a bridge, breaking the shoulder blade of one of them and killing a horse.
“The boat in some way was capsized in the surf, and he and four of the sailors were drowned.”
Coastal surveying was a treacherous, high-stakes endeavor in 1890s Washington, often overshadowed by the larger economic boom. Today, Joe Creek near Pacific Beach remains a remote and powerful stretch of coastline, still demanding respect from any who navigate the surf.
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