The Portland Gale killed more than 400 people and wrecked more ships than any other storm in the history of New England. It is estimated that over 150 vessels were lost both in harbors and at sea. Many were never heard from after saling. Miles of coastline from Buzzards Bay to Cape Ann were strewn with wreckage.
The physical appearance of the shoreline was altered by the wind and waves. It also changed the course of the North River, separating the Humarock portion of Scituate, MA from the rest of Scituate.
Coastal railroads were damaged in Scituate and Hull. Telegraph and electric lines were severed, interrupting all communications and making it difficult to get news of the Portland to Boston. It was decided to send a wire to France over the trans-Atlantic French cable from the station in Orleans. From there the news was wired back to New York over another cable and then telegraphed to Boston.
Vessels Lost or Damaged in the Portland Gale
NAME OF VESSEL (TYPE), LIFE-SAVING STATION / HOMEPORT / CAPTAIN/CREW / NATURE OF CASUALTY
- A.B. Nickerson (whaling schooner), Cape Cod
- A.B. Nickerson (steamer), Cape Cod
- Abby K. Bentley (schooner), Vineyard Sound / Providence, RI
- Abel E. Babcock (schooner), Boston Bay / Capt. Abel E. Babcock/8 ~ Sometime during the evening of November 26-27 she came to anchor in an exceedingly dangerous place, made unavoidable to circumstances, and dragged onto Toddy Rocks nearly 1 mile from shore, NW of Hull, MA. She was pounded to fragments and all on board perished.
- Addie E. Snow, Cape Cod
- Addie Sawyer (schooner), Vineyard Sound / Calaise, ME
- Adelaide T. Hither (sloop), Plain, NY ~ Blown well up on the beach in Fort Pond Bay. Master requested assistance from keeper to float her, and station crew went over and locked her up ready for launching.
- Africa, Portland, ME
- Agnes, Cape Cod
- Agnes May, Cape Ann
- Agnes Smith, Pt. Judith, RI
- Albert H. Harding (schooner), Boston Bay / Boston, MA
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| Albert Butler |
- Albert L. Butler (schooner), Peaked Hill Bars, MA / Boston, MA / Frank A. Leland/7 ~ Two crewmen and one passenger were lost on November 27 when she wrecked high onto a beach near the Peaked Hill Bars Station.
- Alida (schooner), White Head, ME ~ While lying in Islesboro, gale sprang up, parting her anchor chains and driving her to sea. Blown along for some 20 miles, finally fetching up on the flats at Lobster Cove. Crew reached shore without difficulty.
- Aloha (schooner), New Shoreham, RI
- Amelia G. Ireland (schooner), Gay Head, MA / NY NY / Capt. Oscar A. Knapp ~ After she stranded in Menemsha Bight, her crew tried to lower her boat, but it was carried away leaving them without means of escape. They also tried to float a line ashore. The only life lost was a mate who perished in the rigging.
- Anna Pitcher (schooner), New Shoreham, RI / Newport, RI
- Anna W. Barker (schooner), White Head, ME / Sedgwick, ME ~ Wrecked on Southern Island, 3 miles from station. Crew escaped without injury.
- Annie Lee, Cape Ann
- Arabell (schooner), Block Island, RI / Newport, RI
- B.R. Woodside (schooner), Boston Bay / Bath, ME
- Barge (unknown), Boston Bay
- Barge (unknown), Boston Bay
- Barge (unknown), Boston Bay
- Barge (unknown), Boston Bay
- Barge (unknown), Boston Bay
- Barge (unknown), Cape Ann
- Beaver (sloop), Vineyard Sound / Wilmington, DE
- Bertha A. Gross, Cape Ann
- Bertha E. Glover (schooner), Vineyard Sound / Rockland, ME
- Brunhilde (sloop), Point of Woods, NY
- Byssus, Vineyard Sound
- C.A. White (schooner), Boston Bay / Fall River, MA
- C.B. Kennard, Boston Bay
- Calvin F. Baker (schooner), Point Allerton, MA / Dennis, MA / 8 ~ About 3:00 a.m. on November 27, in the midst of the storm with some of her sails blown away, she stranded on the northerly side of Little Brewster Island. She pounded in and fetched up about 75 yards from the rocks. All hands were driven to the rigging as the breakers swept over the ship. The schooner became a total wreck and three men were lost.
