Four Drown Near Coupeville
A boat capsized in high winds while traveling from Port Madison toward Victoria, claiming the lives of four passengers.
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 accidental drowning of four unknown persons, three men and a woman, near Coupeville last Thursday afternoon is reported in a letter from that place, but no particulars are given. The letter was written to the postmaster at Port Madison by F. P. Race, who states that the accident was witnessed by his two brothers. The Races live six miles below Coupeville, toward Holmes' harbor. They say that a boat containing three men and a woman, who said they had left Port Madison six days before for Victoria via Deception Pass, was capsized and all four were drowned. The party had stopped to procure provisions, and after they left the wind came up very suddenly, capsizing the boat. All four of them clung to the bottom of the boat, but were able to remain there but a few minutes when they were washed off, as the tide was running high. The drowned party were Grangers and thought to be foreigners.
“The wind came up very suddenly, capsizing the boat. All four of them clung to the bottom of the boat, but were able to remain there but a few minutes.”
Small boat accidents in the complex waters around Whidbey Island remain a perennial danger. This tragedy highlights the vulnerability of early travelers moving between the growing settlements of the Puget Sound via small craft.
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