It was bitterly cold and the tattered sail of the vessel slatted against the broken spars; ice covered her decks and hung in great bunches to her broken ropes. Her crew had been driven to the rigging by the raging seas which constantly swept over her, and the Coast Guard could see a number of human figures clinging desperately to the rigging. Then the Coast Guard apparatus was placed in position and a shot sent over the vessel; three times the shot and line sped over the craft, but the men in the rigging made no effort to secure the line; then Capt. Tobin decided that an effort must be made to launch the life boat. But under the terrible conditions which prevailed it was an undertaking fraught with much danger. But the boat was launched and the Life Savers pulled away. Soon they reached the side of the ship and called to the men in the rigging to come down. Eight of them after much effort and assisted by the Coast Guard crew were finally gotten into the boat. Capt. Tobin of the Coast Guard crew said to one of the rescued sailors, “Why don’t those other men come down?” “They cannot,” was the reply. “They are dead, frozen to death.” The boat returning to shore was pretty well overloaded with crew and rescued, and as the bow touched the beach was overturned, but all of the men were thrown clear of the boat except Capt. Tobin, who was caught between the steering oar and the stern of the boat and considerably injured. The Coast Guard station was more than two miles away from the scene of the disaster but the Marconi Wireless station was only a mile away and to this house the half frozen sailors were hurried as fast as their almost helpless condition would permit. A physician was summoned from Wellfleet and the condition of the men made as comfortable as possible, then hurried by the next train to Boston hospitals. All of them lost fingers or toes. The three dead sailors, from necessity, were left lashed to the rigging where they had died, until the next day, when the bodies were brought to shore and buried in the town cemetery. In a few days the hull of the ship lay a battered wreck on the shore. [Illustration: HIGHLAND CLIFFS AND SIGNAL STATION The author’s home from which the passing ships are sighted and reported by telegraph or telephone to Boston and the Newspapers] THOMAS W. LAWSON THE LARGEST SCHOONER An interesting vessel of this class was the seven masted schooner, Thomas W. Lawson, built in 1902 by the Fore River Ship and Engine Company of Quincy, Mass. She was of steel, 368 feet long, 50 feet beam, 34½ feet depth of hold and of 10,000 tons displacement, thus being the largest vessel of this class ever constructed for sailing only. She was built for the Coastwise Transportation Company, at a cost of about $150,000. Mr. Lawson was a considerable contributor in the cost of her construction and the vessel was named for him.