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New England Weather

1676 Storm and Shipwreck • of Ephraim Howe

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Chapters Overview 1635 Great Storm 1638 Earthquake The Earthquake of 1663 The Comet of 1664 1667 Strange Appearance 1676 Storm and Shipwreck The Comet of 1680 1682 Strange Appearance Dark Day of 1716 1716-1717 Winter 1718 Wreck of the Whidah 1719 Aurora Borealis Storm of 1722-23 1727 Earthquake 1740-1 Winter 1744 Earthquake 1747-48 Winter 1748 Hurricane 1749 Drought 1755 Great Earthquake 1759 Hurricane 1762 Drought 1768 Lightning 1768 Gale 1769 Summer 1770 Great Freshet 1770 Summer The Storm of October 20, 1770 Summer of 1771 1773 Hurricane The Storm of 1774 The Dark Day of 1780 1782 Hurricane 1785 Great Freshet 1786 Tornado 1786 Snow Storms The Cyclone of 1787 The Meteor of 1787 1788 Gale 1794 Whirlwind The Long Storm of 1798 1799 Hail Storm 1801 Freshet 1802 Great Snow Storm 1804 Storm 1806 Solar Eclipse The Freshet of 1807 The Meteorite of 1807 The Cold Friday of 1810 The Freshet of 1814 The Tornado in 1814 The Gale of 1815 The Cold Summer of 1816 The Tornadoes of 1821 Spring Freshet of 1823 The Spring Freshet of 1826 1826 Avalanche 1827 Gale and Freshet 1827 Wreck of the Almira1830 March Storm The Great Freshet of 1830 1833 Meteoric Display Winter of 1835-36 1839 Storms 1841 October Gale 1842 Snow Storm The Freshet of 1846 1849 October Storm 1851 Lighthouse Storm 1851 Tornado Storm of April, 1852

1667 Strange Appearance

The Comet of 1680

ABOUT the twentieth of September, 1676, a violent storm prevailed on the New England coast, causing vessels to be wrecked and otherwise doing much damage.

The most interesting portion of its history is the shipwreck of Ephraim Howe, a sea-captain of New Haven, Conn., who regularly sailed, in a vessel called a ketch, of about seventeen tons burden, between New Haven and Boston. On September 10, he set sail from the latter port, having on board two of his sons, who were able seamen, two passengers and a boy. Contrary winds detained them for several days and before they could double Cape Cod the storm came upon them. The ketch was driven upon the shoals and almost stranded. While endeavoring to keep afloat, the rudder was lost, from which time their control of the vessel was gone, and they were carried out to sea. Tossed to and fro and almost overwhelmed, the treacherous waters forced them farther and farther from the coast until the shore faded from their earnest gaze, and they were wanderers on the pathless, dangerous deep.

The father became sick from the exposure to wet and cold, but soon grew better. The oldest son suffered severely from the effects of the storm and eleven days only passed, after their last view of the sandy hills of Cape Cod, before he died and was entombed in the sea. Only a few more days elapsed when the other son, who had been unable to perform his duties for a short time, also fell a victim to exposure and died. The father felt their deaths severely at this trying time; but in speaking of the loss of his sons in after years said that their resignation and faith in Christ and their escape from a more terrible experience, which seemed certain to come, greatly consoled him.

Captain Howe was now sick himself in the cabin most of the time, and the vessel drifted at the pleasure of the winds and waves. While in this hopeless state, one of the passengers died, also from the effects of exposure. Half of the company were now gone. Only Captain Howe, Mr. Augur, one of the passengers, and the lad were left.

Their necessities and fears increased. Winter would soon be upon them. Something definite must be done! They must not be inactive longer. There seemed to be but two propositions to consider. They must either endeavor to reach the New England coast, or sail for the islands of the south. Divine guidance was sought, and after praying earnestly they drew lots to determine which course they should take. The lot fell upon New England and immediately, with a new rudder, which they had constructed, they turned their prow in the direction in which they supposed New England lay.

Storm after storm gathered about them and violently swept over them, threatening their destruction. Cold and penetrating winds rushed over the limitless waters, sometimes so forcibly that those stationed at the sail had to be fastened with ropes to enable them to stand in their places. Though in a state of bodily weakness, Captain Howe now stood at the helm for twenty-four hours, and sometimes even thirty-six hours, at a time, while the waves dashed over the deck so strongly that he had to be lashed fast to the helm to escape being washed overboard.
A month had passed since they set out for New England, when they again lost their rudder. Their courage was now so far gone that they did not think it worth while to try to make another. Hope had left them. In their despair the craft was permitted to drift wheresoever it would for a fortnight. All this time Captain Howe's clothes had rarely been dry, and none of the three had consumed any warm food more than three times while they had been in their lamentable condition

About three months had elapsed since they had seen land, and it was nearly seven weeks since they determined to strive to reach their native coast. A strong wind was one day driving the vessel before it amid the white-capped waves, when to their surprise the sound of breakers was heard, and a peculiar motion was felt about the ketch. Upon examining into their situation, they found themselves aground on a reef, with the sea breaking violently around them. It was afterward ascertained that they were on a sunken island off the coast at Cape Sable, Nova Scotia, the tops of whose ledges were scarcely beneath the surface of the water, causing the waves to break above them. They looked away from the foaming breakers leeward and saw dreary rocks rising from the water, the spray flying over them. If the vessel had not caught on these hidden rocks, it would probably have been driven ashore and dashed to pieces on the relentless ledges. They immediately dropped an anchor and got out the boat, which they still had. Much to their relief the wind ceased its violence, and the waters grew less turbulent. They put a few things into the boat, but under the excitement of the occasion look much less than they afterward wished. The shore was reached successfully, and they landed.

