Dear Supporters, Members, and Friends of the Barnegat Bay Maritime Museum,

With great joy and gratitude, we announce a watershed achievement in our journey towards preserving maritime heritage and expanding community engagement. Thanks to the generosity of the Peter R. and Cynthia K. Kellogg Foundation, we have received a transformative, sizeable matching donation. This extraordinary contribution guides us toward a future brimming with possibilities.

The impact of this generous gift cannot be overstated. It not only provides vital financial support but also serves as a monument to the spirit of philanthropy. Many thanks also to every individual who contributed over the past two years, whether through donations, volunteer efforts, or advocacy. Each contribution played a crucial role in shaping the success of this cause.

We extend much gratitude to Dan and Nancy Crabbe for their partnership and tireless efforts in this collaboration with the Peter R. and Cynthia K. Kellogg Foundation. Their commitment to our mission has been a guiding light, inspiring us to reach greater heights.

Furthermore, we extend deep thanks to George Corbeels, Gary, and Kathy Moon, whose unwavering support in spearheading numerous fundraising events along the Jersey Shore amplified our impact. Your passion and dedication are instrumental in rallying the community behind our shared vision.

Reflecting upon this momentous occasion, we also cherish the spirit of unity and generosity that binds us together. Everyone together has shown that when individuals and organizations come together in pursuit of common cause, anything is possible.

Named for and designed by Capt. Charles Hugh McLellan, an officer posted to the Toms River station for most of his U.S. Life-Saving Service career (the service predated the formation of the U.S. Coast Guard in 1915), the watercraft grew from the captain's life-long desire to develop and produce safer and more effective lifeboats in water rescue.

His 36' motor lifeboat first appears in Barnegat Bay Maritime Museum files in a clipped July 25th, 1907 article by the New Jersey Courier, the weekly newspaper of Toms River:

THE LARGEST LIFEBOAT EVER KNOWN BUILDING AT BAYONNE

The largest lifeboat ever known is being put together at Bayonne under supervision and from the plans of Capt. C.H. McLellan, a retired officer of the Revenue service, who is well known at Toms River, where he spent so many years as inspector in the L.S.S. This lifeboat is to be 36 feet long and will have a forty horse power engine. It is being built for the Canadian government, and will be stationed at Vancouver Island, in the North Pacific, at the entrance to Puget Sound. The U.S. Government will build a companion boat for the Cape Flattery side of the entrance. These boats will be of the self-righting and self-bailing type, constructed by Capt. McLellan under the improved Beebe-McLellan lifeboat plans.
Capt. McLellan said the other day that when he first proposed power for lifeboats in 1899, he was laughed at everywhere by everybody connected with coast guard work. Now there are seventeen power life boats in the U.S. Life-saving Service, and 25 more are being fitted out. In a short time he said every station would probably have a power boat.

​Though not mentioned in the article, construction in Bayonne took place at the ELCO boatyard.

According to Tim Dring, author with the U.S. Coast Guard, “This boat actually became the first 36-foot motor lifeboat to be completed. The McLellan 36-foot lifeboat design continued the practice of double-diagonal hull planking as well as the installation of the motor and power train in the aft end air case, with a single 3-bladed propeller of 22-inch diameter and 24-inch pitch. [This first] Canadian 36-foot lifeboat was reported to have a top speed of 9.75 statute MPH at 650RPM. Self-righting and self-bailing capabilities were achieved by the same means used in the 34-foot lifeboat; i.e., high end air cases, air cases below deck, a heavy bronze keel of 1500lbs., and ten through-bottom relieving valves. Like the 34-foot lifeboat, the 36-foot version was also equipped for rowing and sailing as auxiliary forms of propulsion in the event the motor failed. Visually, the main difference between the 34-foot motor lifeboat and the 36-foot version is the length of the aft end air case, which was longer on the 36-foot model. Over the period 1907 to 1915 (the last year of construction for the 36-foot McLellan Type E design) a total of forty-six 36-foot motor lifeboats were built for the USLSS.

“Operational experience with the McLellan 36-foot motor lifeboat showed that it was a very rugged and seaworthy design, although crew and survivors were quite exposed to the elements during a rough weather rescue. In addition, the high quality of their construction resulted in a boat having very beautiful and graceful lines, including their original USLSS-era paint scheme with varnished woodwork. The wooden, double-diagonal planked hull, however, required careful maintenance and/or repairs.

“In July of 1910, the USLSS Board of Lifesaving Appliances tested one of the new 36-foot motor lifeboats, Victory, assigned to Station Wood End, Massachusetts, on the tip of Cape Cod. The results of these tests caused the Board to state in their report that:

“The Board is of the opinion that the 36-foot self-righting and self-bailing power lifeboat…is the highest type of power lifeboat as yet developed for the uses of the LifeSaving Service, and that it surpasses any type or plan of lifeboat so far submitted to or known by the Board…The introduction and rapid development within the last decade of mechanical propulsion in nearly all classes of undocumented vessels, has resulted in a corresponding increase in the scope, work and duties of the crews of life-saving stations to such an extent that the use of mechanical propulsion as an auxiliary power in many of the boats of the service is imperatively necessary to the growth and efficiency of the Lifesaving Service, and the Board therefore earnestly recommends that the type of lifeboat as exemplified in the model and fit out of the 36-foot self-righting and self-bailing power lifeboat …together with such changes and improvements [that] time and experience may develop and render advisable, be furnished as expeditiously as conditions and the funds … will permit…”

Full specifications of this boat, designed by Capt. McLellan, include:

General: Self-righting and self-bailing; 36ft. 0in. LOA, 8ft. 7.5in. beam, 4 ft. 2.5in. depth from skin to gunwale amidships, 7ft. 4in. length of end box inside stem rabbet, 9ft. 7in. length of end box inside stern post rabbet, 6ft. 7in. depth at rabbets of stem and stern post, 0ft. 4.5in. sheer of deck between end boxes, 3ft. 4.5in. distance between centers of thwarts, 2ft. 0in. station spacing; 8 tons displacement; single 6 cylinder, 4 cycle open base Holmes Automarine gasoline engine of 35-40HP (initially only 28HP) with two fuel tanks (125gal. main/25gal. aux.; gravity feed) and single, adjustable, 3-blade, 22in. diameter/24in. pitch prop; rudder control via steering rod coupled to pinion and quadrant ; maximum speed just under 10 statute MPH at 700RPM/40HP; Patterson wireless G-U-84 battery, jump spark ignition; engine controls located on forward bulkhead of aft air case; sailing rig consisted of two hollow spruce masts 5in. diameter at tack, 3.5in. at head, foresail 18sq.ft., mainsail 16.5sq.ft., rake 1.5in. to the foot with jib plus fore-and-aft lug sails; self-righting within approximately 30sec.; five thwarts for 10 oars rowed in doublebanked configuration; equipped with canvas spray cover which extended aft of forward air casing approximately half-way down the cockpit.

Construction: Double diagonal planked (45 degrees) wooden hull of 3/8in. Honduras mahogany with No. 10 canvas in-between, copper fastened and riveted, along with brass screws; frames of white oak sided 1.5in., molded 2in. at throat, and 1in. at ends; white oak upper keel and 1500lb. gunmetal lower keel plus bronze droppable metal centerboard ½in. thick; 112 air cases of 18 ounce copper located below deck and along sides; ten 7in. diameter copper relieving tubes from deck to bottom with self-acting balanced valves; Honduran mahogany watertight main deck double-planked; 34 watertight compartments, 70 air cases. 

FURTHER READING: Sand Pounders: An Interpretation of the History of the U.S. Life-Saving Service, Based on Its Annual Reports for the Years 1870 Through 1914
by Capt. Robert F. Bennett, USGC (Ret.)

