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WEEKLY. ] AND Eastern Office, Vol. XXVIII '923 Maritime Bidg., New York City, Chicago Office, 373 Dearborn St. SALVING THE HUTCHINSON. Probably the most Remarkable Rescue of a Vessel in the History of the Great Lakes --Cool, Daring and Original Work--The Trip down the Lakes in the Dead of Winter. (Staff Correspondence.) Buffalo, N. Y., Dec. 24.--The conclusion of what is undoubt- edly the most extraordinary trip ever made by a steamer on the great lakes was cele- brated by a chorus of shrill whistles and hoarse blasts in this harbor. on' Stinday morning. Every ves- sel that had steam up added to the general din, and the air was, indeed, freighted with a clamor that awak- ened the whole town. Those were happy, howling minutes in which the Hutchin- son forged her way slowly up the river to a grain elevator. Notwithstanding the fact that the day was a beastly one, a raw, penetrating, sleety rain falling and freez- ing. 45 it. tell the docks were lined with thousands, and when the steamer came to her moorings they clambered over the rail in swarms. The pump in No, 7 hatch was pouring out a mixture of water and flax seed, and that was the only visible evidence of anything unusual about the steamer. Beyond that : La there was nothing about her to indicate that a trip requiring great fortitude, courage.and knowledge had been successfully fin- ished. There was no ice visible on her deck or sides, nothing at all spectacular, nothing but the brown deck and the black hull and the pump in No. 7 working. Liberal applications of hot water, first in the Detroit river and afterward while she lay outside of the Buffalo breakwater waiting for daylight, had removed the, ice that covered her during the long trip down Lake Superior, the Sault river and Lake Huron. - ' _ It is probably true that no trip of a lake vessel has excited as much interest and comment as this one just completed by the John T. Hutchinson. Every town along the great lakes was deeply interested in her, Cleveland and' Buffalo especially so, and she was a common topic of conversation even among people who have no interest in lake shipping. Had she foundered in Lake Erie no one would have been at all surprised. On the contrary, every one would have said they expected it--so completely are the people at the mercy of the newspapers. A moments reflection ought to - convince anyone that the underwriters, their wreckers and the captain of the ship knew precisely what they were about and that they were really depending upon their judgment and not upon chance. They knew their, ship thoroughly, they knew its struc- tural strength, and while it is true that they did not know, and for that matter do not yet know, the extent of the injuries to her bottom, they knew precisely the measure of their effect upon h : : . 2 The tates of the trip from the time the Hutchinson left Duluth on Sunday afternoon, Nov. 29, until she fetched up at Buffalo Sunday morning, Dec. 20, 1s one of absorbing interest. A north northeast wind, accompanied by flurries of snow, was blowing fresh all of Sunday afternoon and night after the vessel left Duluth. She was logging about 12 miles an hour when at "10:30 o'clock at night she was brought up standing on a -- about 5 miles west of Eagle River reef. It was at first thoug : that 'she had hit the reef, but it was later found that the roc Was an uncharted one. Curiously enough the survey ee that had the Hutchinson passed '50 ft. on either side of the oe she would have escaped it altogether. As it was she ran =~ t upon it, stoving in her whole bottom with the exception of No. 3 Capt. John H. Smith, Master of the Hutchinson. CLEVELAND, O., DEC. 24, 1903. Published every Thursday at 39-41 Wade Bldg. a by the Marine Review Pap. Co. , [Entered at Cleveland Post Office as second-class matter.] MARINE REVIEW -- MARINE RECORD... (ESTABLISHED, 1878. / Subscription $3.00 year. Foreign $4.50 year. Single Copy Io cents. No. 26 tank on the port side. Even the forepeak, which is forward of her collision bulkhead, was stove in. Soundings taken imme- diately showed 16 ft. of water amidships, with 36 ft. at bow and stern. She had a list of 4 ft. to starboard. Torches were thrown into the air and signals of distress sounded, but no one answered them. The crew worked all night lightering the vessel in an endeavor to correct the list. Meanwhile two boats were lowered to leeward as a precaution. In the morning Capt. Smith, accom- panied by the second mate and one man, rowed to Eagle River and telegraphed for the life-saving crew. 'The life-savers ar- rived about 3 o'clock Monday afternoon and remained aboard all day. In the meantime arrangements were, of course, being made by representatives of the insurance companies, to whom the vessel had been abandoned, for a wrecking expedition. On Tuesday morning it was blowing quite fresh, and Capt. McCor- mick of the life-saving crew concluded that it would be better to leave the vessel. Accordingly, about 2:30 o'clock, the steam- er's crew embarked in the life boats and rowed to the shore. -- Before they reached the shore the waves were rolling heavily, and as there is no harbor they had to land through the surf. As it was then 2° below zero it was extremely unpleasant wading. This was followed by an experience almost as bitter, however, as they had to take sleighs for a seven-mile drive across to Wol- verine in order to get the street cars for Houghton, where they were to meet the wrecking tugs Favorite and Merrick, en route from Cheboygan and the Sault. The crew boarded the Favorite at Houghton and reached the Hutchinson on Wednesday morn- ing. Work of salving the ship was then begun under the direction of 'Capt. Davis, wrecking master, who represented the underwriters, and Capt. Sinclair of the Great Lakes Towing Co. The question whether the owners would rather have the steamer or the $210,000 insurance which would be due them in event of total loss need not be answered. It was prudent on their part, in view of the The Hutchinson on the Pinnacle Rock, off Eagle River, Lake Superior. information which they had regarding her condition, to abandon her. As she stood upon the rocks she represented a hazard of $400,000, being $210,000 for the vessel and about $190,000 for the cargo of flax seed. Considering her position upon the rocks, the fact that she stood in great peril from gales, that the channels were fast being blocked with ice and that the lights were being removed by the government, it was the part of wisdom to aban- don her. The underwriters, therefore, were confronted by a prob- lem about as grim as any which has-ever confronted them on the . great lakes. They stood in imminent danger of meeting the heav- iest single loss in all their lake experience, and an especially grievous one to bear considering their general misfortunes. throughout the year. It was almost dollars to doughnuts in ma- rine circles that the Hutchinson would be a total loss. Therefore, ' the wreckers set to work with their minds very much alert and with a view to adopting extreme measures if necessary. A pump was started forward with a view to raising the vessel at the head, but it was found that flax seed will not pump. In this it differs from corn, barley and the common run of grains. It clogged at the base of the pump. Pumps were then placed in the second after hatch and in No. 1 hatch, and while one pump was busy pumping flax seed out another was busy putnping water in. The mixture flowed freely. Meanwhile the crew bagged some of the flax and put it aboard the tug Rogers. The anchors were also thrown overboard to assist in easing the vessel. The weather