- Canaria, Vineyard Sound
- Carita, Vineyard Sound
- Carrie C. Miles, Portland, ME
- Carrie L. Payson (schooner), Chatham, MA ~ Stranded 1 mile N. of the station.
- Cassina, New Shoreham, RI
- Cathie C. Berry (schooner), Vineyard Sound / Eastport, ME
- Champion (brig), Quoddy Head, ME / 6 ~ Wrecked near the Quoddy Head station, but her crew succeeded in reaching shore in their own boat.
- Charles E. Raymond (schooner), Vineyard Sound / Dennis, MA
- Charles E. Schmidt (schooner), Cape Ann / Bridgeton, NJ
- Charles J. Willard (schooner), Quoddy Head, ME / Portland, ME ~ While lying at anchor in West Quoddy Bay, a gale sprang up and her chains parted. She soon stranded and her crew was helped by life-savers and local fishermen.
- Chilion, Cape Ann (schooner) / Portsmouth, NH
- Chiswick, Boston Bay
- Clara Leavitt (schooner), Gay Head, MA / Portland, ME / 7 ~ Stranded the morning of November 27 and didn't last an hour. Breakers swept over her heavily as the crew took to the rigging. Her deck house was destroyed in 20 minutes and all three masts fell when the weather shrouds slackened. Six lives were lost.
- Clara Sayward, Cape Cod
- Clara P. Sewall, Boston Bay
- Coal Barge No. 1, Point Allerton, RI / 5 ~ Wrecked near Toddy Rocks. A line was fired across the vessel, but the crew was too nearly exhausted to be able to do anything with it. The vessel was rapidly breaking up as the life savers fastened lines around their bodies and waded out into the surf to rescue them. All were so chilled that they had to be carried to a nearby house.
- Coal Barge No. 4, Point Allerton, MA / Baltimore, MD / 5 ~ Struck on Toddy Rocks between 12-1:00 a.m. November 27 and went to pieces so quickly that assistance would have been impossible. Of the 5 on board, only the captain and one sailor managed to reach the shore alive by clinging to a piece of the deck house.
- Columbia (pilot schooner), Scituate, MA / 5 ~ She was sighted near Boston Lightship around dusk, lying becalmed. Then the storm struck, and she apparently put about in an attempt to get offshore to ride out the storm. This attempt failed and she had no choice but to anchor. Both anchor chains parted, and she broke up on Cedar Point. Her entire crew was lost and only three bodies were recovered.
- Consolidated Coal Barge No. 1, Boston Bay
- Daniel L.Tenney, Boston Bay
- David Boone, Cape Cod
- David Faust (schooner), Nantucket / Ellsworth, ME
- Delaware, Boston Bay
- D.T. Pachin (schooner), Cape Ann / Castine, ME
- E.G. Willard (schooner), Vineyard Sound/ Rockland, ME
- E.J. Hamilton (schooner), Vineyard Sound / NY NY
- Earl (cat), Cuttyhunk, MA
- Edith (cat), Cuttyhunk, MA
- Edgar S. Foster (schooner), Brant Rock, MA / 8 ~ Wrecked near Brant Rock. Crew succeeded in reaching shore unaided and went to a vacant cottage.
- Edith McIntire, Vineyard Sound
- Edna & Etta (schooner), Great Egg, NJ / Somers Point, NJ ~ Stranded on the meadows during the storm. Master asked for help from the station and the crew boarded the vessel. At high water they put rollers under her and hove her afloat.