Available free online here: https://books.google.com/books?id=7JR5rJvlGbcC

Originally published in the August 1998 edition of Toms River Seaport Society's Seafarer Newsletter.

by Ed Asay

The first race ever between the BULL and BEAR Sandbagger replicas was held in the Toms River, on Sunday, July 19, 1998. The Lobster Shanty of Toms River sponsored the BULL and the Asay Family sponsored the BEAR in a WIN-WIN situation for the Maritime Museum of the Toms River Seaport Society. Each sponsor donated $1250.00 which was matched by an anonymous donor to total $5000.00 as PRIZE money for the race.

The race was started as the two Sandbaggers gracefully soared by the starting line off the Toms River Yacht Club dock by a Toms River Race Committee. With both boats under double reefed sail, BULL ran ahead off Island Heights and the BEAR momentarily ran into a shoal, beating to windward. With BULL holding a six boat lead and sailing well, a gust of wind on the port tack off Nelson Sailing Center resulted in a swim for the crew of the BULL. John Brady, the builder of both sandbaggers, alert as strategist on the BEAR, ordered the dousing of the BEAR's Jib as a precaution against the strengthening wind. Under the main, BEAR, readily rounded the mark off Ocean Gate and crossed the finish line as winner while the game crew of the BULL righted their boat and returned to the Toms River Yacht Club. Both crews withdrew to an "after race" party hosted at the Lobster Shanty, where tall tales were traded about the "Great Race" of the day.

Raced from the Civil War until the turn of the century, sandbaggers were the extreme racing machines of their day. The BULL and BEAR were built recently to be 27' long with a bowsprit two thirds that length, and a ladder-like structure aft to attend the long boom of the mainsail. In all 61' long, a sandbagger raised 1133 square ft of sail, and its 30-40 pound bags of sand were tossed from port rail to starboard by a professional crew of 10 to 14 as the boat tacked to windward. Once the boat rounded the mark and began running with the wind, the crew would throw the sandbags overboard and literally jump off to lighten ship to win the race.

Though not the 1998 race, area professional photographer and videographer Peter Slack, of Island Heights, did capture the 2005 race at Lake Hopatcong Yacht Club, which can be watched below, with thanks and credit to Mr. Slack:

This week we offer an essay written by Edward Lukacs titled, "The Garvey," from 2007, which he says gives "a reminiscence, really, of my search for a new one some [52] years ago." Reprinted with permission.

It was a cold morning in November 1972. The young boatman slowly drove down Route 9 into southern Ocean County, New Jersey. He was searching for something special, a new boat, a garvey. And there was nowhere else on earth that he might find one but near the Barnegat Bay, where the design had been developed and refined by generations of baymen.

Garveys are flat-bowed boats intended for fishing and crabbing in the inland waters and among the thoroughfares and sedges of southern New Jersey's coastal bays. And there are wide variations among them, perhaps as many designs and preferences as there are baymen.

At every creek south of Toms River, he turned off the highway, following the narrow roads that ran alongside the meandering streams through the sedges toward the bay. Some local baymen supplemented their income during the winter by building these local water craft to sell.

Here and there, he saw a brand new boat sitting inside an open shed door or sitting on a home-made trailer or even atop a few concrete blocks, the hull cushioned on two by fours. In every case, he looked at the boat critically, but none were quite right.

Garvey lovers are almost fanatically fussy about their taste in their favorite craft. Show a Mantoloking crabber a garvey built twenty miles away in Forked river and he'll tell you it's far too extravagant in lines, too high in freeboard and to broad in the beam to be any good. That's because the boat is too broad and deep for crabbing and netting in the shallows and the narrow passages through the sedge prevalent in his part of the bay. 

Show a Forked River bayman a Mantoloking boat and he'll tell you it hasn't got any lines, it's too straight in the shear, and not high or beamy enough to be safe in a chop, common in the broader, deeper bay waters that he fishes. His boat will have a lot of curve in the sheer line and a higher and narrower bow than a Mantoloking boat. It will have more beam so it is more stable as he dips his rake over the side to harvest clams and oysters off the bottom.

And so it goes in every creek until you reach the West Creek area, where the garvey seems to undergo a startling transformation. For West Creek is the home of the annual Barnegat Bay garvey races. Here, almost magical boats, sixteen to twenty feet long, with large, heavily modified automobile engines and refinements such as steps, bevelled chines and "double breasts" or semi-vee bows, rule the roost. Some were capable, in the heyday of such racing in the late 1960's, of almost one hundred miles per hour.

Some, a very few, of these fast boats were actually used for fishing. One large garvey was justifiably famous for its exploits, illegally gill-netting striped bass near Beach Haven and Barnegat Inlets on the incoming tides at night. The state Fish and Game Police tried to catch her for almost two years, but the "tunnel sterned, double breasted step garvey", thirty feet long, with two v-eight Ford engines, could make almost sixty miles per hour over the shallow flats in  the bay, running in as little as a one foot and a half of water. No state patrol boat could go as fast or run in such shallow water, so her pursuers often had to detour for miles in order not to damage their boats while she happily skipped across water that was nearly mud flats.

In 1959, she was finally cornered by a half dozen Fish & Game boats in the bay while almost a dozen state troopers covered all the possible landing spots and docks in the local creeks. Eventually, surrounded and with nowhere left to run, she came into her dock. The state confiscated the boat and used her for some years in the bay, patrolling against the very miscreants that had created her and others like her.

But neither a racing boat nor a boat that large held any interest for the boatman who, all day long, wended his way down the bay, stopping here, chatting with a bayman there. His quarry was always elusive, ever just out of reach. Eventually he stopped at the New Gretna House to have a late lunch. Once a stopping place for the stage coaches to Cape May, Tuckerton, Batsto and Hammonton, the old inn and restaurant had been serving tired travelers for more than a century. He was discouraged, having travelled over fifty miles and spoken to almost a dozen men, only to be disappointed at each stop. He was about to turn back.

While eating his thick red clam chowder, properly made in the manner of that area of the Bay, with a bit of salt pork and thyme added, he asked the barman where he might find a local boat builder. He told him what he was looking for, a "double breasted garvey" of sixteen to twenty feet in length and about a six foot beam, with "rocker chines" and a "well" for the outboard. But he didn't want a work boat; he wanted a fine quality finish, for pleasure use.

"I've visited every builder from Mantoloking to West Creek, and none of them has quite what I'm looking for." he said. The barman said to him "Have you been down to Port Republic yet?" He had not. "You really ought to go down there, right by the small bridge. The place is called 'The Modern Boat works'. Ask for Mr. Adams. I think he may have what you're looking for. If he hasn't, he certainly ought to be able to make it for you. Builds a hell of a boat, and he's been doing so for a good fifty years."

So. instead of turning north he continued southbound over Great Bay on the Parkway bridge, getting back onto Route 9 on the south shore, then passing the Chestnut Neck Battle Memorial before crossing a small bridge in the middle of the sedges, near a few poor summer homes built over the sedge on stilts on the sides of the small creek. There, on his right, was the Modern Boat Works.

He pulled off the road onto the clam-shell and gravel paved lot.

He looked inside the shed and there he saw an erecting cradle for a lapstrake hull of about twenty-seven feet, a hull which would have very good lines. Behind it he saw a pale green bow sticking out into view. It was a garvey, and a double breasted one!

He walked around the cradle to look at the boat. Never in his life had he seen such a garvey! Beautifully balanced in lines, it was about twenty feet long. It had beveled chines aft, and it had a beam of about six and a half feet. Meant for outboard power, it had a solid transom with an internal well for the motor. Its lines were the best that he had ever seen.

But that mere description of a pretty hull paled as he looked more closely at it. It had mahogany thwarts, foredeck, coamings, console and windshield and teak rub rails and even teak decking slats in the cockpit. All of the hardware was of traditional brass. All fastening holes had been carefully finished with flush wooden plugs and the joinery and varnish finish were worthy of a major yacht, while the hardware was strictly traditional.

