1839 — Aug 13, storm, Austrian brig Terasto (Perasto?) grounds, Long Beach Island NJ–13-14

–14 Lewis Historical Pub. Co. History of Monmouth County, New Jersey 1664-1920. 1922, 242.
–14 Roberts and Youmans. Down the Jersey Shore. 1993, p. 219.
–13 United States Coast Guard. “U.S. Coast Guard Missions: A Historical Timeline.”
–13 Sheard. Lost Voyages: Two Centuries of Shipwrecks in the Approaches to New York. 1998, p. 73.

Narrative Information

Hyman: “Late one storm-tossed summer night in 1839, the Austrian brig the Count Perasto wrecked on a sandbar off Long Beach Island [NJ]. The captain and crew drowned trying to reach the beach, their bodies found scattered in the surf a mile up and down the coast. William A. Newell, a future U.S. House representative and New Jersey governor, was then in medical practice in Manahawkin and witnessed the disaster. ‘The idea occurred to me that these unfortunates might have been saved could a rope have been thrown to their assistance over the fatal Chasm, a few hundred yards to the bar, and they be hauled through or over the Surf thereby,’ Newell later wrote. To this end, he experimented with various projectiles — bow and arrow, rockets, an early type of shotgun and finally a carronade, a short cannon that disgorged a ball and a line to ailing ships.

“But Newell would make his name not for these engineering feats. A decade later, the newly minted congressman introduced legislation to establish stations between Sandy Hook and Little Egg Harbor to aid shipwrecked mariners. Although fellow politicians initially considered it ‘chimerical, expensive and useless,’ he eventually managed to attach to another bill a $10,000 earmark to build boathouses and equip them with surfboats, rockets and carronades along the New Jersey coast. And thus the U.S. Life-Saving Service was born….” (Hyman, Vicki. “How New Jersey Saved Civilization by establishing the Coast Guard.” NJ.com, 6-5-2010.)

Lewis Historical Publishing Company: “The father of the United States Life Saving Service, Governor William A. Newell, witnessed on August 13, 1839, the wreckage of the Austrian brig Terasto, on Long Beach, then in Monmouth county, now in Ocean county. The captain of the vessel and thirteen of the crew were drowned. The wreck occurred at midnight on a sand bar three hundred yards from shore, the crew meeting their death in endeavoring to swim through the raging surf. To Mr. Newell came the idea that these men could have been saved if a rope could by any means be conveyed to them, so they could have been dragged to the shore. He instituted a series of experiments for carrying a light line by arrow, by rocket, and by shot from a shortened blunderbuss, all with some degree of encouragement, which culminated in the successful use of a mortar or carronade discharging a ball with a line attached….” (Lewis Historical Publishing Company. History of Monmouth County, New Jersey 1664-1920. 1922, p. 242.)

Roberts and Youmans: “It was August 3, 1848. Washington, D.C. sweltered in the equatorial heat that typically marks summer in the nation’s capital….On the floor of the House of Representatives, in these days before air conditioning or electric fans, the atmosphere was oppressive….But the heat, the insects, the general stupor caused by the weather – none of this mattered to a thirty-year-old representative from New Jersey named William A. Newell. He was making a speech – the most important nor only of his own life but also for the lives of countless others, many of whom were not even born yet. Newell was arguing for the creation of some organized system of helping shipwreck victims along the New Jersey coast. It was his pet project, and it had long been met by rejection among lawmakers. But this time, to make his case, the physician-congressman was bringing all his guns to bear. ‘The coast of New Jersey is more famous for shipwrecks, attended with loss of life, than any other part of our country, not even excepting the Florida reefs,’ he told the House members in attendance. He pointed out that there was a sand bar along the length of virtually the entire New Jersey coast. It varied in distance from three hundred to eight hundred yards out to sea, and in some spots it was covered with just two feet of water at low tide. A vessel that gest stranded on this bar, he said, is cut off from the safety of the beach.

“If Newell’s voice was tinged with passion as he spoke, it had good reason to be. Nearly nine years before, on the night of August 13, 1839, he had watched helplessly from shore as the crew of the Austrian brig Terasto battle the raging sea. The ship had struck a shoal just off the Mansion of Health, a prominent hotel on Long Beach Island, during a hurricane. Fourteen people, including the ship’s captain, drowned as they tried desperately to swim ashore. In the days that followed, Newell had ample opportunity to brood on their fate; the victims were buried in the Baptist Church cemetery in Manahawkin, which was adjacent to his residence. The more he looked at each fresh mound of earth, the more determined he grew to help shipwreck victims.

