PAGE TWENTY-TWO - The Bar Harbor Times, Thursday, September 1, 1977 Yesterday A Tragedy At Mt. Desert Ferry During the first week in the water, stunning them. Everyone wanted to get to the August of 1899, the big Captain Dickson of the scene of the disaster and the warships of the North Atlantic Sappho organized a small ferryboat was filled on its Squadron had been arriving at rescue party from his crew and return trip across the bay. Bar Harbor for a visit. The that of the Sebenoa and soon Later at an inquest the ships filled the harbor making ropes and ladders were coronor's jury brought in a an impressive sight. They pulling men and women to verdict that the people were were under the command of safety. Those rescued were drowned through faulty con- Rear Admiral William Samp- carried to the hotel on the struction of the slip. son. There was the battleship bluffs. Some of the survivors Massachusetts, the flagship had been badly cut and Gladys O'Neil New York, the battleship bruised in their frantic efforts Bar Harbor Historical Indiana, the battleship Texas to stay alive. Telephone calls Society and the Brooklyn, a cruiser. brought a dozen doctors to the On Sunday visitors from scene. We're Bangor, Bucksport, Brewer, At last everyone had been Ellsworth, Orono, Hancock, taken from the water and and other small towns, anx- divers brought up the last of Fighting for ious to see the squadron in the twenty drowned victims. harbor, came by train to Mt. The Sebenoa finally made Your Desert Ferry to take the the trip to Bar Harbor where steamer Sappho across the anxious friends and relatives Life bay to Bar Harbor. were waiting. Bar Harbor So many people were on the filled with thousands of Please give generously train that there were two excursionists by this time. American Heart Association engines pulling the eleven passenger coaches. People were hanging from the steps and platforms and crowding the aisles of the trains. When the train pulled into the ferry site it was learned that the Sappho would only be able to take about one third of the train passengers. The crowds rushed from the cars and started for the boat. The boat slip was thirty feet long and ten feet wide. A narrow gang plank connected with the boat. Four men at the entrance to the slip, endeav- ouring to make the people go more slowly were swept aside. The passage to the steamer became blocked and the slip soon filled with a mass of people. The congestion was so great that there were over two hundred people on the slip at one time. In spite of the crowding everyone was in a Suddenly with people the parted holiday slip down crowded the good natured mood. middle and the crowd was thrown into the water fighting for their lives beneath the wooden piles of the wharf. There was much excitement and confusion on the wharf and aboard the Sappho. Cries from women and children filled the air. People were so excited at first that few went to the assistance of the drowning. Some threw what- ever they could find into the water, even heavy lumber, which struck some of those in Fog shrouded Ships Harbor. Henckler Photo