Met his death aboard the steamer Idaho of the Western Transit Company 12 miles above Long Point and 63 miles from Buffalo NY when the ship was cought in an unexpeted gale,

From the Hamilton Herald 10-12 Nov 1897 edition retyped on 10/24/2005
NINETEEN MET DEATH
STEAMER IDAHO FOUNDERED OFF LONG POINT.
TWO MEN RESCURED FROM THE RIGGING AFTER TEN HOURS OF SUFFERING-THE SECOND MATE AND A DECK HAND THE ONLY SURVIORS-THE ILL FATED VESSEL CAUGHT IN A TERRIBLE STORM.
Buffalo, Nov 7.
The steamer Idaho of the Western Transit Company. Caught in the fierce southwester of Friday night. Foundered in eight fathoms of water at 4:30 O’clock Yesterday Morning, twelve miles above Long Point, which juts into Lake Erie from the Canadian shore about 65 miles west of Buffalo, NY.

Twenty-one men were aboard the Idaho when she went down, and nineteen of the went down to death. Eight hours after the disaster the steamer Mariposa of the Minnesota Line sighted the single spar that marked the grave of the Idaho. Clinging to that spar, chilled and starved almost to unconsciousness and hardly out of the reach of a sea gull was still there, were the two survivors of the wreck – one the second mate, the other a deck hand, William Gill.
A Difficult Rescue.

After trying in vain to reach the exhausted sailors with small boats, and finding that the boats would not live in the sea. Captain Frank D. Root of the Mariposa tried to rescue the men by throwing lines to them. The effort was in vain. The mate had not the strength to seize the rope, and Gill’s arms had stiffen around the mast. Then Captain Root worked the Mariposa (Maripsoa)* up to the spar and dragged the sailors aboard. The Mariposa came into port at 11 o’clock last night, bringing the two men, both in a stae of mental and physical collapse. The mate went at once to his boarding house, leaving neither his name nor address with his rescuers. Gill was cared for in the bunk room of the Maripsoa, and was able after a time to give a detailed story of the disaster.
The Idaho left Buffalo at 2:30 o’clock last Friday afternoon, laden with package freight for (Ali.waskus ?sp was unreadable).
The gale caught her before she reached Long Point, but Captain William Gilhes decides he could weather the storm. So instead of seeking shelter east of long point, the Idaho went on. It was not until she passed the point by a dozen miles that the Captain saw his folly. He tried to head the Idaho for a place of shelter. In turning the old wooden schooner around a large wave burst over her deck and quenched her fires.
Sank Stern First
Cought in a trough of the sea helpless, the Idaho sank stern first. The crew, heedless of the Captains orders to go into the hold, dashed for the lifeboats at the bow, but another wave swept them and (unreadable) the storm and they fared no (unreadable) than the sailors whom they had trampled to death in their wild rush from the bunks to the deck.
The two men who lived to tell the story were at the bow when the Idaho began to sink, Lowering the anchor. The second mate took in the situation, and as the bow rose into the air he sprang to the roof of the deck house, calling to Gill to follow him. From the deck house roof they gained the spar and scrambled to the crows-nest. The Mariposa found them in the morning.
Names of the Dead and Survivors.
The following are the names of sixteen of the nineteen men who lost their lives; Alexander Galhes, Captain; Buffalo; George Gibson, first Mate, Buffalo; John D. Taylor, steward, Buffalo;
Nelson Skinner, first assistant engineer; Louis Gilmore, watchman
Robert Williams, wheelman (per later maritime investigation the owners reported that wheelman was Robert Williamson of Hamilton Ont., Canada and not Robert Williams as reported in the papers.); A.J. Richard, lookout; Henry Thomson, Lookout; Conrad Blankar, fireman; Wm. Gregory, fireman; John Healy, assistant steward¬; Frederick (mofore-sp?), officer; Edward Smith, Deckhand, Rochester, NY; M. Bell, Deck Hand.
The Names of three of the men drowned are unknown. One was a fireman, another a deck hand and the third a porter. The hailing place most of those lost is also unknown to the steamer’s owners.
The Names of the two men saved are: Louis LaFevre, Jr., Second Mate.; William Gill, a deck hand living at 137 rent st., Rochester, NY

