PORT ANGELES (Wash.), October 28.—Efforts so far to haul off the brig Tanner, which went ashore last Saturday near Elwha river, six miles west of this city, have proved futile. The vessel so far is not damaged by the seas. Further effort will be made by tugs at high tide tomorrow. The tug captain believes the vessel can be hauled off if more tugs can be procured before the storm comes, otherwise she will prove a total loss.
The news that the old brig Tanner had gone ashore at Port Angeles and probably would prove a total loss was received yesterday in the local shipping world with considerable interest. The Tanner was about the oldest and one of the most picturesque vessels on the Pacific. In 1855, when she was launched at Smithtown, N. Y., she was as tight and saucy a brig as ever flew the stars and stripes. Forty-eight years of sea service, however, transformed the Tanner into a floating sieve in which no sailorman less brave than her skipper and owner, Captain Newhall, would have dared to venture beyond easy reach of a life-saving station.
The Tanner was equipped with an enormous windmill which operated a pump that aided materially in keeping her afloat. When the windmill got out of order the ordinary hand pump lacked the capacity to handle the water that leaked through her seams and the Tanner was in constant trouble.
In spite of her age and openwork hull, however, Captain Newhall kept his old brig in active commission and made long ocean voyages in her long after the surveyors had given her up as a hopeless derelict. Captain Newhall, who managed to escape with his life in this latest mishap to the brig, is an old man. Years ago he gave up the command of the bark Amelia at the solicitation of his daughter, who thought her father, at that time, too old for the rigorous life of the sea. He said good-by to the ocean and became interested in the logging business. Life ashore, however, proved irksome to the ancient mariner and when the opportunity presented itself he bought the Tanner and has stayed with her ever since.—Call.
The Pacific Commercial Advertiser, Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands, November 6, 1903