- Edward H. Smeed (schooner), New Shoreham, RI
- Ella F. Crowell, Boston Bay
- Ella Frances (schooner), Cape Cod / Rockland, ME
- Ellen Jones, Cape Cod
- Ellis P. Rogers (schooner), Cape Ann / Bath, ME
- Elmer Randall, Boston Bay
- Emma, Boston Bay
- Ethel F. Merriam (schooner), Cape Cod / Booth Bay, ME
- Evelyn, Cape Ann
- F.H. Smith (schooner), Cape Cod / New Haven, ME
- F.R. Walker (schooner), Cape Cod / Gloucester, MA
- Fairfax (steamer), Cuttyhunk, MA ~ During the gale and snowstorm, she brought up on the Bow and Pigs ledge, about 3 miles to the W. of the station but was not immediately discovered by the patrol on account of thick weather. Her master stated crew and passengers didn't wish to leave until they could be transferred to a tug. After dinner, a tug being seen on the way to the stranded vessel, surfmen close-reefed sail and stood down to lend a hand in assisting with the transfer of passengers, crew and baggage to the tug which then proceeded to New Bedford.
- Falcon, Vineyard Sound
- Fannie Hall, Portsmouth, NH
- Fannie May, Rockland, ME
- Flying Cloud, Cape Ann
- Forest Maid (schooner), Portsmouth, NH / Portland, ME
- Fred A. Emerson (downeast lumberman), Boston Bay
- Friend (steamer), Cuttyhunk, MA / Boston, MA
- Fritz Oaks, Boston Bay
- G.M. Hopkins (schooner), Boston Bay / Provincetown, MA
- G.W. Danielson (steamer), New Shoreham, RI
- Gatherer, Cape Ann
- George A. Chaffee, Cape Ann
- George H. Miles, Vineyard Sound
- Georgietta (schooner), White Head, ME ~ Stranded on Spruce Head Island during the heavy gale and snowstorm. In attempting to haul her off, the foremast and main topmast were carried away.
- Grace (schooner), Cape Cod / Ellsworth, ME
- Gracie, Cape Cod
- Hattie A. Butler (schooner), Vineyard Sound / Hartford, CT
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| Henry R. Tilton |
- Henry R. Tilton (schooner), Point Allerton, MA / 8 ~ Parted chains during the hurricane and stranded near the station. All members of the crew landed without accident. The sea was very heavy and at times washed over the sea wall, submerging the surfmen and their apparatus.
- Ida, Boston Bay
- Ida G. Broere (cat), Lone Hill, NY / Patchogue, NY ~ Parted moorings during the gale and went ashore 1/2 mil from the station on the bay side. Surfmen could do nothing for her on account of sea and ice until December 4.
- Idella Small (schooner), Davis Neck, MA / Portland, ME / 3 ~ Driven ashore by the gale on the east side of Davis Neck. As she took bottom one of her crew jumped ashore and sought help at the station. Two others on board safely off. On the next high tide after she went ashore, the vessel drifted up on the beach at Bay View and became a total wreck.
- Inez Hatch, Cape Cod
- Institution (launch), Boston Bay
- Ira and Abbie (schooner), Block Island, RI / New London, CT
- Ira Kilburn, Portsmouth, NH
- Isaac Collins (schooner), Cape Cod / Provincetown, MA
- Island City, Vineyard Sound
- Ivy Bell (schooner), Jerrys Point, NH / Damariscotta, ME/ 4 ~ Dragged ashore near the entrance to Portsmouth Harbor. All crewmen taken off safely.
