OCR Text |
Show FATALITIES of most fearful nature, have become so common as to excite but little comment as a rule; but there are some so awful in their nature as to startle even the most self-possessed of newspaper readers. It is said that a carefully prepared report from Gloucester, Mass., gives a fearful record of men lost in the fisheries from that port, and of the number of vessels wrecked during the past year. The statement, so far as the loss of life is concerned, is entirely unprecedented in the history of the business. Scarcely a week during the year that has not witnessed some destruction. Thirteen vessels went down and 148 men were drowned, 60 women were widowed and 153 children made fatherless by the February gales. So overwhelming a calamity could not fail to excite generous sympathy, and $28,218 were contributed to feed, clothe and shelter the survivors of the lost mariners. The February gale, however, furnishes but part of the direful history of the Gloucester fisheries of ‘79. In all, thirty vessels, composing over one-tenth part of the fishing tonnage of the port, valued at $118,780, sailed to return no more, and 249 lives were lost, leaving 83 widows and 219 fatherless children. |