West Side (Schooner), U80115, aground, 20 Nov 1873

A dispatch to Capt. E.P. Dorr says the schr. WESTSIDE, cargo wheat from Milwaukee went ashore last night east of Oswego harbor. A tug and lighter are now assisting her.
      Buffalo Commercial Advertiser
      November 21, 1873 3-6



      SCHOONER WESTSIDE ASHORE
      The Crew Safe- The Vessel Will Probably be Got Off
      Last night, between seven and eight o'clock, as the schooner WESTSIDE was entering this port in tow of the tug MOREY, the tow line broke, and before the tug could get another line, the vessel drifted down the lake and on to
the beach under the fort. The news spread rapidly and in a short time the shore was lined with persons ready to render assistance to the crew. A fire was started on the shore, fed by kerosene, affording a light by which the
vessel could be seen. The wind, which had been blowing nearly all day from the northwest, had lashed the lake into something of a fury, and the waves were breaking over the schooner forward, rendering it anything but a
comfortable place for men.
      After some consultation it was thought best to take the crew from the vessel, for the sky looked threatening over the lake, so Harbor Master Fitzgeralds, with a crew launched the life boat FANNIE SEYMOUR and pulled down to the scene. The boat was manned as follows: Captains Charles Brown, G. N. Spencer, Alpheus Fitzgeralds and John Ryan, Ed. Blake and John Stafford, Harbor Master Fitzgeralds in command. Reaching the vessel in safety with the life boat the crew of the schooner, with their clothing embarked in the boat and were shortly after landed at the boat house in the East Cove.
      The owners of the WESTSIDE, Daniel Lyons and George Goble, engaged the powerful tug SUMNER, and an attempt was made to get to the schooner last night, but was finally abandoned till this morning, when a line was got to the schooner and at this writing the tug is at work. A lighter was got alongside of the schooner this morning and the work of lightering the grain commenced.
      The wind having changed to the southwest and moderated after the crew of the schooner landed, it was Thought best to return to the schooner, which they did in the life boat about midnight, and have remained on board since. It was found when the pumps were sounded that the vessel was leaking but little, and when the lighter got alongside the pumps were able to keep her clear. The wind being off the land to-day and weather mild, it is thought that the schooner will be got off this afternoon.
      The WESTSIDE is commanded by Captain W. Sweatland and is owned by Messrs. Daniel Lyons and George Goble, one half each. She is insured for $18,000; $4,500 in Detroit Fire and Marine; $4,500 in Orient Mutual of New York; and $9,000 in the Aetna . She is laden with 18,000 bushels of wheat from Chicago, consigned to Hageman & Murdock, on which there is insurance to the amount of $23,500 in the following companies: Pacific Mutual, $4,500, Orient $9,000; North Wisconsin, Milwaukee, $5,000; Mercantile Mutual $5,000.
      Oswego Daily Palladium
      Friday, November 21,1873



      Oswego, Nov. 21 - The schooner WEST SIDE, from Milwaukee, loaded with wheat went ashore under Fort Ontario last night. The crew were taken off in a lifeboat.
      The Toronto Mail
      Saturday, November 22, 1873

      . . . . .

      A dispatch to Messrs. Fish & Armstrong last evening, says the schr. WESTSIDE, ashore just outside of the pier at Oswego, had been got off and was at the elevator discharging cargo. Damage to vessel was light; cargo some wet.
      Buffalo Commercial Advertiser
      November 22, 1873 3-6



      Ashore and Afloat
      The schooner WESTSIDE, which went ashore near the fort, was released yesterday afternoon about four o'clock - after lightering four thousand bushels of grain by the tug SUMNER, and towed into port by the tug MELVIN. The schooner has been discharged of her cargo, and it is found that there are between six and seven thousand bushels of wheat wet and in a damaged condition. It is impossible to determine at present the damage to the
schooner, as it will be necessary to put her in the dry dock to afford a thorough examination.
      The work of rescuing the schooner was the best and the most timely of any wrecking job we had heard of in some time. The bottom of which the WESTSIDE was, is known as the worst in the neighborhood of the city, abounding in large boulders, and that the schooner should be got off without serious damage reflects credit upon those having the matter in charge.
      Oswego Daily Palladium
      Saturday, November 22, 1873




      The WESTSIDE Accident
      The statement of Captain Sweatland, of the schooner WESTSIDE, published in the Times of Saturday, reflects so severely upon Captain Hart, of the tug Morey, that in justice to himself he desires that his statement be heard
before public opinion is formed. Captain Hart says that when he first sighted the lights of the schooner Westside, his tug was lying at Bond's dock in the west cove, and the schooner was to the eastward of the pier lights and near the shore. He ran out with his tug head on to the schooner and got a line from the vessel¹s bow, which was made fast to the tug's bow, and commence backing, with the stern of the tug to the westward, to rescue the vessel from the beach toward which she was drifting. He found that it was impossible to save the vessel as she was striking on the bottom when the ligne was taughtened, and to save his tug from drifting onto beach was
compelled to leave her.
      Oswego Daily Palladium
      Tuesday, November 25, 1873



Schooner WEST SIDE. U. S. No. 80115. Of 324.26 tons gross; 308.05 tons net. Built Oswego, N.Y., 1970. Home port, Oswego, N.Y. 138.0 x 26.0 x 11.0
      Merchant Vessel List, U. S., 1885