- J.C. Mahoney (schooner), Cape Ann / Baltimore, MD
- J.M. Eaton (schooner), Cape Ann / Gloucester, ME
- James A. Brown (schooner), Vineyard Sound / Thomaston, ME
- James Ponder (schooner), Vineyard Sound / Wilmington, DE
- James Webster, Boston Bay
- John Harvey (barge), Pt. Judith, RI / NY NY
- John J. Hill, Boston Bay
- John S. Ames (schooner), Boston Bay
- Jordon L. Mott (schooner), Wood End, MA / Rockland, ME / Capt. Dyer/5 ~ One life lost when she sank at her anchor in Provincetown Harbor the early morning of November 27. Four men, who were quickly approaching collapse after having been in the shrouds for 15 hours, crept down from the rigging as the life-savers arrived. The lifeless body of the captain's father was lashed in the rigging.
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| Juanita |
- Juanita ~ This vessel, less than a year old, was blown ashore at Cohasset, MA. Her crew escaped in the dories; all survived.
- King Phillip, Cape Cod
- Knott V. Martin, (schooner) Cape Ann / Marblehead, MA
- Leander V. Beebe (schooner), Boston Bay / Greenport, NY
- Leora M. Thurlow, Vineyard Sound
- Lester A. Lewis (schooner), Wood End, MA / Bangor, ME / 5 ~ Sank in Provincetown Harbor the early morning of November 27. Her crew took refuge in the rigging, where they perished before help could arrive.
- Lexington (schooner), New Shoreham, RI
- Lillian, Portland, ME
- Lizzie Dyas (schooner), Boston Bay
- Lucy A. Nickels (bark), Point Allerton, MA / Searsport, ME / 5 ~ Wrecked by the hurricane on Black Rock. In attempting to swim to the rock, the master and mate was drowned. The other members of the crew found in a gunning hut on the rock. The vessel was a wreck and one of the survivors seriously injured.
- Lucy Bell (schooner), Boston Bay / Patchogue, NY
- Lucy Hammond (schooner), Vineyard Sound / Machias, ME
- Lunet (schooner), Naushon Island, MA / Calais, ME
- Luther Eldridge (schooner), Nantucket / Chatham, MA
- M. and A. Morrison (schooner), Herring Cove, MA
- Marion Draper (schooner), Vineyard Sound / Bath, ME
- Mary Cabral, Cape Cod
- Mary Emerson, Boston Bay
- Mascot (cat), Cuttyhunk, MA / Gloucester, MA
- M. E. Eldridge, Vineyard Sound
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| Mertis H. Perry |
- Mertis H. Perry (fishing schooner), Brant Rock, MA / Joshua Pike/14 ~ Dashed ashore 2 mi. NNW of the life-saving station between 9-10:00 a.m. on November 27. 5 men were lost. The conditions of the weather were such that it was impossible for the life-savers to discover the vessel when she came ashore, much less reach her in time to save lives.
- Michael Henry, Cape Cod
- Mildred and Blanche, Cape Cod
- Milo (sloop), Boston Bay / Boston, MA
- Multnoman, Portsmouth, NH
- Nautilus, Cape Cod
- Nellie B. (sloop), New Shoreham, RI
- Nellie Doe (schooner), Vineyard Sound / Bangor, ME
- Nellie M. Slade (bark), Vineyard Sound / New Bedford, MA
- Neptune, Portland, ME
- Neverbuge (cat), Cuttyhunk, MA
- Newburg, Vineyard Sound
- Newell B. Hawes (schooner), Plum Island, MA / Wellfleet, MA / 5 ~ Driven ashore during the gale and snowstorm and fetched up near the lighthouse. Surfmen worked with the schooner's crew until the 4th of December when they succeeded in floating the vessel.
- Ohio (steamer), Spectacle Island
- Papetta, Vineyard Sound
- Pentagoet, Cape Cod
- Percy (schooner), New Shoreham, RI
- Phantom, Boston Bay
- Philomena Manta (schooner), Cape Cod / Provincetown, MA / lost on fishing banks of MA Feb 1905)
- Pluscullom Bonum (schooner), Boston Bay / Boston, MA
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| Portland |
- Portland, Off Cape Cod
- Powder vessel (steamer), N. Scituate, MA
- Queen of the West (schooner), Fletcher’s Neck, ME / 2 ~ Wrecked on Fletchers Neck. Both crewmen and a dog brought off safely.
