Severe Cold Weather

New York, 1895

THE THERMOMETER HUSTLES AND GETS DOWN BELOW ZERO.

Canarsie, Barren Island and Manhattan Beach Shut off from Civilization — Ten Frostbitten Sailors Rescued from a Stranded Brig.

The thermometer made another attempt to break the record Wednesday, and it succeeded admirably, reaching a notch that had not been attained for fourteen years. At midnight on Tuesday things began to get cooler, the temperature at that hour being seven degrees, It had registered zero at four o'clock. At five it was one degree below, at six two below, and at seven three below. There it stopped.

Canarsie, Barren Island and half a dozen little fishing resorts in Jamaica Bay could not be reached owing to a snow blockade on the railroads and the tempestuous weather on the water. For two days locomotives on the Canarsie road tried to butt their way through the snow that filled Vauderveer's cut in order to reach the little town, but the snow had packed [so] closely that the pick and shovel alone [could not] make any impression on it.

The Manhattan Beach road is blocked as badly as the Canarsie line. Six engines have been trying to butt their way through the drifts, but they have had little better luck than if they attempted to cut a tunnel in solid rock.

Captain Seaman of Moriches life saving station, rescued the crew of the West Indian brig Gem from peril on Wednesday. The brig was seen to approach the coast under short sail, and about noon anchored about one mile from land. Captain Denzey and the crew of nine men were badly frostbitten. They were cared for at the life saving station, and physicians were summoned from Easthampton. The brig is now ashore, covered with ice.

At Greenport the weather was the severest known for years. The thermometer registered eight degrees below zero at six o'clock in the morning. The river is frozen across between Greenport and Shelter Island.

The Long Island City shore of the East River was icelocked, and ferryboats had hard work making landings. Toward evening the ice became so thick that it was with great difficulty that the boats got into the slips at all. Finally, the Long Beach, of the James slip line, which runs every half hour, became frozen out of her slip. Repeated efforts were made to force a way through the barrier of ice, but without success.

At Whitestone the mercury was six degrees below zero. For the first time in six years the East River was frozen solid from shore to shore, with the exception of a narrow passageway through the channel, kept open by the large steamers.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, Feb. 8, 1895, p. 1.