He looked at one of the cleats. It bore the hallmark of Wilcox and Crittenden, a Norfolk, Virginia foundry which had equipped the Virginia when she was the pride of the Confederacy, the Merrimack before she was cut down and renamed the Virginia and indeed, many Union ships built in Norfolk before there was a Confederate Navy.

The Danforth Constellation compass was worthy of a fifty foot cruiser. The deep gloss of the mirror-smooth mahogany finish reminded him of the woodwork that he had only ever seen elsewhere on the expensive Rolls-Royce powered Italian Riva speedboats which were sold to rich yachtsmen by an exclusive boat shop in Point Pleasant. This boat was the work of an uncompromising master craftsman.

It was chilly inside the open shed in the wind and the shade. He would have to leave soon or freeze. He walked over to the door marked "Office," but it was locked, so he went to his car to get a piece of paper to leave a note. As he opened the car's door an ancient Ford pick-up truck arrived. A very old man got out and asked, "Can I help you?" The old man was Carl Adams, the owner of the boat shop for almost sixty years.

The young boatman explained what he had been doing that day. He spoke carefully, speaking in the idiom of the baymen, having grown up among many of their children. He expressed his admiration for the beautiful garvey. He said that he had long looked for exactly such a boat, but that he had never seen one so handsome, so perfect before.

The old man warmed to him and said, "No, I won't sell you my boat. I built her for myself and I still use her. And I can't build one for you because I'm too old to do it myself, and my son, who's sixty-one, has hurt his back and can't do any heavy work. All we're building right now are couple of small duck boats and bateaus."

The boatman was very disappointed. He had dreamed, and searched and saved for years to buy just such a boat. And there it was, right in front of him, but it could not be his. He asked if he could purchase a set of the plans and attempt to build one or have it built elsewhere.

The old man said "There are no plans as such. You see, I carved a halfmodel of her and took the lines off it when I got it right. I just marked it out on the shop floor and cut her to fit. I finished the decking and trim pretty much by cutting and fitting until I was satisfied. I can show you the half- model if you'd like to see it."

With that he took out his keys and opened the office door, inviting the boatman into the well-lit office. Facing south, and with large windows, it was much warmer there than in the crisp November air of the open boat shed. He began talking about boats he had built, pointing to half-models on planks which covered much of the wall space in the room, with others stacked in a neat pile on a large table.

He described how the frames were measured off the half model, and then "lofted," or drawn full size onto sheets of brown, or "fish" paper. From these the erecting cradle and the frames would be cut.

The boatman admired some of the half models, three or four in particular. He asked about them, and Adams beamed. He said "You have a good eye! You picked out the hulls of the best of the rum runners that I ever built!"

He took one down from the wall and passed it lovingly to the boatman. The model, carved and finished like glass, had thin pencil lines scribed upon it. It was a fairly slim boat with a fine bow with some flare, a slightly raised foredeck, and hard chines, it must have been very fast.

He remarked that the lines were that of a good speedboat, but the hull would be larger than most speedboats. Adams said "That is the fastest boat that I ever built. It was 1932, and the buyer came from New York and ordered the boat like usual, paying a half down as a deposit and telling me what engines would be used and when they would be delivered."

Adams grabbed a few old brown photographs in way of explanation, handing them to the boatman. "The engines were usually either surplus Packard Liberties or Curtis OX-5's, both meant for airplanes. They always had their own people set up the engines. They told me how big a boat they wanted and what range and speed and I had freedom to do the rest, within their needs."

He continued "This was right after one of the Long Island boats got tired of being shot at by the Coast Guard four stacker destroyers and decided to do something about it. Somewhere they found a light pack howitzer and some ammunition, and when the next four stacker fired across their bows, they fired back! Probably scared those sailors out of their britches! Anyway, the four stacker made short work of them and from then on, we had to build boats which could exceed forty knots with a full load so they could outrun the destroyers."

"When I built this boat, they told me that the engines would not be the usual surplus Packard Liberties, but a brand new pair of twelve cylinder Curtiss Conqueror aero engines. Well, the Curtiss had a lot more power, but it weighed no more and was much easier on fuel, so I could build a much better boat, with more capacity and performance in the same forty-one foot hull length. That boat, once we had the right propellers on her, made seventy-one miles per hour on the measured one mile range in Little Egg Harbor."

The boatman looked in near-disbelief. In those days, that was a speed that was only being reached by the unlimited racing boats that competed in national races like the Gold Cup and Harmsworth Trophy.

But the old man continued, "It was a whole different world then. You fellas think that going fast in a boat offshore means doing thirty knots in a smooth sea. Well, forty or fifty years ago, these boats used to leave Barnegat Inlet or Beach Haven at dusk, in foul weather, to run twenty to forty miles offshore. They'd take on their load from the ship and then they'd run around Cape May to Bivalve or even Bayside, drop their cargo, and be back at the dock after dawn. That's two hundred fifty to three hundred miles, at sea, at night, usually in filthy weather, in twelve hours or so."

The boatman looked at the old man, at the beautiful garvey and the utilitarian bateau behind it, also finished with the same loving hand. He looked at the photographs of boats long gone, of huge engines, at the half models.

He should have been disappointed at the inability to have a boat like this built but strangely, he did not feel so. He realized that he had just heard the telling of the history of a way of life, of a technology now almost lost, and of people whose skill and pride and craftsmanship were such that they could not possibly be understood let alone appreciated in the modern, throw-away world.

He did not get his boat. Instead, he had a curtain to a forgotten world opened by the old man, perhaps for the last time, for an outsider to see it.

He would never own such a garvey. But he had seen and touched absolute perfection, perfection just out of reach. He realized that he could obtain such perfection in a boat only if he himself could attain such human perfection as to be its builder. Sadly, he knew that he would never achieve that level of skill or craftsmanship, of sublime perfection, at least not in this lifetime.

He thanked the old man for telling him the story of his boats and he got into the car to leave.

He returned to that boathouse several times over the next year, hoping to see Carl Adams again. But he never saw the old man, or indeed, anyone else there, ever again. In the many years that followed, he never forgot either the old man, his beautiful work, or his stories. He had truly received a gift on that cold November afternoon, a gift which altered many of his perceptions and his personal values for the rest of his life.

Special Correspondence of The Inquirer.

Point Pleasant, N.J., Aug. 26.--August is proving itself to be a banner month at this resort, and it is far surpassing July, as July exceeded the season of last year. It is hardly to be wondered that the resort is a popular one. With a beautiful, smooth, hard, level sand beach and bathing that is nowhere surpassed, one side of the town reaching to the high bluffs that form the banks of the Manasquan River and lined with costly villas and handsome cottages, the other stretching down toward the north end of the far-famed Barnegat Bay, whose waters are thus easily accessible, the ground high and rolling, with a perfect natural surface drainage, and in the unbuilt portions back from the beach, covered with fine timber that makes rambling through the woods as much a delight as strolling along the shore.

Monday evening a delightful concert was given at the Edgewater under the direction of Miss Carry West Murphy and Mrs. Charles H. Marcy, for the benefit of the orphans of St. Vincent's Retreat.

A full-dress ball will take place at the Resort Home to-night, which promises to be a social success.

Special Correspondence of The Inquirer.

Island Heights, N.J., Aug. 26.--The heavy northeast storm that raged Wednesday night created much havoc here. Yachts were torn from their moorings and washed ashore with great holes stove in them, while many others were sunk in midstream. Thursday morning the water was up level with the railroad bridge and washing clear over the boardwalk nearly its entire length. It was the most severe blow experienced here for years.

Charles K. Wood, a young man wll known in Philadelphia and Island Heights society, is making quite a reputation as a water color artist. Though he has practically only been pursuing the art for less than a year, yet he is already finding a constant sale for his paintings. His style is rather broad and free, with fair coloring, and tastes usually inclined towards marines or partial water subjects. Among recent purchasers have been the Hon. Walter Phelps, ex-Minister to Germany; Miss Ellen M. Hutchinson, Mr. Edwin S. Megargee and Mr. Nathaniel H. Bishop, the well-known canoeist and author from Lake George, N.Y.

