Osceola (Brig), aground, 19 Nov 1846

DESTRUCTIVE STORM ON THE LAKE
      Several Lives Lost
      Loss of the Steamer HELEN STRONG
      Loss of the Steamer INDIAN QUEEN
      Brigs ,OSCEOLA, JOHN HANCOCK
      EUROPE, SIZER and several Schooners
      A severe rain poured down all day on Thursday last, accompanied by a high wind. In the evening it commenced blowing a gale from the North West. It appears to have been severer west of us than here, and accounts from up the lake bring us melancholy intelligence of the loss of Iife and property. Being in disorder Saturday, on account of the removal of our office, we were unable to give the particulars until this morning, which will be found below, from various sources:
      The steamer HELEN STRONG went ashore about five miles above Barcelona -- two lives lost. One schooner (the SWAN) at Barcelona, high and dry; one about three miles below, name not known; a sloop above Barcelona, capsized -- probably all lost. The brig OSCEOLA about eight miles above Barcelona, ashore -- four hands lost; and the Schr.
CLEVELAND near the brig OSCEOLA.
The steamer HELEN STRONG will undoubtedly go to pieces, she is on a very rocky bound shore.
The steamer LEXINGTON, Capt. Randall, came in on Saturday afternoon from Erie, where she lay during the gale in safety.
The Steamers NIAGARA, MADISON, and NEW ORLEANS are safe at Erie. The new brig. JOHN ANCOCK, Capt. DeGroat went ashore just above the Erie Peninsula, on the rocks. One of her sides is stove in, and the hull otherwise damaged. It is feared she will be a total wreck.
The brig EUROPE, Capt.Rossman, is high and dry at Fairport. She will be got off without much damage.
The vessels ashore at Erie, on the Peninsula are the AINSWORTH, DAYTON, U.STATES, and CHARLES HOWARD. These vessels will probably be got off without much damage. The brig H.H. SIZER and schooner HURON are both total wrecks.
The little steamer COMMERCE, Capt.Traverse, came in about 3 o'clock Sunday afternoon, from Dunkirk, where she lay during the gale. The INDIAN QUEEN is ashore about a mile this side of Dunkirk, on the rocks, and is a perfect wreck.
Sixteen dead bodies have washed ashore at Barcelona on Saturday.
The schooner CONVOY had got as far up as Grand River, and was driven back. She arrived here without sustaining any damage.
The steamer ILLINOIS was out during the gale, but weathered it out with some slight damage , and arrived at Detroit in safety.
The GREAT WESTERN was aground in the Detroit River on Thursday, having run upon a bar on Wednesday night.
There were reports in town, this morning that two schooners were driven ashore between the city and Dunkirk on Sunday night last.
      EFFECTS OF THE GALE- ON Lake Ontario.
On Lake Ontario the gale was very severe. The schooner WESTERN, Capt. Bassett, is ashore on a sandbar at Irondequiot Bay; load of salt, bound for Cleveland. Schr. MISSOURI, Capt. Benson, is ashore at Braddock's Bay; load of 6,000 bushels of wheat. Schr. W.H. MERRITT, light, is also driven high and dry near Braddock's Bay. We learn
that A. Kelsey Esq, has gone to the assitance of the stranded vessels in one of his propellers, but at the time of writing we have no further particulars- - - Roch. Adv. 23rd.
      Daily Courier and Pilot (Buffalo)
      Tuesday November 24,1846

      . . . . .

      THE STORM
We copy the following additional particulars of the disasters of the storm from the Westfield Messenger, of Monday:-
Coroner Bliss, Deputy Walker and R.P. Johnson, Esq,. are actively engaged in rescuing the cargo of the HELEN STRONG from the lake and other depredations. The boat is now in three parts, and a considerable part of the cargo was washed out on Friday night, after the storm broke off. The engine will probably be saved.
Yesterday funeral obsequies were attended over four bodies which had been rescued from the lake, of sailors who had lost their lives in the gale of Thnrsday night. The bodies were of Capt.Tubbs, of the sloop LEVONA, and his son and of another boy, formally together, her the whole crew. They were from Conneaut. The other body was that of one of the hands of the OSCEOLA which was found about three miles above Barcelona. He is said to be from Maryland, but
we could not learn his name. He is the one who had the $60 tied in his pocket.
While these were starting from the church to the grave, the body of the cook of the OSCEOLA,(a colored man) was brought into the village, and we suppose will be buried today.
The schooner, which went ashore opposite Quincy, is the HORWICH of Cleveland, instead of the CLEVELAND, as stated before.
The crew of the OSCEOLA suffered intensely all night. They struck about ten o'clock, but could not get ashore, nor raise an alarm. Finding all hope of escaping from the wreck useless, the crew gathered around the mast that was standing (one having been lost) and awaited with painful anxiety their fate. The water was breaking over them and the wind was blowing freely, so that they soon became chilled. The cook at length could stand no longer and fell and died on the deck -- afterwards another gave out, and as he fell he piched into the hold. The surviving "hand" endeavored to get him out, but could not, and the man was drowned by the water in the hold. Two others perished during the night, and the Captain became chilled and fell, and was so stiff in the morning that he, was lifted up straight by his head, yet he was alive, and immediate measures were taken for his restoration. With what success we did not learn. The mate who became chilled and fell, but he was not so far gone as the Captain when relief arrived, and is out of danger now.
Out of the whole seven,only one had life enough to move, in the morning and he succeeded in reaching the mast head, and raising the neighbors so that the three were taken off and cared for. The brig is a total loss.
      On Friday we visited the wreck of the HELEN STRONG. She lay under a perpendicular cliff formed by a point of land, on the extreme end of which grew a tree and a few saplings, some of which hung over the surf. As the boat struck, a hand felt those twigs, and seizing them clambered up. But the ropes had all been washed off, and the passengers lay there, in dim darkness , the boat thumping the rocks and crashing the timbers, till the man could go to the dwellings, nearby, and procure assistance. But they all got off safe, and were taken care of by the neighbors, except a German
woman who was lost, and a man, who in the morning was supposed to be lost, but was afterwards found safe on board the wreck, and perhaps one or two more.
      When we were there, a good deal of baggage, and merchandise, and part of the furniture of the boat, had been gotten from the wreck, mostly damaged by water, and hands were at work getting out more. We should judge that most of the cargo might be rescued though it will be damaged. Two new pianoes were on board, but were smashed
to pieces.
      Daily Courier and Pilot (Buffalo)
      Wednesday November 25,1846



