Daily News (Kingston, ON), 29 Oct 1879

p.2 Toronto - Sailors on Lake Ontario demand $1.75 a day.

p.3 The Mail Line -

Marine News -

p.4

The Loss of the Rooney

The Rochester Union of Friday gives the following particulars of the loss of the schooner H. Rooney, off Charlotte, on Friday:

This morning shortly after daylight a schooner was seen about three miles east of the pier of the port of Charlotte, and heading for the shore. Some custom-house officers who saw the signal notified one of the tugs, which steamed out to her assistance. Before she could reach the distressed vessel, however, it was seen to keel over and sink. A yawl boat, containing some men, put off and reached the shore at the Sea Breeze. On landing it was ascertained that the schooner was the J.H. Rooney, J.A. Wright, captain and owner. She was loaded with 300 tons of limestone for the Charlotte Iron Works and 1,500,000 of lath for E.M. Upton. The crew were safely landed with the exception of the cook, a widow, Mrs. Charlotte Fiske, of Buffalo, who was in bed at the time. The captain called her, but it seems that she did not respond to the calls, and as no time was to be lost the men jumped into the boat and the woman went down with the schooner. The crew, when landed, were in a most dilapidated condition, some of them having no shoes or coats on. They were all soaked through and nearly frozen. The proprietors of the Sea Breeze did all they could for the shipwrecked mariners and made them as comfortable as possible.

There seems to be an attempt made to fix the blame of the loss of life on the life saving crew at Charlotte, but there appears to be no ground for the assertion, as the captain, instead of flying a signal of distress, merely hoisted a signal for a tug.

The value of the limestone is about $275 and of the lath $2250.