Moments in Time is a collection of recovered newspaper briefs and other publications, compiled by local historian, Steve Hathcock, offering a look back at the history of the Rio Grande Valley.
The Mouth Of The Rio Grande
To the editors of the American Flag, You will perhaps wish to hear something of the gale we had here. It was a gale, and no mistake, Yet the damage done to vessels, has not been so great as one would have supposed.
Fears were entertained, for a time, that all the shipping in the harbor and lying off the bar would be wrecked, but so far as I can learn, only three vessels are ascertained to have been lost. A number slipped their cables to put out to sea. They have not since been heard of, that they will probably work their way back, now that the northern had subsided.
The steamer Giraffe went out over the bar on Friday, to tow in the schooner from the anchorage. The gale struck her when outside and drove her to sea. Nothing was heard from her until this morning, when the
melancholy intelligence was brought by the survivors of the crew and Captain Eldridge, that she was wrecked about 60 miles down the coast.
Two men were drowned in her, one perishing before reaching shore, and one after landing. Other survivors are more or less injured some are suffering dreadfully from bruises, and others from extreme cold.
Several steamers and several vessels parted their cables inside the harbor, were driven ashore, and considerably damaged. A brig, her name I did not hear, was driven ashore on Padre Island and is a complete wreck.
Likewise, a schooner was blown ashore in her immediate vicinity. These are all the wrecks I have heard of.
(The American Flag. Matamoros, Jan. 13, 1847)
The Bishops Crucifix
A Texas House study committee today recommended that the Corpus Christi Museum should house all artifacts owned by the state and recovered from sunken Spanish galleons off Padre Island. Possession of the
treasures, including this 16th century cross, is still being disputed in the courts with an Indiana firm which salvaged the items under contract with the state. (WBAP-TV (Television station: Fort Worth, Tex.) Dec. 1,
1970, 6 p.m.)