The Drowning of the Beachcombers
A capsized skiff found at Jacobson’s Point reveals the grim fate of two men who vanished during a severe storm on the Sound.
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.
Two more lives are now known to have been lost on the Sound during the severe storm of January 15. On that day, two beachcombers left Eagle Harbor for Seattle in a skiff, carrying sacks of clams and some logs in tow. As they were old sailors, no fear for their safety was entertained. They lived together in a cabin on the beach at the mouth of Eagle harbor; when they failed to return, a search of their cabin found their blankets and other belongings left behind. A few days ago, their empty skiff, upside-down and water-logged, was found at Jacobson's Point, clearly showing that they had been overtaken by the storm, swamped, and drowned far from reach of shore or assistance. Their names have not yet been learned.
“Their empty skiff, upside-down and water-logged, was found at Jacobson's Point, clearly showing that they had been overtaken by the storm.”
This story highlights the perennial danger of Puget Sound's waters, which claimed many lives in the era before modern weather forecasting and marine safety standards. The anonymity of the two men—known only as 'beachcombers'—illustrates how many transient workers of the 1890s lived and died on the fringes of Seattle's booming economy.
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