- Quesay, Vineyard Sound
- Rebecca W. Huddell (schooner), Vineyard Sound / Philadelphia, PA
- Reliance (cat), Point of Woods, NY
- Rendo, Portland, ME
- Rienzi (schooner), Cape Ann / Sedgwick, ME
- Ringleader, Portsmouth, NH
- Robert A. Kennier (schooner), Boston Bay / NY NY
- Rose Brothers (schooner), New Shoreham, RI / Newport, RI
- Rosie Cobral, Boston Bay
- S.F. Mayer, Rockland, ME
- Sadie Wilcutt, Vineyard Sound
- Sarah, Cape Ann
- School Girl (schooner), Cape Cod / Provincetown, MA
- Schooner (unknown), Boston Bay
- Schooner (unknown), Boston Bay
- Schooner (unknown), Boston Bay
- Schooner (unknown), Boston Bay
- Schooner (unknown), Cape Cod
- Schooner (unknown), Cape Cod
- Secret (cat), Cuttyhunk, MA
- S. E. Raphine (downeast lumberman), Boston Bay
- Silver Spray, Portland, ME
- Sloop (unknown), Boston Bay
- Sloop (unknown), Boston Bay
- Sloop (unknown), White Head, ME
- Sport (cat), Cuttyhunk, MA / Boston, MA
- Startle (sloop), Boston Bay / NY NY
- Stone Sloop (unknown), Boston Bay
- Stone Sloop (unknown), Boston Bay
- Stranger (cat), New Shoreham, RI
- Sylvester Whalen (schooner), Cape Cod / Boston, MA
- T.W. Cooper (schooner), Portsmouth, NH / Machias, ME
- Tamaqua (ocean tug), Boston Bay
- Thomas B. Reed, Cape Cod
- Two Sisters, Portsmouth, NH
- Two-Forty, Boston Bay
- Union, Boston Bay
- Unique, Cape Cod
- Unknown vessel, Boston Bay
- Valetta, Vineyard Sound
- Valkyrie (sloop), New Shoreham, RI
- Verona (schooner), Boston Bay / Cleveland, OH
- Vigilant, Cape Cod
- Virgin Rock (schooner), Boston Bay / Boston, MA
- Virginia (downeast lumberman), Boston Bay
- W.H. DeWitt, Cape Ann
- W.H.Y. Hackett (Schooner), Portsmouth, NH
- Watchman (downeast lumberman), Boston Bay
- Wild Rose (schooner), Cranberry Isles, ME ~ Stranded and sunk in a terrific gale. Crew safely taken off board.
- William Leggett, Cape Ann
- William M. Wilson (schooner), Wachapreague, VA / 6 ~ Sprung a leak and sank 3 miles NNE of station. Surfmen set out to her assistance by hauling the boat along the beach, it being impossible to pull out to her from the station. They saw the crew from Metomkin Inlet Station sail out to her and take off the crew.
- William Todd, Vineyard Sound
- Wilson and Willard (schooner), Cape Ann / Boston, MA
- Winnie Lawry, Vineyard Sound
- Wooddruff, Northport, ME
Reference: U.S. Life-Saving Service Annual Reports
The steamer Portland was built at Bath, ME in 1889 for the Boston-Portland run and was the pride of the New England coastal steamer fleet. She was strongly built, outfitted with the finest furnishings, and was run by an excellent crew. However, like the other big sidewheel steamers popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s, her long, shallow wooden hull and massive overhanging sponsons (housing her paddlewheels) made her vulnerable to rough seas.
