1917 – Mar 29, 23-foot motor boat Moxie with young men capsizes off Winthrop, MA–all 13
Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 9-12-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/
–13 Boston Daily Globe. “Moxie’s Hatch Found Afloat.” 4-2-1917, pp. 1 and 3.
–13 Boston Sunday Post. “Believe Boys Have Perished.” 4-1-1917, p. 1.
–13 Snow. “The Moxie.” Great Storms and Shipwrecks of New England. 1943, pp. 258-259.
Narrative Information
Newspapers
April 1. Boston Sunday Post. “Believe Boys Have Perished.” 4-1-1917, p. 1:
“The discovery yesterday morning of a coat belonging to Lester McClearn, one of the 13 young men missing from Lynn since Thursday night, when they set forth for a joy ride in a 23-foot motor boat, leaves little doubt that the entire 13 met death by drowning.
“Two East Boston lobster fishermen,…discovered the coat on the sandy shore of the Outer Brewster Island between 5:30 and 6 o’clock….The coat was positively identified as McClearn’s by the young man’s father at the McClearn home….
“That the motor boat foundered off Winthrop either Thursday night or Friday morning is the belief of those familiar with the situation. Thomas A. McGhearty of Winthrop Hill road heard shouts off the Winthrop headlands at 10:30 p.m. Thursday [29th] and later discerned a boat moving off shore, apparently in distress.
“The 13 boys believed to be in the boat were: [We place the names in separate lines below.]
Robert Hudson Robertson, 17 years old…Nahant;
Lester McClearn, 22…Lynn;
Francis Girard, 21…Lynn;
Matthew Pashby, 20…Lynn;
John Murphy…Lynn;
Thomas McQueeney, 19…Lynn;
James McQueeney, 18…Lynn;
George Gaffney, 18…Lynn;
Allen Kelley, 18…Lynn;
Tony Scalla, 20…Lynn;
Martin Welch, 21, 63 Union street;
Clarence D. Maloon, 19…Lynn;
- Henry Brown, Jr., 23…Lynn.
“Although the boys put out from Lynn at 10 o’clock Thursday night, little concern was felt about their safety until Friday afternoon. Lynn and Nahant police and the Nahant coastguard station No. 24 were notified and a general search was instituted. The only clue found came from Winthrop….
“Thomas A. McGhearty, when interviewed by a Post reporter last night, reported that late Thursday night he heard frantic shouts coming from the water off Winthrop Highlands. He notified the Winthrop police. The police called Gus Johnson, janitor of the Winthrop Yacht Club, and the latter informed the searchers that he had not only heard the shouts, but had seen a boat, with a man standing in the stern waving a lantern. It appeared as if the boat was stuck on a sand bar. No rescue boat was available.
“At 11:30 the lantern went out and silence came. When a boat could be secured, McGhearty, Johnson and 10 other men started to the scene of the shouts, but could discover nothing. The Nahant Coast Guard station was notified and a dory with four guards searched the waters off Winthrop Highlands until dawn Friday morning….
“On the Winthrop water front…the theory that the boat had foundered soon after the cessation of the cries, could not be downed. Faun Bar, a nasty rocky ledge, directly off the Highlands, marks the spot where the boat was last seen. The theory is that before the boat sank the boys jumped for it, but were unable to make shore in the darkness.”
April 2. Boston Daily Globe. “Moxie’s Hatch Found Afloat.” 4-2-1917, p. 1:
“Special Dispatch to the Globe
“Lynn, April 1 – The discovery off the Brewster Islands today of a sliding hatch, which was positively identified as having come from the power boat Moxie, is regarded as definite proof that the 23-foot boat foundered off Winthrop last Thursday night, carrying to watery graves 12 Lynn young men and Hudson Robertson of Nahant, son of the owner of the boat….”
Sources
Boston Daily Globe. “Moxie’s Hatch Found Afloat.” 4-2-1917, pp. 1 and 3. Accessed 9-12-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/boston-daily-globe-apr-02-1917-p-1/
Boston Sunday Post. “Believe Boys Have Perished. Coat of One of 13 Missing in Motor Boat Since Thursday Found and Identified.” 4-1-1917, pp. 1 and 10. Accessed 9-11-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/boston-sunday-post-apr-01-1917-p-1/
Snow, Edward Rowe. Great Storms and Shipwrecks of New England. Boston: Yankee Publishing Company, 1943.