Neighbor News
There's a Point to This ~ Both North -{&}- South Forks are Involved ~
~ This regards the ship Louis V Place -{&}- her captain William Squires ~
BY DANNY McCARTHY
http://longislandgenealogy.com...
The Whitaker Historical Collection archives contains various materials that include the H. Howard Huntting Scrapbooks. The H. Howard Huntting Scrapbooks include volumes of newspaper clippings of local happenings in the area of Southold from 1841 to 1928.
The following is taken from a Huntting Scrapbooks February 8, 1895 entry.:
After spending 31 hours in the rigging of their vessels and watching hopeless struggles of the life-savers to rescue them and the death from the cold and exhaustion of six other men who ascended to the rigging when they did, the two men on the three-masted schooner Louis V. Place grounded off the Lone Hill, Long Island life-saving station (on Fire Island), were rescued on Saturday night by the life-savers. The Louis V. Place carried 1,100 tons of coal. She left Baltimore two weeks prior for New York and caught the full force of the storm which had been raging along the coast. Thursday morning with the coast of Long Island dead ahead, the hand and steam pumps were unequal to their task and the water slowly but steadily gained on men and steam. Then Captain Squires, the commander, summoned his men and confirmed what all knew before, that the life of their craft was at an end and that the only hope was to beach her in some place where they could reach the shore. It was a race for life against the sea. Forty-five minutes after the vessel was headed inshore, she touched on the outer bar, and a wave lifted her high on the sandbank.
When the vessel struck, Capt. Squires could not get but part of the way up the rigging. The spray broke over him but he held on until afternoon and then gave up. Capt. Squires is well known at Southold, where, in former years, he resided for many years.
The body of Capt. William H. Squires was found in the surf near the Shinnecock life-saving station opposite Good Ground, Long Island (in Hampton Bays).
The Huntting Scrapbooks copy reads: “On Wednesday the remains were laid at rest in the cemetery at Southold in the family plot beside his wife and children.” Another source from an article in Wrecks and Rescues on Long Island by Van R. Field says, “Most accounts have Capt. Squires buried in a family plot in the cemetery on Main Street in Southold. An article written by Harry B. Squires states that his father is buried in the family plot in Hampton Bays.” AND — According to a February 2008 Dan’s Papers article, Capt. Squires was a descendant of Ellis Squires, the first white settler of the Hampton Bays area, who arrived in that area in 1773. The article says the Captain is buried in Good Ground Cemetery. — Makes for an interesting point.