The violent wind which had driven them on the reef had come from the east, bringing in its wake a storm which after the short lull, burst upon them. The vessel was stove to pieces, and from it floated ashore a cask of powder, a barrel of wine and several other things.

Ignorant of the place where they found themselves, their attention was now turned to an examination of the country. To their dismay they soon learned that it was a desolate island, with neither man nor beast upon it, and their great hopes of succor were dashed. Perishing of hunger here seemed hardly preferable to drowning in the sea, or starving in their vessel. But being on land was at least a change which was welcomed after their three months' voyage on the boisterous ocean.

With some things which they had brought from the vessel they made a sort of tent to shelter them from the storms and extreme cold of the region at this season. After the structure had become dilapidated a cave was made which afterward served as their abode.

The only inhabitants of the island beside themselves were birds, consisting of gulls and crows. It has been already stated that a cask of powder had floated ashore. A gun or two also came with the wreck of the ketch. The guns and ammunition seemed to be their only means of obtaining sustenance, but the birds were so scarce that rarely more than one could be shot during a single excursion for that purpose. Consequently, the food was necessarily sparingly eaten, ofttimes only half a bird, with the liquor, sufficing for a meal for all three. At one time they had no food at all for five days; but they had become so accustomed to abstinence that the stomach forgot its cravings which seemed to them a special blessing.

The days dragged drearily away. Their time was spent in watching for the appearance of some vessel, in gunning for birds, and in meditation upon their hopeless condition. They knew not where they were, and it seemed to matter little except they could have wished the spot to have been in a warmer climate. They not only suffered from cold and exposure, for spring was not yet come, but also from unwholesome food,¹ one or more of them being sick most of the time. After twelve weeks had been spent on the island, death relieved Mr. Augur from further suffering. The youth also died in April, only a few days after Mr. Augur had left them.

Captain Howe was now alone on this forlorn island. If the days had passed wearily while his companions were alive, how great his lonesomeness now must have been. No hermit was ever more solitary. His was, indeed, the reflection of Alexander Selkirk, which Cowper supposes him to have had during his abode on the island of Juan Fernandez.
"O solitude! where are the charms
That sages have seen in thy face?
Better dwell in the midst of alarms.
Than reign in this horrible place.

"I am out of humanity's reach,
I must finish my journey alone,
Never hear the sweet music of speech,
I start at the sound of my own.

"Ye winds that have made me your sport,
Convey to this desolate shore
Some cordial endearing report
Of a land I shall visit no more.

"When I think of my own native land,
In a moment I seem to be there;
But, alas! recollection at hand
Soon hurries me back to despair."
Captain Howe was supplied with his daily food by the ravens, Elijah-like, for months after the winter was over. The weather became milder as spring came on, and he was more comfortable.

Fishing vessels, on their way to and from the Grand Banks now frequently sailed within view of the island. He used all the means that his great need could suggest to attract their attention that they might come to his relief. But nothing availed; either they did not see his signals, or seeing them supposed that they proceeded from some band of hostile Indians, for this was at the time of King Philip's war, when all the savages within the regions of New England were arrayed on one side or the other in the last national struggle against the white settlers.

Captain Howe had now been alone nearly three months. He had spent much of the time in meditation and, being a Christian, in prayer, beseeching God to provide some way for his escape. At last, a new thought struck him, as it did Selkirk, that
"There s mercy in every place,
And mercy, encouraging thought!
Gives even affliction a grace,
And reconciles man to his lot."
In spite of all the misery that surrounded him and while believing that death must soon relieve him from his sufferings, he fasted and prayed, repenting of the sins which were worthy of the calamities that had befallen him. Turning from his mendicant position, he could now see so much mercy that had been shown to him that he was sorry for his forgetfulness and selfishness and determined to acknowledge it in some solemn way of thanksgiving. He set apart a day for that purpose. A few days later, in answer to his prayers, as he believed, a passing vessel sailed much nearer the island than others had done. He eagerly adopted means to attract the attention of the people on board and make known to them the presence of a shipwrecked mariner. The vessel belonged to Salem, Mass. His signal was seen, and a boat was sent to the island. With a heart overflowing with emotion he boarded the boat and was welcomed on the vessel which immediately proceeded on its homeward way. Joy and thanksgiving filled his breast. He arrived in Salem on July 8, 1677, a few days after his rescue, ten months having elapsed since he left Boston on his disastrous trip. He returned to his family and friends at New Haven, where he was hardly recognized, his sickness and suffering from exposure, cold and hunger having had their due effects upon him.

¹ One account says that only Captain Howe's sons died at sea, the passengers and the lad dying on the island.
Source: Historic Storms of New England by Sidney Perley, 1891

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