George Bacon and his wife from Chicago are being entertained at Arbutus Lodge.

The social function of the week, which was attended by all the elite of the Heights, was the concert Monday afternoon, given by the Rutgers Quartet at the handsome river front residence of Mrs. Robert Shoemaker for the benefit of Christ Episcopal Church.

Miss Helen S. Marshall, a vivacious and accomplished young lady who graces the inner circle of Trenton society, is being entertained at the cottage of Alfred Wood.
​
Miss Clyde, sister of William P. Clyde, of the Clyde Steamship Company, is the guest of Mrs. F.F. Milne.

Special Correspondence of The Inquirer.

Forked River, N.J., Aug. 26.--Weakfish are biting well, and the sportsmen are largely turning their attention in that direction. There are still many bluefish and sea bass caught outside, however, and the supply seems never to diminish.

Snipe shooting along the meadows and on the beaches forms a favorite sport now, and the gunner is almost certain of a fine time of yellow legs, curlew, plover, butterballs, etc. Consequently the beach is dotted now and again with blinds and the decoy snipe have taken their stand in the sand. One of the favorite shooting places is the North Point of the beach, just opposite here, a wild stretch with nothing but two life-saving stations to break its tailed of loneliness.

S.M. Saunders is a New York wire broker and member of the "Old Guards," who is stopping at the Riverside House.

C. Marchauser, a Poughkeepsie, N.Y., legal light, is a guest at the Parker House.

​Special Correspondence of The Inquirer.

Waretown, N.J., Aug. 26.--With bluefish and weakfish biting plentifully Waretown is sure never to lack for visitors. And that is the situation at present. Weakfish are taking the hook voraciously in the bay right off our docks. Indeed, one day this week a party in one boat brought in over a hundred fine weakfish without going more than five hundred yards away from the Bay View House piazza.
​
Bluefish and seabass are also in large quanitites and bite very freely. Flounder fishing is also at its best, and some sheepshead to reward the more patient of the anglers.

Many of the summer visitors here are of the Universalist faith and have been enjoying the campmeeting held at Murray Grove, Good Luck, at the spot where the first Universalist sermon in America was preached. As this campmeeting is but a few miles north of here it is easily accessible to our visitors, who drive up in large numbers.

​Special Correspondence of The Inquirer.

Barnegat, N.J., Aug. 26.--The week just passed has been one of both pleasure and benefit, notwithstanding the August storm that raged on Wednesday night, and which gave our summer visitors  an idea of what the shore is like during the wild and stormy wintry weather.  On the pleasant days fishing has been fine, and the many sportsmen who make this place their headquarters have had excellent luck. Boats have come in well laden with weak and bluefish, striped bass, flounders and the like. One gentleman, Mr. Shaw, of Mount Vernon, N.Y., who is stopping at the Clarence House, made the excellent catch of 26 fine striped bass, some of which weighed over six pounds.
​
Professor R.B. Adams, of Philadelphia, gave a stereopticon exhibition here last week.

Special Correspondence of The Inquirer.

Bay Head, N.J., Aug. 26.--Bay Head in the summer is almost a college town. The boys from the big universities are the fad here, and none others can find favor in the eyes of the fair and charming maidens who bask upon the beach and promenade the boardwalk. Tall, athletic fellows, with huge shocks of tangled hair, clad in white duck trousers, spotlessly clean; flannel shirt or sweater, with the name of their "varsity" in its own proper colors; closely-fitting yachting caps with six-inch visors, bearing the initials of their baseball, football or boat club; their brawny arms and legs, sunburned to shoulder and knee--they make a close phalanx in the social world here that has never been broken. The young business man off on his vacation has tried it and failed, and even a brace of West Pointers, in their last year at that, with uniforms and military glory galore, failed to make the least headway against the irresistible though unseen influence.

Yale, Princeton, Rutgers, Columbia and University of Pennsylvania--these are the colors that form the prettiest and most striking costumes that are worn by the individual admirers of each young collegian among the summer girls, who are proud of their allegiance to learning's shrine, and who never fail to emphasize the fact. The lads, in addition to the other athletic sports, all affect yachting, and most of them can handle a catboat like a born Barnegat bayman. And in this, as in the others, the orange and black vies with the blue or the blue and red, so that there is no lack of pleasurable excitement.

As might be expected, this rivalry extends also to the fair sex, and gives rise to many amusing situations, but that only adds to the aforesaid pleasurable excitement.

Half-back Knipe, of the University of Pennsylvania football team, is a frequent and familiar figure on the beach and a favorite with both lads and lasses.

A pretty dance at the Ocean View was one of the pleasant features of the week. It was given by Mrs. Lincoln Eyre and Mrs. Howard Clark.

==

Local Notable Side Note:
Alden Arthur Knipe (June 1870 – May 22, 1950) was an American football player and coach. He served as the sixth head football coach at the University of Iowa, serving from 1898 to 1902 and compiling a record of 30–11–4. Knipe was also the first head baseball coach at Iowa, coaching two seasons from 1900 to 1901 and tallying a mark 25–8. Knipe played college football at the University of Pennsylvania. After retiring from coaching, authored numerous books for children with his wife, Emilie.

Alden Knipe Wikipedia Page
Alden & Emilie Knipe on Writing Children's Books (The Writer, Vol. 30, 1918)
Knipe Children's Books Available Digitally Online

Special Correspondence of The Inquirer.

Beach Haven, N.J., Aug. 26.--Real estate men and capitalists who are interested in lands of Long Beach and in this immediate neighborhood, and who have been for years working for closer railroad connections with New York and Philadelphia, think that they have at last solved the problem.

It is proposed to build a line direct from Gloucester ferry, opposite Philadelphia, to this beach, which will make us within one hour of Philadelphia. It will also tap the main line of the New Jersey Southern Railroad at Atsion, and will thus materially shorten the present roundabout route from New York city. This proposed road would knock off two hours from the present time between this place and Philadelphia and at least one hour between this place and New York city. It would also give New Yorkers a straight through and almost air-line route to Atlantic City, as the scheme is to run a line from Atsion, the junction with the New Jersey Southern, direct to Atlantic, cutting off nearly an hour's time on that route.

"Duke" Thompson, of Gloucester City, is in the forefront of this movement, and it has back of it some of the foremost capitalists and shrewdest politicians in South Jersey; hence it is confidently predicted that it will be a success from the start.

Captain Joel Sprague's yacht Arimas is the champion of the Beach Haven fleet for the summer of 1893. The annual regatta was sailed last Saturday and there were 10 entries, including one from Toms River and one from Island Heights. THe course was a 10-mile one, and the prize the gold cup. Two of the contestants were built at Bristol by Herreshoff: they were the Sayonara and the Merry Thought. The winners were: First prize, Arimas; second, Cayonara; third, Fannie K.; fourth, Restless, all of Beach Haven; fifth, Comet, of Toms River; sixth, Merry Thought, of this place.

A garvey race will be held by the lady guests at the Engleside this afternoon and promises to be a most amusing affair. The small cockleshell boats will be sailed by ladies only, members of the sterner sex being barred out and only allowed to comment on the seamanship displayed by them. The judges of the regatta consist of a committee of ladies whose experience in yachting ably fits them for the position. Three prizes are offered, all of which are handsome and costly. The affair is under the management of the Misses Van Dusen and Mrs. B.K. Jamison, Jr.

Ex-Senator John Scott, general solicitor for the Pennsylvania Railroad, is a notable guest at the Engleside.

Welcome to Toms River Seaport Society’s (Mari)Time-Warp, taking our supporters back through the nautical history of the Barnegat Bay and Toms River watershed areas!

