July 19 2023

TWM Resident Historian, Bonnie Messick, recalled stories of
extreme weather on Tilghman after our recent tornado. Her
research uncovered this gem from the Star Democrat published in
February 1912.
GALE SWEEPS TILGHMAN: ICE TEARS VESSELS FROM MOORINGS
Stuck by a gale of hurricane force, seven sail vessels and two
motorboats were torn from their frozen berths in Dogwood Harbor
and carried far out to the mouth of the Choptank River where for
hours nine men were in peril of death.
During the night the floe began breaking up, and the ice jam
started to move, carrying with it the nine boats which had taken
refuge off the island with their crews sleeping in their berths,
oblivious to their danger.
The wind increased with each succeeding hour until it swept over
the snow-covered island like a veritable tornado. Never in the
memory of the oldest inhabitants had such a gale visited the shores
of Tilghman Island. … Captain Gibson, of the bateau Lillie, swept
aside the warnings of the islanders who told him of the danger
which would beset any attempt to rescue the men of the
marooned oyster boats, and put out in a small bugeye.
[When he returned] He had on board the three oystermen who
comprised the crew of the bugeye Nellie G. whom he had saved
from a watery grave.
In order to reach the bugeye, the men were compelled to trust
themselves to the mercy of huge ice floes, over which they made
their way to the bugeye. Hardly had they climbed on board that
they saw the deserted bugeye give a lurch, keel slightly to one side,
and then settle down beneath the water.