Aunt Mary and the loss of the schooner New Connecticut


Captain Appleby’s aunt, Mrs. Mary Whiteside, had plans to sail on her nephew’s ship the New Connecticut but because of a change in scheduling, he was not aboard when the ship departed. En route to Black Hawk, Pennsylvania, a terrible squall caused the ship to capsize. Although the interior was flooded it did not sink and the crew escaped in a life boat. Aunt Mary was assumed drowned in her cabin below decks.
Three days later the steamship Peacock, at the request of Captain Appleby, found the floating wreck and searched for Aunt Wilma’s body probing each cabin with a long pole. Finding nothing, they supposed she had floated away.
Five days after the tragedy, Captain Appleby arrived at the wreck in a vessel that could right the New Connecticut and tow it to a port. As the ship rolled upright, Aunt Mary ascended the stairs and stepped out on the deck. The sailors screamed, and Captain Appleby wept. For five days and nights she had kept her head above water in a pocket of air, surviving on four soggy biscuits and an onion found floating in the wreckage.
She stated that when the New Connecticut rolled over, her cabin was only half filled with water and although she could hear the crew leaving, was afraid to open the cabin door and increase the flooding. When the Peacock arrived three days later, she heard the sailors walking on the hull and called out repeatedly, but could not make them hear. She even saw the pole thrust into the cabin and shouted out asking if she should hold onto it, but no answer came.
Mrs. Mary Whiteside lived to tell her harrowing story for many years afterwards. There has never been a more remarkable story than her adventure on and in Lake Erie.

3 thoughts on “Aunt Mary and the loss of the schooner New Connecticut

Comments are closed.