This time we reprint a vignette into stormy summer life of our area, August 1893, courtesy the Philadelphia Inquirer and Newspapers.com.

Toms River, N.J., Aug. 26.-- Wednesday night's storm gave some of the summer guests here a slight taste of what stormy weather means along the coast. A fierce northeast wind, with driving rain and high tides, caught several cruising parties from here out upon the bay. One party, composed of a number of college lads, who were spending the week upon the water, en route for Atlantic City, had experience enough to last them for some time.

An interesting game of base ball, which attracted many people from neighboring resorts, took place on Tuesday afternoon between the Toms River and Bay Head nines. Notwithstanding that the lads of the visiting team were encouraged by a bevy of fair spectators who had sailed down from Bay Head to see the victory Toms River won by a score of 11 to 5.

A pretty lawn festival and fair was held on Tuesday evening on the grounds adjoining the Presbyterian Church. Many of the summer guests were interested in this fair, and a large sum was netted for the church. The bright lights, many colored buntings and other accessories made a pretty scene.

Arrangements are being perfected for another regatta of the Toms River Yacht Club, which will take place early in September. Some new craft have been launched since the June race, and it is expected that they will figure in the contest. The yachtsmen are accordingly getting the fast boats in trim for the race, and the most exciting contest in the history of the catboat is expected. Barnegat Bay is the sailing ground which has developed this class and rig of yachts to their greatest speed, and the Toms River fleet has yet been unmatched for speed by any outsider.

OLD BARNEGAT'S SHORES
BITS OF THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF JERSEY'S SANITARIUM
THE SHIPBUILDING RESOURCES OF THE COUNTRY - ITS BURIED TREASURES AND ITS WRECKED VESSELS.

Barnegat! There are two sides to it, the bay side and the ocean side. Very different ideas are aroused according to the side from which it is viewed. On the one hand are visions of keen enjoyment, of active, health-giving outdoor amusement, of hunting and fishing, of sailing over blue waters, while the foam of the flying cat flashes in the sunshine and the blood courses merrily through the veins. On the other hand there is the breaker-marked outline of a dangerous coast, and the hard yellow beach below the low lying white sand hills, tufted and streaked at all seasons with green, is filled with the phantoms of wrecked ships and drowned men and women.

The very name derived from the breakers along the shore. It comes down from Dutch colonial days, and was originally spelled Barende-gat, meaning an inlet with breakers. The appellation was probably borrowed, in the first instance, from the log book of Sir Hendrick Hudson's famous little ship the Half Moon, which on the morning of Sept. 2, 1609, made the bay and inlet from the southward while voyaging from the Delaware to the Hudson. The entry for that day describes the trend of the shore, the appearance of the bay, which is called a lake. Of the inlet it says it "had many shoals and the sea breaks upon them." As Sir Hendrick made no mention of any other inlet it is fair to presume that there was then, as now, only one, but a century ago there were two inlets, and the other, called Cranberry Inlet, ten or twelve miles north, about opposite Toms River, was during the Revolution the more used of the two. Then it appears to have been navigable for vessels of large size, but now it is entirely closed up, and nothing marks its place but an opening between the sand hills.

Whether or not there be any foundation in fact for the assertion that the coast was infested early in the present century with land pirates, who with false beacons lured ships to destruction, it is certain that the coast is a very dangerous one to mariners, and that before the establishment of the life-saving stations it was the scene of many a disastrous wreck. Two of the worst wrecks within the memory of persons now living were those of the Powhattan and Manhattan, which struck about five miles below Harvey Cedars, or fifteen miles south of Barnegat Lighthouse, in April, 1854. The Powhattan was a full-rigged packet ship, bound from Havre to New-York, with 326 persons on board, counting passengers and crew. She struck early on the morning of April 16 during a blinding snowstorm and went to pieces soon after. When it was light enough to see, the few persons who lived along the shore found the beach strewed with corpses. Not a soul had survived that dreadful landing. On the following afternoon the brig Manhattan came ashore alongside of the Powhattan, and of thirteen men on board twelve were drowned. Everybody alongshore had to lend a hand in burying the dead. A large part of the Powhattan's cargo was fine china, and it is said that some pieces are still preserved in families along the shore as mementoes of the shocking calamity.

An attempt was made to establish the Life-Saving Service on the Barnegat coast in 1848, and two stations were actually located, one at Harvey Cedars, the other at a place called Bonds, near Egg Harbor, but the service did not reach its present proficiency until less than a score of years ago. Wrecks are scarcely less numerous now than before, for vessels come ashore every year, but the loss of life, thanks to the proficiency and zeal of the life-saving crews, has been greatly reduced. Some idea of the success of these crews in saving life may be gathered from the fact that in eight wrecks, the particulars of which have been recorded at Forked River Station by Capt. David L. Yarnall during the last seven years, only one was attended with loss of life.

The unfortunate exception was the two-masted schooner L. and A. Babcock, which came ashore in a northwest gale on the afternoon of June 26, 1884. Capt. Harry S. Babcock and Cook Martin Campbell were drowned in attempting to swim ashore. Mrs. Scarborough, wife of the first mate, was knocked overboard by a falling gaff and either killed or drowned. The rest of the crew was saved by the breeches buoy. That same year, Nov. 19, about 10 P.M., the Mallory Line Steamship Guadaloup, bound from New-York to Galveston, went ashore on the shoals about a mile off the inlet and out of reach of the life line. Her passengers and crew, numbering seventy, were taken off life boats without mishap by the crews of four stations.

The crews, however, have not always come off unscathed in their efforts to save shipwrecked mariners. The crew of the Barnegat City Station (formerly the stations were designated by numbers, but now they are called by the names of the places at which they are situated) met with a sad disaster four or five years ago. An Italian bark struck on the same shoals where the Guadaloup came to grief. At daybreak the life-saving crew went out in the surf boat to her assistance. When they reached her it was found that she was abandoned. In returning to shore the boat was broached, and four out of the nine members of the crew were drowned. Meanwhile the ship's boat, in attempting to land several miles further south, was upset in the breakers and five of her crew were drowned. The worst storms on this coast come from the southeast or the northeast, when there is sure to be tremendous surf and a powerful current up or down the beach, according as the wind blows.

​In colonial times the name Barnegat was applied to the adjacent country as well as to the bay. Nearly all of that is now embraced in Ocean County, and it constitutes the greater part of the pine belt of New Jersey. From Lakewood to the bay it is evident to the eye of the woodsman that these pines are the second growth. Not a vestige of the primeval forest remains. All of it has been brought to the market of this city in the form of lumber and firewood. More than a century ago those pine woods were full of sawmills, and lumber was floated in narrow rafts down the Forked and Toms rivers for shipment from the bay.

Some of these mills are still operated. During the first half of the present century there was a great business done in shipping firewood to this city for household and steamboat consumption. Old residents of Forked River recall occasions when they saw as many as forty vessels loading with wood at one time in the mouth of the river. The business is all gone from there now, though some wood is still shipped by vessels from Toms River and more is sent by rail from the interior. Up to a comparatively recent period there was a good deal of ship building at the mouth of Forked River, and several three-mast schooners built there are still afloat. One of these, the Lulu Ammerman, went ashore on the beach opposite the Forked River Life-Saving Station Nov. 4, 1883, but was subsequently pulled off uninjured. Many of the farmers in the neighborhood of Forked River are large owners of vessel property, nearly all of which is registered at this port. A conspicuous example of these vessel-owning farmers is Capt. Daniel S. Williams, who is spoken of as the richest man in Ocean County and said to be worth several million dollars.

