SCHOONER MARY G FARR

SCHOONER MARY G. FARR

CAPTAIN JOHN CONWELL

January 1886 the Schooner Farr was off the New Jersey coast, Captain Conwell the master, when strong winds tossed her about and she caught fire from a tossed lantern it was supposed. As the flames gathered in the hold Conwell sterred the schooner toward shore in an effort to beach the burning vessel. As the fire gained, the captain ordered the crew to abandon and a long boat was launched. Surfmen at Spring Lake Life Saving Station had seen the blaze and had set out just as they saw the schooner hit a sandbar and sink and evidently loose the crew as the water washing over her put out the fire. The Life Saving Crew report “It was after 1 o'clock in the morning, all cries for help ceased” and no signs of life were seen.

The next few days the bodies of Comwe;; and others washed ashore with debris that included a woman's clothing and and a child's chair, which caused belief that the Captains wife and child had been aboard as was often the case.

However. It was found that these items were stored aboard, and the wife and children of Captain Conwell did not accompany him on the last fateful cruise of the Schooner Mary G. Farr.

Schooner Mary G. Farr , a two mast schooner, 129 feet long, slid into the Broadkill at Milton in 1863

Michael Morgan, Delaware Diary, 2016, Ships and Men of the Broadkill, 1966, 1887 Report of Life Saving Service.