We left Concord, Massachusetts, on Tuesday, October 9th, 1849. On
reaching Boston, we found that the Provincetown steamer, which should
have got in the day before, had not yet arrived, on account of a
violent storm; and, as we noticed in the streets a handbill headed,
“Death! one hundred and forty-five lives lost at Cohasset,” we decided
to go by way of Cohasset. We found many Irish in the cars, going to
identify bodies and to sympathize with the survivors, and also to
attend the funeral which was to take place in the afternoon;—and when
we arrived at Cohasset, it appeared that nearly all the passengers were
bound for the beach, which was about a mile distant, and many other
persons were flocking in from the neighboring country. There were
several hundreds of them streaming off over Cohasset common in that
direction, some on foot and some in wagons,—and among them were some
sportsmen in their hunting-jackets, with their guns, and game-bags, and
dogs. As we passed the graveyard we saw a large hole, like a cellar,
freshly dug there, and, just before reaching the shore, by a pleasantly
winding and rocky road, we met several hay-riggings and farm-wagons
coming away toward the meeting-house, each loaded with three large,
rough deal boxes. We did not need to ask what was in them. The owners
of the wagons were made the undertakers. Many horses in carriages were
fastened to the fences near the shore, and, for a mile or more, up and
down, the beach was covered with people looking out for bodies, and
examining the fragments of the wreck. There was a small island called
Brook Island, with a hut on it, lying just off the shore. This is said
to be the rockiest shore in Massachusetts, from Nantasket to
Scituate,—hard sienitic rocks, which the waves have laid bare, but have
not been able to crumble. It has been the scene of many a shipwreck.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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