​During the Revolution several noted privateers made Toms River their base of operations, and many valuable prizes captures from the British and refugees were carried into that haven. Capt. William Gray of the Privateer Dart, hailing from Salem, Mass., was one of these. Some daring residents of Toms River, notably Capts. Joshua Studson and Samuel Bigelow, also frequently acted as privateers, and manning barges made prizes of passing or stranded vessels. Salt works at Toms River, Forked River, Waretown and other places along the inner shore of the bay at the same time supplied a much-needed article to the commissariat of the Continentals, and made the bay a twofold object of interest to the Britons.

Several expeditions were, therefore, sent against it. One of these attacked a log fort at Toms River Sunday, March 24, 1782, and captured it after a sanguinary [defined as an archaic term for "involving or causing much bloodshed"] fight. It then burned the town and carried off Capt. Joshua Huddy, the commander of the fort, and the survivors of his garrison as prisoners of war. Capt. Huddy, who at [earlier, other] times had inflicted severe punishment on the refugees, was, after a confinement of some duration in this city, delivered to the refugee leader, Lippencott, who hanged him upon the Highlands of Navesink. This hanging became an international affair, and the failure of the British to give up Lippencott in response to Washington's demand resulted in the selection by lot from among the prisoners in the Americans' hands of Capt. Asgill of the Royal Guards to be hanged in revenge for Capt. Huddy's murder. After French and English diplomacy had been engaged for months in a fruitless effort to save him, Capt. Asgill was finally released by special act of Congress, induced by the pathetic and eloquent appeals of his mother, Lady Asgill, and the intermediation of Washington.

​In common with every other part of the Atlantic coast Barnegat enjoys the reputation of hiding beneath its sandy surface untold stores of pirates' treasure. It would be too much to expect that Capt. Kidd's name did not figure in these traditions, but it must be admitted that the evidence of his complicity is far from conclusive. It is said that much digging for this long-buried treasure has been done in the vicinity of Toms River, and some of it not more than a generation ago...

The country and waters hereabout have long had an enviable reputation for hunting and fishing. It is related that during the war of the Revolution a party of American officers went down to fish in Barnegat Bay and were captured by a roving British barge. The annals of the shore also preserve the fact that early in the present century a Prince Murat went hunting there with a large train of servants. Whether this Prince Murat was Napoleon's famous Lieutenant the writer will not undertake to say. At any rate, the visit of this foreigner seems to indicate that Barnegat enjoyed a transatlantic reputation as a hunting ground at least a century ago. It is said that there are a few deer still left in the heart of the pine forest, but they are not easy to find.

Small game, however, is abundant. Quail are especially numerous this season all along the inner shore of the bay. Partridges and ruffed grouse are also to be found. As to rabbits and squirrels the woods are full of them, while along the beach and meadows yellow legs and other shore birds are found in large flocks. A few English snipe have also appeared since the beginning of the current month. Black ducks have also shown themselves in desultory flocks. Last Monday a flock of twenty-two geese was seen flying over Forked River. The bay is a great place for ducks and geese in the Fall and Winter, but they are too shy to be easily killed. The true sportsman, however, never hunts tame birds. Of ducks the black redheads, mallard, and broad-bill are most abundant. Teal are also to be had, and it is said occasionally a canvasback may be bagged.

One of the chief attractions of this part of New-Jersey is its extreme healthfulness. Nowhere can you find a healthier and hardier lot of children than along the shore of Barnegat Bay, sunburned and unpolished, but hearty and sturdy. Malaria is unknown. The sandy soil absorbs the water as fast as it falls and the pine forests supply ozone enough to keep pulmonary disorders always at a distance. The seashore at the northern end of the bay has commanded a fair share of the attention of persons seeking Summer resorts, and as a consequence such charming places as Island Heights, Point Pleasant and Seaside Park have covered the "sandy tracts." The inner shore has been almost entirely neglected save by fishermen and hunters.

There is a notable exception, however, in the case of Barnegat Park, and the march of improvement will eventually take its way further south. The improvements now making at Barnegat Park are worth more than a passing notice, especially as many prominent officers of the army and navy are concerned in them. Several years ago at a dinner of the Army and Navy Club in Washington, the idea was broached of establishing a rural resort for officers of both branches of the service. The idea took root, an association was formed, and the purchase was effected of 15,000 acres of Jersey pine land on the inshore of Barnegat Bay, about half way between Toms River and Forked River. For two or three years work proceeded slowly, but now the transformation of the wilderness into a very attractive place is going forward rapidly. Broad avenues and streets, circles and squares have been laid out, a handsome hotel and pretty cottages have been built, besides a livery stable, storehouses, railroad station, and other necessary adjuncts.

The avenues and streets are beautifully graded, and a magnificent winding drive over two miles long has been constructed from the park to the bay. A handsome casino is to be built at the bay end of this drive, and a canal is to be cut through the meadows to let boats come up to the casino. At night the park is lit up with electric lights, and an electric railway is to be run from the hotel at the park over the drive already spoken of to the casino. It is the intention of the promoters to make the place a Winter as well as a Summer resort, and the hotel, which was opened Oct. 1, is expensively and beautifully furnished.

From the roof of this hotel, which is called "The Pines," is a magnificent view on the one hand of the rolling pine forest and on the other of the bay and ocean. The President of the company is Orson Adams, formerly President of the Commercial National Bank, and among the more prominent of the property owners are Gens. Frank Wheaton, Stewart Van Vliet, B.P. Runkle, John S. Mason, August V. Kautz, and O.O. Howard, Adjt. Gen. Drum, Cols. D.A. Griffith and Frederick Van Vliet, Majors William A. Elderkin, Augustus S. Nicholson, T.C. Tupper, and Charles Parker.

Welcome to Toms River Seaport Society’s (Mari)Time-Warp, taking our supporters back through the nautical history of the Barnegat Bay and Toms River watershed areas!

This time we reprint Continental rebel and British nationalist reports on and arguments over the Toms River blockhouse raid and later hanging of patriot leader Joshua Huddy through various American and British newspapers in 1782.

First, a primer on the blockhouse raid and Joshua Huddy, courtesy HistoryNet.

Dunlap and Claypoole's American Daily Advertiser
March 30th, 1782

TRENTON, March 27.
Extract of a letter from Monmouth, dated the 25th of this month.

"I am sorry to inform you our guard at Tom's river were cut off yesterday morning by about 100 refugees, under command of one Devenport. On the alarm captain Huddy repaired to the blockhouse, in which some of the inhabitants joined him, and others remained outside; the house was defended till the ammunition was expended, when it surrendered. Major Cook, who was out of the house, fell. Five others were killed, and two wounded. Captain Huddy, Daniel Randolph, esq; and several more, are carried off prisoners. Devenport was wounded, supposed since dead, and one negro was killed. The enemy then burn the village, except the houses of Aaron Buck, and Mrs. Studson, after which they went off immediately. The unfortunate inhabitants have not saved more than two houses could draw."

Dunlap and Claypoole's American Daily Advertiser
May 1st, 1782

TRENTON, April 24.
Extract of a letter from Freehold, Monmouth county, dated April 15, 1782.

"Last Saturday was brought to this place the corpse of captain Joshua Huddy, who was, about ten o'clock the day before, most barbarously and unwarrantable hanged, at Middletown-Point, by a party of refugees. This murder was attended with so much deliberate injustice and wanton cruelty, that the circumstances ought to be preserved and made public, not only to call upon the vengeance of his countrymen to expiate the manes [soul of the dead] of the sufferer, but as a shocking instance of the blackness of that guilt of which human nature is capable.

Captain Huddy was one of the bravest of men, a fit subject therefore of cowardly inhumanity. He has distinguished himself on a variety of occasions, one instance of which I cannot avoid mentioning: The summer before last, alone and unassisted, except by a woman, he defended his house against a party of near seventy refugees for several hours, and when it was in a manner riddled with musket balls, and in flames about him, he refused to submit until he obtained from the assailants safe and honourable terms...

