3l6 HISTORY OF con ASSET. 



Another enterprise inaugurated by tliis man was in 

 Little Harbor, which we shall presently review. 



It is desirable to stop here at the year 1793 and repeat 

 the story of one of the most famous shipwrecks in the 

 history of our perilous coast. In the words of Rev, 

 Jacob Flint* the story comes to us : — 



On February 12, 1793, the ship Gertrude-Maria, of 400 tons, 

 bound from Copenhagen to Boston, with a cargo estimated at 

 $40,000, and commanded by Hans Peter Clien, was wrecked on a 

 small island, among Cohasset rocks, called Brush Island. Hav- 

 ing entered the bay, the commander knew not the danger of his 

 situation. Clouds obscured the light of the sun by day, of the 

 moon and stars by night, and no small tempest with frost and 

 snow lay upon them. In the awful war of elements, the ship was 

 at the mercy of the fierce winds and mountainous billows. These 

 threw her first upon a small ledge, where she suffered but partial 

 injury ; then on the island, just named, whose sides are covered 

 with pointed ledges. On these, the angry surges raised and 

 depressed her with violence, till they broke her asunder. Death 

 now staring every man in the face, trial was made by two men 

 with a boat, to reach the shore. The boat was dashed to pieces. 

 One was drowned, the other left to recover the wreck. At 

 length, by extending a spar from the stern of the wreck, the 

 survivors all got upon the island, where the waves could not reach 

 them. Here they tarried, in the tempest, chilled with wet and 

 frost, without fire or house to shelter them, till discovered early 

 the next morning by the inhabitants of the town. Means for 

 granting relief were immediately adopted. A boat was quickly 

 brought to the beach, a mile overland. She was manned without 

 delay, and plunged into the agitated surf, at the imminent hazard 

 of the lives of the adventurers. She reached the island, and 

 brought off three of the sufferers. Another attempt was imme- 

 diately made, but the storm and the tumult of the sea increasing, 

 it was frustrated by the destruction of the boat against the rocks. 

 Two other boats were soon brought from a distance, and the 

 dauntless exertions of tlie boatmen were renewed, till the suffer- 



* See his Century Discourses. 



