The tug was then able to get near enough to the barge to take off the three members of her crew, but the Captain and mate refused to leave the craft. As the day of the 13th advanced the gale and the sea steadily increased and the barge strained heavily at her anchors. All through the day until late in the afternoon we watched the barge pitching and rolling in the great seas that swept her, expecting every moment to see her drag to the bar and be pounded to pieces. We knew that a leak must sooner or later pour water into her hold. Soon we saw smoke rising from her pumping engine which indicated that water was coming in, and those on board were making an effort to prevent the flooding of the hold, but we could see that they would be unable to overcome the leak and the water was slowly but surely sinking the craft. This barge carried a small dory on the deck house. Pretty soon we saw the captain and mate unlash the boat and take it down on deck; then they went into the cabin and came out each with a suit case; these they placed in the dory; then they lowered the boat into the water and we realized that they were preparing to take to this frail skiff and abandon the barge. Heavens, we knew that they might as well jump into the sea at once rather than prolong the agony, that boat had no more chance to reach the shore than the men had to swim there. Soon they cut the rope that held the boat to the sinking craft, seized the oars and pulled around the stern of the barge; for about fifteen minutes they were able to keep the boat heading the sea, then came a great overpowering wave that swept the boat to its crest and sent it a hundred feet away, hurling the men into the rushing waves and turning the boat bottom up, for a brief moment the heads of the men appeared above the wild sea, then dropped from sight. Their bodies were recovered next day far down the beach from where the sea swallowed them up. [Illustration: ALL THAT REMAINED OF THE OAKLAND] When the sun rose next morning all that was visible protruding above the still raging sea was one lone mast above the sunken hull, mute evidence of another tragedy of the sea. In a few days the broken hull was washed up on the beach and the cargo was scattered along the shore. LOSS OF THE CASTAGNIA For a day or two previous to February 17th, 1914, the weather had been extremely bad along the New England coast with very cold northeast and northwest winds with snow squalls. On the afternoon of the 16th a deeply laden bark was seen by the Cahoons Hollow Coast Station acting very strangely. She would first sail up the coast for quite a distance and then tack and sail down the coast. This was repeated several times, and it seemed to the Life Savers that the officers of the bark had completely lost their bearings. The vessel finally drove away in the mists of the night under short sail. At daylight next morning the Coast Guard patrol discovered the vessel hard and fast on the outlying sand bar.