The Captain's Last Farewell: Five Drowned in the Grays Harbor Surf
Lieut. Crosby and four crewmen were lost when their survey whaleboat capsized off Westport; only one body has been recovered.
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.
TACOMA, Aug. 24.—(Special.)—B. B. Keaser returned today from Westport, where he secured from a survivor of the capsized whaleboat crew an account of the drowning of Lieut. Crosby and four of his crew.
The survivor stated that it was threatening weather when the whaleboat was sent out; that Lieut. Crosby was convinced that while there seemed at no particular time good reason for continuing the work of surveying the harbor, still, when the men were ordered out, they had to obey. He said Lieut. Crosby went with them. The force of wind that overturned the boat was so quick that none of the ten men had time to attach a life preserver. Crosby clung to the boat, but some of the men secured oars and five life preservers. With these they sustained themselves when not carried down by the waves. Each used his free hand to help bring his body to the surface in order to catch a little breath before being borne down again. There was no panic; not a member of the party was frightened in the least. One of the sailors, when exhausted, merely called to his comrades: 'Good-bye, boys,' and sank. Three-quarters of an hour was occupied in reaching the shore, the boat being about half a mile from the shore when it was capsized.
Mrs. Crosby, wife of the captain, was stopping at Ocosta, and was much distressed by the accident. She had come to fear a fatal accident, as her husband said when he left her: 'Good-bye, I may never see you again.' He had explained to her that the dangers of his calling caused him to make such a remark. Only one body has been recovered.
“One of the sailors, when exhausted, merely called to his comrades: 'Good-bye, boys,' and sank.”
Grays Harbor's surf remains dangerous for small craft, and the story of a commander who obeyed orders into rough water mirrors modern conversations about whether workers should have the right to refuse unsafe assignments.
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