Nathan F. Cobb - Rescue Efforts

Rescue Efforts

J.D. Price and John Anderson built the Ormond Hotel in 1888 and sold it to Henry Flagler in 1891. While Flagler took over ownership responsibilities, he retained Price as the hotel's manager. On the morning of 5 December 1896, then Ormond Hotel manager J.D. Price, noticed the stranded vessel in the surf and gathered a group of people to assist in the rescue efforts. After learning of the disaster, Superintendent Hiram B. Shaw of the United States Life-Saving Service's Seventh Life-Saving District, hastened to the scene to assess the situation. Shaw quickly telegraphed for permission to have a life saving beach apparatus sent to him by train from Jupiter, Florida where the Jupiter Inlet Life Saving Station was located, approximately 180 miles south of Ormond Beach. This was quickly granted by General Superintendent Sumner Increase Kimball. Because of the proximity and travel time from the Jupiter Inlet Station to Ormond Beach, Shaw had his small surf boat wheeled down to the beach on a man-drawn wagon. He then went into town to procure necessary equipment and rope lines for the rescue.

In total, about fifty people came together on the beach. Due to the tumultuous conditions, it was decided that no rescue attempts would be made until low tide at 11:00 a.m. The first rescue boat set out at nearly low tide. With a rope attached to its stern from shore, hotel painter Edward DeCourcy and another hotel staff member manned Shaw's small rowboat. Although they successfully made it beyond the breakers, the rowboat succumbed to the strong southerly current; missing the float line thrown from the schooner by five feet. They were forced to come in. Five more unsuccessful attempts were made to reach the grounded vessel.

Next, a small metallic dingy, known as an iron yawl, was carried down to the beach. Tom Fagen and Freed Waterhouse manned the yawl, in another attempt to reach the grounded schooner. Through skilled seamanship, they made it to the second set of breakers, only a short distance from the vessel. When they tried to reach the float line, a large wave struck them leaving their boat filled with water. The two men abandoned their yawl. Fagen managed to swim ashore and was met by volunteers close to the beach half-drowned. Waterhouse decided against swimming to shore. When he saw that the yawl had flipped, he swam back to it and straddled the hull. The men on the shore began pulling the flipped boat in, but another wave broke on top of it throwing Waterhouse into the water and righting the yawl. Waterhouse climbed back into the boat and began getting pulled in again, only to be capsized shortly thereafter. This time Waterhouse surfaced, appearing dazed and grasping onto an oar. Shaw's rescue boat was put back in the water, but Waterhouse had already gone under and presumably drowned to death a short time later. F Waterhouse's body was never recovered, despite several searches.

Hiram B. Shaw had just returned to the beach when this casualty occurred. After supplying his small rescue boat with more rope lines, he and Edward DeCourcy removed their outer clothing and prepared to embark. The men on the Cobb, who had just witnessed Waterhouse's drowning, prompted the captain of the schooner to give an impassioned address in which he said, "They have sacrificed one man in their efforts to save us; now I'll risk my life in an attempt to get ashore." The captain tied a rope around his waist and jumped into the water, just as the rescue boat had set out from shore. After battling against the current and waves, he was met by Shaw's rescue boat and clung to its stern until they reached land. Making use of the captain's line, the men on shore tied a life preserver to it. One at a time, the five stranded crewmen pulled the flotation device out to the schooner, fastened it to their bodies and were pulled to safety by the people on the shore. After receiving a cup of hot coffee, a drink of whiskey and a blanket, the Cobb's crew were taken to Coquina, Ormond Beach's area hospital.

Upon hearing the story, General Superintendent Sumner Increase Kimball of the United States Life-Saving Service wrote a letter of praise to Edward DeCourcy for his selflessness and bravery; also acknowledging the many others involved.