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Wreck of the T.B. Witherspoon January 10, 1886 IN THE EXTENSIVE annals of Nantucket's shipwrecks there is none m o r e grim than that of the big 3-masted schooner T. B. Witherspoon, lost during the great gale of January 8-10, 1886. Held fast in the sandy shore, within 100 yards of the beach near the head of Hummock Pond (off Little Mioxes), the big schooner was doomed the moment she struck during the night of the snow-filled gale. But what was heart-rending was the situation that next morning when the Life Saving crew and volunteers on shore were forced to watch helplessly as the ship-wrecked mariners, who had taken to the rigging to escape the onslaught of the seas, gradually froze to death and, one by one, dropped to their death into the raging sea and tide. The story began on Friday, January 8, when a northeast gale, with a heavy snow, developed quickly to sweep the island. As the night wore on many residents left their homes to join the night watchmen, fully aware of the danger of fire in this wooden town. Soon after daybreak there was a brief lull, but the wind soon resumed its fury. Steamer Island Home ventured forth on its regular trip but before reaching Tuckernuck Shoal she put about and returned to her berth at Steamboat Wharf. As the day waned the temperature fell to 12 degrees above zero and the snow became sleet. Saturday dawned with the gale still raging. It was during these two days that the schooner W i t h e r s p o o n , bound up the coast from Surinam, South America, with a mixed cargo of molasses, sugar, limes, and cocoa, bound for Boston, was approaching the New England sector. With the onslaught of the gale Captain Alfred Anderson and Mate Burdick Berry took in sail and the schooner drove along under bare poles. Due to the thick snow any observations were impossible. The course was maintained throughout the morning of Saturday, the 9th, but when the wind veered into the north-northeast Captain Anderson tried to get some sail on so as to work to the eastward. At three o'clock on the morning of Sunday, January 10th, the snow lessened and a light was discerned flashing from a lighthouse. The snow flurries made it difficult to count the flashes and Captain Anderson and Mate Berry, after a conference, decided it was the light at Montauk Point. Unfortunately, this was not so - the light was Sankaty Head's flashing.