Portland departed Boston for the final time at 7 p.m. on 26 Nov 1898, crowded with passengers returning home after the Thangsgiving holiday. At the time of her departure the weather was worsening, but had not yet deteriorated to the point that sailing was deemed inadvisable. As she steamed northeast towards Portland, however, conditions quickly worsened. At 9:30 p.m. she was sighted passing Thatcher's Island, a short distance northeast of Boston, her progress clearly hampered by the deteriorating weather. Although she was still making headway against the storm at this sighting, she probably did not get far before her progress was stopped.
Between 11 and 11:45 p.m. Portland was sighted three times, but this time to the southeast of Thatcher's Island - she was being driven south by the storm. When sighted at 11:45 p.m., she is said to have shown severe storm damage, especially to the superstructure. By this time conditions on the steamer must have been dreadful, and all aboard must have known they were in grave danger. Unable to make progress against the storm and unable to make for safe port, Portland's only hope lay in working her way offshore and riding out the storm at sea. Her attempts to reach the open sea accounted for her slow movement to the east between the 9:30 and 11:45 sightings.
At 5:45 a.m. the following morning, lifesavers on Cape Cod heard four blasts of a steamer's whistle. It is now believed the whistle was that of the doomed Portland. In the course of the night the storm had driven her even further backwards, so she was now far southeast of Boston. Between 9:00 and 10:30 that morning the eye of the storm passed over, and several persons claim to have seen Portland wallowing five to eight miles offshore, clearly in great peril. No further sightings were made that day, as the storm closed in once again.
At 7:30 that night, more than 24 hours after Portland had sailed, a lifesaver on his regular beach patrol found one of the steamer's lifebelts washed up on the beach. Fifteen minutes later several fourty-quart dairy cans were found in the surf. At 9:30 doors and woodwoork from Portland were found. Around 11:00 the rising tide brought in massive quantities of wreckage, giving clear evidence that Portland had been lost. It is said that this tragic news was communicated to the world via a bizarre relay - by telegraph across the trans-Atlantic cable to France, then to New York via another undersea cable, and from there on to Boston - for the telegraph cables between Cape Cod and Boston had been blown away by the storm.
All those aboard Portland, believed to be a total of 191 passengers and crew (the only passenger list was lost with the ship), were killed. Eventually 36 bodies were recovered along the beaches.
Many of the bodies wore wristwatches that had stopped at 9:15. It is unclear, however, if this indicates the ship was lost at 9:15 a.m., or at 9:15 p.m.. Although there are several reports of the ship being sighted, afloat, between 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. that day, the exact times of those sightings are not known. If any of those sightings took place after 9:15 a.m., then the ship must have survived until 9:15 p.m. that day, some 26 hours and 15 minutes after she had started her doomed voyage. However, Portland would not have carried enough fuel to remain at sea, in storm conditions, for over 24 hours. She could have burned furnishings, interior bulkheads, and other wooden materials to keep the boilers running, but the quantity of this material washed ashore tends to indicate this action was not taken.
It is also highly questionable whether she could have held together for 24 hours, given the terrible sea conditions. Still, the fact that major debris did not begin to wash ashore until 9:30 p.m. suggests the Portland had survived into the night - surely, if she had been wrecked at 9:15 a.m., debris would have been washed ashore in the morning. Because the exact time of the final sightings cannot be firmly established, it is impossible to conclusively determine the exact time of Portland's loss - either 9:15 a.m., or 9:15 p.m., on Sunday, 27 Nov 1898.
Portland's remains were eventually located on the seafloor about seven miles offshore, and have since been explored. The small schooner Addie E. Snow was also lost during the storm, and her remains lie less than 1/4 mile from Portland's grave. It is thought that the two vessels may have collided, hastening their ends.
The tragedy of the Portland was deeply felt in the New England seafaring community, and lead to many changes. Most significantly, the adoption of steel-hulled, propeller-driven steamers was greatly hastened, especially on the rugged "outside" or "Down-east" runs. The sidewheel steamers lasted for many more decades, but increasingly on "inside", or protected, runs.