      DISASTERS ON LAKE ERIE. --The steamer HELEN STRONG is ashore four miles above Barcelona -- a perfect wreck, and two lives lost. The steamer MADISON is ashore eight miles still further up, high and dry, but not much damaged as far as known yet. The steamer INDIAN QUEEN, Captain Staring, went ashore on the night of the 19th, about 10 o'clock, just above the lower point in Dunkirk Harbor. She was fully laden with goods for that port -- several hundred Dollars worth of which were thrown overboard after she struck, to enable her to near the shore. She now lies hard upon a rock bottom, with a good deal of water in her, and the rest of the cargo must be more or less damaged.
      The Brig OSCEOLA was blown ashore about four miles above the HELEN STRONG, opposite Quincy, and four of her hands were lost. The captain and mate were just alive when the last accounts left; she struck about ten in the evening, and it was eight the following morning before assistance could be obtained. The vessel is probably a wreck. A few rods above her, the schooner CLEVELAND also was driven ashore, and now lies high and dry, no water touching her; no lives lost, and the vessel not much damaged. Both the CLEVELAND and the OSCEOLA were without cargoes. The HELEN STRONG had an unusual cargo of dry goods, &c. The following vessels are reported ashore between Buffalo and Erie; Schooners DAYTON - J.H. LYON - UNITED STATES - H.H. SIZER - HOWARD AND HURON. A later arrival informs us that the steamers, MADISON - NEW ORLEANS - NIAGARA are safe at Erie. The MADISON had a severe time of it, and lost one of her pipes.
      Other vessels are mentioned as having gone ashore and sustained more or less damage, we shall probably hear of further disasters, the storm being a most violent one. It appears that sixteen dead bodies were washed ashore at Barcelona on Saturday. -- Toronto Colonist.
      The Argus, Kingston
      November 27, 1846

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      Terrible Gale on Lake Erie - Sixteen Bodies Found
Lake Erie was visited by a tremendous gale on Thursday, the 19th inst., which occasioned the loss of several vessels and a number of lives. Accounts state that sixteen bodies were picked up along shore.
Several vessels were cast ashore in the vicinity of Barcelona - among them are the HELEN STRONG, SWAN, OSCEOLA, CLEVELAND, and a sloop, name unknown, capsized.
The brig JOHN HANCOCK is ashore above Erie - total wreck; also the AINSWORTH, UNITED STATES, CHARLES, and A. P. HAYWOOD - will be got off with trifling damage. The brig EUROPE is ashore at Fair Point - damage slight.
The brig H.H.SIZER, and schooner HURON, at Erie, and the steamer INDIAN QUEEN, at Dunkirk, are total wrecks. There are 14 sail and three steam vessels ashore between Buffalo and Detroit. The shore for miles is strewn with fragments of wrecks.
      Gale on Lake Ontario - Vessels Lost.
      The storm which raged on Lake Erie, on Thursday, appears to have visited Lake Ontario with no great abatement on Friday. The vessels, the AINSWORTH and Canadian schr. GRAMPUS, broke from their moorings in Oswego harbor, and were driven on the rocks at Fort Ontario - both total wrecks. The crews of the two vessels were taken off by the yawl of the revenue cutter, lying in the harbor.
A schooner in attempting to enter the harbor, was driven past, and is reported ashore in Mexico Bay. Several vessels which had left Oswego Thursday for the upper lakes, returned after vain attempts to weather the gale.
At 9 o'clock on Friday night the wind was still blowing a perfect hurricane - and it is reasonable to suppose that immense damage was done that we have not yet heard of.
Since writing the above we learn by a gentleman from Oswego, that another terrible storm, no less disastrous than the first, visited the lake on Thursday morning last. he states that a Canadian schooner was driven ashore at Oswego on that morning and also that the pier on the east side of the river was considerably started from its foundation during the day, and it
was feared would be swept away.
      Onondaga Gazette, Baldwinsville, N.Y.,
      November 30, 1846