Tragedy on the Sound: Government Boat Capsizes
A government surf boat capsized in a squall near Fort Madison, leading to a grim search for the lost soldiers.
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.
J.L. Swan, of this county, who has just returned from the scene of Indian difficulties at Hale’s Passage, Whitbey’s Island, informs us of the loss of a government surf boat near Fort Madison, on the Sound, containing Major Larned, a corporal and nine privates of the 4th infantry. It seems that the vessel was under the direction of Mr. John Hatfield, of Steilacoom, and was capsized in a squall near the place above referred to, in consequence of which all perished, including Major Larned, except two of the command who fastened themselves to the boat after it turned over, and drifted into a cove ten miles north of Seattle, on the west side of Admiralty Inlet. The disaster occurred on Monday last, 27th ult., and Lieutenant Doxey, with a detachment, left Fort Steilacoom on Thursday in search of the bodies. Major Larned and several others of those connected with the command leave families behind them. The boat was on its way to Steilacoom at the time of the disaster.
“The vessel was under the direction of Mr. John Hatfield... and was capsized in a squall near the place above referred to, in consequence of which all perished.”
Marine travel on the Sound was the primary highway of the mid-19th century, yet it was fraught with the same dangers of weather and industrial accident as any high-traffic modern thoroughfare. This story serves as a reminder of the human cost that underwrote the early military occupation of the territory.
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