Captain Huddy also commanded the troops at the block-house on Tom's river, when it was lately reduced; he defended it most gallantly against a vast superiority of numbers until his ammunition was expended, and no alternative was left. The refugees, like their task-masters the British, who employ them in every kind of infamous business, are always cruel in success and pitifully mean in adversity. After the little brave garrison was in their power, they deliberately murdered five of the soldiers asking for quarters.

From Tom's river, Captain Huddy, Justice Randolph and the remaining prisoners were taken to New-York, where suffering the various progressions of barbarity, usually exercised upon those who are destined to a violent or a lingering death, those two gentlemen, with a Mr. Fleming, were put into the hold of a vessel. Captain Huddy was ironed hand and foot. On Monday last a certain John Tilton, a refugee, came to him, and told him, "that he was ordered (by the board of refugees, we suppose) to be hanged."

Captain Huddy asked "what charge was alleged against him?" Tilton replied "that he had taken a certain Philip White, a refugee, six miles up in the country, cut off both his arms, broke both his legs, pulled out one of his eyes, and then damned him and bid him run." To this Huddy answered, "it is impossible that I could have taken Philip White, I being a prisoner closely confined in New-York at that time and for many days before he was made a prisoner."

Justice Randolph confirmed what Huddy had said, and assured Tilton that he could not possibly be charged with White's death; upon which Tilton told Mr. Randolph, that "he should be hanged next." This flimsy story, which must have been created by the murderous hearts of the refugees, to cloak their villany, was the only crime charged against captain Huddy, and was the common subject of their conversation.

From the sloop, captain Huddy, with his fellow prisoners, were put on board the guard ship at the Hook, and confined between decks till Friday morning the 12th instant, when some men, strangers to the prisoners, came below and told captain Huddy to "prepare to be hanged immediately." He again said, "he was not guilty of having killed White," and that "he should die an innocent man and in a good cause;" and, with the most uncommon fortitude and composure of mind, prepared for his end, and with the spirit of a true son of liberty, he waited the moment of his fate, which he met with a degree of firmness and serenity, which struck the coward hearts of his executioners with admiration. He even executed his will under the gallows, upon the head of that barrel from which he was immediately to make his exit, and in a hand writing fairer than usual.

"The circumstances attending the death of the above mentioned Philip White, were as follow:

"On Saturday, the 30th of March last, he was surprised by a party of our people, and after he had laid down his arms, in token of surrendering himself a prisoner, he again took up his musket and killed a son of colonel Hendrickson; he was however taken by our light horse, and on his way from Colts-Neck to Freehold, where they were conducting him, he again attempted to make his escape from the guard, who called on him several times to surrender, but he continued running, although often crossed and recrossed by the light horse, and desired to stop, and finally, when leaping into a bog, impassable by the horse, he received a stroke in the head by a sword, which killed him instantly. The above facts have not only been proved by the affidavits of our friends who were present, but by the voluntary and candid testimony of one Aaron White, who was taken prisoner with the said Philip.

"Captain Huddy was taken prisoner on Sunday the 24th of March, and kept in close custody, with justice Randolph, out of whose presence he never was for half an hour from the time he was taken, until the hour of his execution, which shews how impossible it was for him to have been concerned in White's death, and that they must have known it was so.

"To shew their insolence yet further, they left the following label affixed to the breast of the unfortunate captain Huddy."

We the refugees, having with grief, long beheld the cruel murders of our brethren, and finding nothing but such measures daily carrying into execution.

"We therefore determine not to suffer without taking vengeance for the numerous cruelties, and thus began (and I say may those lose their liberty who do not follow on) and have made use of captain Huddy as the first object to present to your views, and further determine to hang man for man as long as a refugee is left existing.

"Up goes Huddy for Philip White."

"This paper needs no comment. Is it not high time seriously to enquire whether these refugees are owned by, and under the direction of the British commander at New-York? If so, and he should refuse to deliver up the wicked perpetrators of the above murder, ought we not to treat his officers in the same manner until satisfaction be obtained? If, as some say, they are not under his authority, what are they but pirates and robbers? and, why ought they not to be treated as such when they fall into our hands?"

Dunlap and Claypoole's American Daily Advertiser
May 4th, 1782

The following has been handed to us, as a genuine copy of the letter from his Excellency the Commander in chief [George Washington] to Sir Henry Clinton, on the subject of the murder of Captain Huddy.

SIR, Head-Quarters, April 21st, 1782
The inclosed representation from the inhabitants of the county of Monmouth, with testimonials to the fact (which can be corroborated by other unquestionable evidence) will bring before your excellency the most wanton, cruel and unprecedented murder that ever disgraced the arms of a civilized people. I shall not, because I conceive it altogether unnecessary, trouble your excellency with any animadversions upon this transaction. Candour obliges me to be explicit: to save the innocent I demand the guilty.

Captain Lippencut therefore, or the officer who commanded the execution of captain Huddy, must be given up; or if that officer was of inferior rank to him, so many of the perpetrators as will according to the tariff of exchange, be an equivalent. To do this will mark the justice of your excellency's character. In failure of it, I shall hold myself unjustifiable, in the eye of God and man, for the measure to which I shall resort.

I beg your excellency to be persuaded that it cannot be more disagreeable to you to be addressed in this language, than it is to me to offer it; but the subject requires frankness and decision.

I have to request your speedy determination, as my resolution is suspended but for your answer.

I have the honor to be, &c.

Our correspondent adds, that in consequence of this just and decisive measure, Sir Henry Clinton declared, that he had been imposed upon by the board of refugees, who had obtained the person of captain Huddy from him, on pretence of conveying him to the Point to be exchanged for a favourite refugee officer in our possession, instead of which they had put him to death. The menace contained in the general's letter a spirited memorial from the British officers, who stated to Sir Henry Clinton, that as they considered themselves in a totally distinct point of view from the refugees, they hoped and trusted that he would not suffer a British officer to be sacrificed on so unworthy an occasion, which they thus publicly disavowed; and expressing their wishes, that the perpetrators of the murder in question would be delivered up. This remonstrance occasioned a counter memorial from the board of refugees, against the delivery of Lippencutt, followed by representations of their resolution, in case it should take place, of laying down their arms, or even of defending themselves with them, as they could not but consider such a step as an intended discouragement and sacrifice of all the loyalists.

It is said that Lippencutt has been delivered up; but as there are various reports on the subject, we have not been able to ascertain the actual result of these proceedings.

The Derby Mercury (England)
July 11, 1782

[General Clinton replies to General Washington]

Sir Henry Clinton ordered a Court-Martial upon Captain Lippencot, in consequence of this Application; but such was the Situation of Affairs, and such the Temper of the Refugees, that the Captain has not been given up to Gen. Washington, but the following letter from Gen. Sir Henry Clinton was sent in Answer to the above Letter from Gen. Washington.

Sir,
YOUR Letter of the 21st Instant, with the enclosed Testimonial, respecting Captain Huddy's Execution, was delivered to me Yesterday; and though I am extremely concerned for the Cause, I cannot conceal by Surprize and Displeasure of the very improper Language you have made use of, which you could not but be sensible was totally unnecessary.

The Mildness of the British Government does not admit of Acts of Cruelty or persecuting Violence, and as they are notoriously contrary to the Tenor of my own Conduct and Disposition (having never yet stained my Hands with innocent Blood) I must claim the Justice of having it believed, that, if such have been committed by any Person under my Command, they could not have been warranted by my Authority, nor can they have ever the Sanction of my Approbation. My personal Feelings therefore required no such Incitements to urge me to take every proper Notice of the barbarous Outrage against Humanity (which you have represented to me) the Moment it came to my Knowledge; and accordingly when I heard of Captain Huddy's Death (which was only four Days before I received your Letter) I instantly ordered a strict Enquiry to be made in all its Circumstances, and shall bring the Perpetrators of it to an immediate Trial.

