down for the wreck, lowered boats and picked up the
living and dead, continuing this sad duty until 3.45 P.M., when
night coming on and medical aid being required for those of the
rescued who were exhausted, I put the vessel back for Stonington,
the nearest port, having no hope of finding any more living
persons and seeing no dead bodies remaining afloat. I reached
Stonington at 6 P.M. with forty-two rescued persons and (p. 436)
seventeen dead bodies which we had recovered from the deep.

Being a stranger in Stonington, I was at a loss to know what I
should do with my precious cargo, but at the wharf I met with
unexpected aid in the person of Mr. J. P. Bigelow, chief of the
Loan Division of the Treasury Department, who, upon my wants
being made known to him, procured proper relief, obtaining
through Mrs. Bigelow and ladies in the town, clothing and proper
care for five women who were rescued in a state of entire nudity.
The men rescued were taken charge of by the citizens, who did all
in their power to relieve their distress. All the rescued were
greatly exhausted, having been in the water several hours.

I take great pleasure in informing the Department of the noble
and untiring exertions of 1st Lieutenant Joseph Irish, 2d
Lieutenant A. D. Littlefield, Chief Engineer Whittaker, Pilot
Joseph Case, Boatswain E. F. R. Denison, and each of the crew in
saving life, recovering bodies of the drowned and caring for the
sick and wounded.

In the cases of several of the shipwrecked life was apparently
extinct, but by the efforts of those on board they were
resuscitated. The women were rolled in blankets, and all in our
power was done to make them comfortable. Many of the rescued were
very weak, and I doubted my ability to get them into port alive.

I was ably seconded in my work of boating by Captain Crandall,
light house keeper at Watch Hill, and his noble crew, they having
picked up fourteen living and dead.

After the last body had been taken on board a sea caught their
boat under this vessel's quarter and split her open.

The boat was the private property of Captain Crandall, who, on
beholding her destruction, simply remarked, "She has well paid
for herself."

Five of the dead bodies were identified by those saved on board,