“It is likely that this dreadful night was utmost in his mind when Newell chided his fellow representatives during his speech. ‘The appropriation asked for [$10,000] is small indeed when compared with the great interests of property and life which it is designed to protect.’ Rolling out his heavy artillery, he cited grim statistics that showed the horrible toll of the sea: from April 12, 1839, to July 31, 1848, a total of 338 vessels had been wrecked on the Long Island and New Jersey coasts (122 vessels alone in just a two-year stretch from February 1846 to July 1848). ‘Our seamen,’ said the doctor pointedly, ‘are entitled to far more care from the Government than they receive.’….” (Roberts and Youmans. “The Life-Saving Service.” Down the Jersey Shore. 1993, pp. 218-219.)

Sheard: “In 1847, the newly elected Congressional Representative of New Jersey, Doctor William A. Newell, personally witnessed the terrible wreck of the Austrian brig Terasto on Jersey shore. Thirteen of her crew perished during the winter [fall] storm that destroyed the vessel. Doctor Newell was so moved by the light of the poor crew that he persuaded Congress to enact a bill authorizing $10,000 for the construction and equipping of eight life-saving stations along the coast of his district….” (Sheard, Bradley. Lost Voyages: Two Centuries of Shipwrecks in the Approaches to New York. NY: Aqua Quest Publications, Inc., 1998, p. 73.)

USCG: “….Loss of the Austrian brig Terasto (1840s)
“William A. Newell witnessed the sinking of the Terasto and the death of her 13-man crew. He
became a congressman and pushed for the creation of a federal government supported life-
saving service, beginning in 1848..” (United States Coast Guard. “U.S. Coast Guard Missions: A Historical Timeline.”)

Newspapers

Aug 18, Boston Morning Post: “Disasters. Austrian brig Perasto, from London for Philadelphia, with a full assorted cargo, got ashore on Barnegat [NJ], at 3 o’clock, on Tuesday morning [Aug 14]. It is said that assistance has been sent to her from Philadelphia.” (Boston Morning Post. “Disasters,” 8-19-1939, p. 2, col. 6.)

Aug 19, Boston Morning Post: “The Storm in New York, on Friday, did considerable damage. The following is copied from the N.Y. Post of Saturday evening: — The wind, from the northeast, blew with some violence over the city, yesterday, from an early hour in the morning to about four o’clock in the afternoon, stripping many trees of their branches and doing considerable damage to the shipping at the wharves. Three brick walls of a house just erecting on Sixth street, between Second and Third avenues, three stories high, were prostrated. The front had been left open to be built of granite, and the roof was not on….

The Austrian brig Piraste, Jacuzzi, from London, June 8th, for Philadelphia, went ashore on Thursday morning, about five miles south of Barnegat, and has probably since gone to pieces.” (Boston Morning Post. “The Storm in New York. 8-19-1839, p. 2.)

Sources

Boston Morning Post. “Disasters,” 8-19-1939, p. 2, col. 6. Accessed 7-4-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/boston-morning-post-aug-19-1839-p-2/

Boston Morning Post. “The Storm in New York. 8-19-1839, p. 2. Accessed 7-4-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/boston-morning-post-aug-19-1839-p-2/

Hyman, Vicki. “How New Jersey Saved Civilization by establishing the Coast Guard.” NJ.com, 6-5-2010. Accessed 7-4-2022 at: https://www.nj.com/insidejersey/2010/06/how_new_jersey_saved_civilizat_16.html

Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc. History of Monmouth County, New Jersey 1664-1920. New York and Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1922. Digitized by Google. Accessed 7-4-2022 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=SaOo8vH96WsC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=true

Roberts, Russell and Richard Youmans. Down the Jersey Shore. Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1993 and 2003. Google partial digitalization accessed 7-4-2022 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=sNhX5E6YsdwC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=true

Sheard, Bradley. Lost Voyages: Two Centuries of Shipwrecks in the Approaches to New York. NY: Aqua Quest Publications, Inc., 1998.

United States Coast Guard. “U.S. Coast Guard Missions: A Historical Timeline.” Accessed 7-4-2022 at: https://media.defense.gov/2021/Jun/04/2002735330/-1/-1/0/USCGMISSIONSTIMELINE.PDF

History of Monmouth County, New Jersey, 1664-1920, Volume 1.