To sacrifice Innocence under the Notion of preventing Guilt, in place of supressing, would be adopting Barbarity, and raising it to the greatest height. Whereas, if the Violators of the Laws of War are punished by the Generals under whose Powers they act, the Horrors, which those Laws were formed to prevent, will be avoided, and every Degree of Humanity War is capable of, maintained.

Could Violations of Humanity be justified by Example, many from the Parts where your Power prevails, that exceed, and probably gave rise to this in question, could be produced. In Hopes that the Mode I mean to pursue will be adopted by you, and prevent all future Enormities,
I remain, &x.
(Signed) H.C.

[earlier this same news page included such language from the British perspective of their desire to "assist in bringing the Colonies to a re-union with the Mother County."]

​Jackson's Oxford Journal (England)
August 3rd, 1782

AMERICA.
A REPORT to the Board of Loyalists, respecting the Execution of JOSHUA HUDDY, inclosed in a Letter to Sir Henry Clinton, dated April 27, 1782.

SIR,
In Compliance with the Orders of the Honourable Board of Direction, we beg Leave to communicate to your Excellency, for the Information, an Account of the Proceedings of the Loyalists from Monmouth, on the late Expedition for the Relief of Capt. Clayton Tilton, and two other Loyalists, then Prisoners with the Rebels in that Country.

Being frustrated in the Design of bringing off Capt. Tilton by Force, and our Offers for Exchange rejected, we dreaded that he was reserved for a Fate simmilar to that our Associate, Philip White, had suffered, who was taken at the same Time with Captain Tilton, and inhumanly and wantonly murdered by the Guard who were carrying him to Monmouth Gaol.

This recent Instance of Cruelty, added to the many daring Acts of the same Nature which have been perpetrated with Impunity, by a set of vindictive Rebels, well known by the Name of Monmouth Retaliators, assicated and headed by one General Furman, whose horrid Acts of Cruelty have gained him universally the Name of Black David, fired our Party with an Indignation only to be felt by Men who for a Series of Years have beheld many of their Friends and Neighbours butchered in cold Blood, under the usurped Form of Law, and often without that Ceremony, for no other Crime than that of maintaining their Allegiance to the Government under which they were born, and which the Rebels audaciously called Treason against their States.

We thought it high Time to convince the Rebels, who would no longer tamely submit to such glaring Acts of Barbarity; and though we lament the Necessity to which we have been driven, to begin a Retaliation of intolerable Cruelties, long continued and often repeated, yet we are convinced that we could not have saved the Life of Capt. Tilton, by any other Means. We therefore pitched upon Joshua Huddy, as a proper Subject for Retaliation, because he was not only well known to have been a very active and cruel Persecutor of our Friends, but had not been ashamed to boast of his having been instumental in hanging Stephen Edwards, a worthy Loyalist, and the first of our Brethren who fell a Martyr to Republican Fury in Monmouth County. Huddy was the Man who tied the Knot, and put the Rope about the Neck of that inoffensive Sufferer. This Fact will appear by two Affidavits which we have the Honour to enclose. When the Board are pleased to take into their Consideration the Motives which induced us to take this Step; and that Huddy was executed in the County where so many Acts of Cruelty have been committed on Refugees, we hope they will not think our Conduct reprehensible, the more especially when your Excellency perceives the following State of Facts:

1st. That Joshua Huddy was one of the Rebels who took Stephen Edwards, of Monmouth, a worthy Loyalist, of good Family and Property, out of his Bed, and acknowledged himself to have been active and assisting in hanging the said Edwards.

2d. That James Pew, a Loyalist, from Middletown, of reputable Family and good Character, was taken Prisoner by the Rebels in 1778, confined for a considerable Time in Freehold Gaol, and put to Death by the Sentry.

3d. That Stephen West, Stephen Emmons, and Ezekiel Williams, three Loyalists from Monmouth, were all of them most inhumanly murdered by the Rebels in 1778.

4th. That John Wood and Thomas Emmons, Loyalists from Monmouth, were taken by the Rebels in 1778, and executed at Freehold.

5th. That Jacob Fagars, a Loyalist from Monmouth, was wounded in 1778, of which Wound he died, and was privately buried by his Friends. The Rebels soon after got Information of this, dug him up, carried his Corpse to Freehold, and hung it on Gibbets.

6th. That John Farnham, and Jonathan Burge, two Loyalists from Monmouth, were taken by the Rebels in 1781, and executed at Freehold, notwithstanding there were Rebel Prisoners of Rank and Consequence taken by the same Farnham and Burge, confined in our Prevost, one of them a Lieutenant Colonel of Militia, and another of the Rebel Assembly, who were offered in Exchange for them.

7th. That Joseph Wood, an associated Loyalist, from Monmouth, was taken at Longbranch, Shrewsbury, in 1781, carried to Coltsneck, where he was Prisoner for several days; that in removing him from thence to Freehold, he was most inhumanly put to Death by the Guard, within half a Mile of the Prison.

8th. That Joseph Mullener, an associated Loyalist, and Captain of a Whale-Boat Privateer, was taken by the Rebels in 1781, carried to Freehold, removed to Burlington, tried and executed, notwithstanding he produced his Commission, as Captain of the said Privateer, at his Trial.

9th. That Richard Bell, and John Thompson, two associated Loyalists, from Monmouth, were taken by a Party of Rebels in November last, from off Sandy-Hook, within his Majesty's Lines, carried to Freehold, and hanged.

10th. That Philip White, taken the other Day at Shrewsbury, in Action, was marched, under Guard, for near fifteen Miles, and at a private Part of the Road, about three Miles from Freehold Gaol, (as it is asserted by creditable Persons in the Rebel Country,) was kept back by three Dragoons, while Captain Tilton and the other Prisoners were sent forward, and after being stripped of his Buckles, Buttons, and other Articles, the Dragoons told him they would give him a Chance for his Life, and ordered him to run, which he attempted, but had not got three Yards from them before they shot him, and then cut him with their Swords over his Eyes and other Parts, until he expired.

Many of the above Facts are ascertained by Affidavits; and such as are not, are too notorious to be denied, even by General Furman himself, the most persecuting Rebel in the Country. By a strange Fatality the Loyalists are the only People that have been treated as Rebels during this unhappy War.

We have the Honour to be, in Behalf of the associated and other Loyalists of Monmouth County, your Excellency's most obedient and humble Servants.

The Freeman's Journal or The North-American Intelligencer (U.S.)
September 4th, 1782

It is now many months since captain Huddy was murdered in a most barbarous manner, and no retaliation has yet taken place. We are informed Congress and general Washington, took up this affair about the same time, but the latter had demanded captain Lippencut of general Clinton before the dispatches of Congress reached him. While sir Harry remained at New York nothing was done; on his departure the command devolved on sir Guy Carleton,--a fresh demand was made, with threats of immediate retaliation on a prisoner of equal rank, in case of refusal; and captain Asgil of the British guards was selected as the equivalent.

This induced sir Guy to set on foot an enquiry. Lippencut was brought before a court martial, but he objected to their jurisdiction, and claimed the right of a free British subject to be tried before his equals, and in the county where the fact was committed. His plea was overruled. Even Smith the nominal chief justice and Kemp the pretended attorney general, declared for the competency of the court military, because Monmouth county in New Jersey was possessed by rebels, and because the courts of common Law in New Jersey were not open, of course martial law must of necessity interpose to prevent the failure of justice.

--The court martial finding their own ideas thus supported proceeded on the trial, and Lippencutt, who belonged to the refugee associators proves a verbal order from governor Franklin, president of the board, Dan Cox and Mr. R. Alexander, members of the board, to hang the unfortunate Huddy. The court martial upon this evidence acquits Lippencut.--Sir Guy Carleton after three months sends out transcripts of the proceedings, evidence, &c. &c. to General Washington declaring his abhorrence of the detestable murder of capt Huddy, and determination to make farther investigations, let them affect who they may; but at the same time suffers governor Franklin to go in the packet for England.