All comments in ( ) are comments or spellings guesses and or my interpretation of the original document. This news clipping was found in the Williamson family bible now in the possession of Mary Catherine Cleaver of Anderson, IN Acopy of the clipping is in possession of Tom Williamson, New London, CT

Transcriber: Thomas E. Williamson
Paper: Hamilton Herald
Dates: 10-12 Nov 1897
Transcription Date: 26 Oct 2005 Originals are in the possession of Mary Catherine
(Cleaver) Paskell of Anderson, IN

TWO HAMILTON SAILORS
Believed to have gone down with Idaho.
Robert Williamson, better known as “The Gunner”, and Louis Gilmore, Said to be among the nineteen members of the crew of the ill-fated Steamer who lost their lives.

There is reason to fear that two of the nineteen victims of the ill-fated steamer Idaho, which went down in Saturday's storm in Lake Erie off Long Point, belonged to Hamilton.
In the list of names published yesterday appear those of Robt. Williams, wheelman and Louis Gilmore, Watchman. The latter resided on Hughson street north, and in his case there is good ground for belief (2 words unreadable) that is the Hamilton youth of that name who perished.
The Robert Williams is supposed to be Robert Williamson, better known as gunner, a brother of ex-Ald. Williamson, and one of the most familiar characters of the city, especially in the north end, where he has lived all his life. The Gunner obtain his title not, as the dream artist of the Toronto World has it, because he was a member of the battery - but from the fact that he was frequently heard to boast of his skill with the gun in his numerous expeditions after ducks and other game.
Unless the bodies are recovered, it will remain amatter of some doubt as to the identity of the victims, as very unsatisfactory records seem to have been kept of the names and addresses of the crew many of whom, according to the survivors, were not known to each other.
Two Bodies Seen Floating.
Buffalo Nov. 9 - Capt. McNeil of the steamer Cranage arrived in port this morning and says that (last word unreadable)


History of the Great Lakes With Illustrations Published Chicago, J.H. Beers & Co.678, 1899

1897 Wreck of the Idaho, Pages 776-777

The wreck of the steamer Idaho off Long Point, on the night of November 5, was the most serious disaster of 1897 on the Great Lakes. This is true in both the number of lives lost and the monetary loss. The vessel sank, and with her went down 19 of the 21 men who constituted the ships company. The two survivors were Louis LaForce, second mate, and William Gill, a deck hand. The steamer herself was old, and was insured for not more than $10,000 or $15,000; but the amount of property aboard is estimated at from $75,000 to $100,000.
The Idaho left Buffalo with the package freight for Milwaukee on the afternoon before the wreck. A November gale caught her before she reached Long Point. Her captain, Alexander Gillies, made the unfortunate decision to push on, leaving astern the safe shelter behind the point. Twelve miles beyond Long Point the Idaho began to ship water, and part of the crew was ordered to the pumps. After a little while the water got into the engine room, and then in the fire hold. Then the captain attempted to head the steamer around to get back under Long Point. As she veered a great roller swept over her, throwing her into the trough of the sea and washing half a dozen of the crew off the deck into the lake.
All hands were at once ordered to the pumps except the watchman and a wheelman. One of the pumps broke, and the captain organized a line of fire buckets. Inch by inch, however, the water crept up until it was bubbling around the edge of the fires. In ten minutes the fires were quenched and the ship was at the absolute mercy of the sea.
All then went on deck to lower the anchors in the hope that the ship would right herself. While the men were giving more line to the port anchor the stern began to sink and every wave slopped over it. Suddenly the moon broke through the clouds and the crew got the first light they had seen since the engine fires were extinguished. Gill saw the captain running forward, when a wave swept him far from the ship and as it passed the clouds closed over the moon and the night was black again.
Gill and LaForce found themselves on the end of the deckhouse, and scrambled into the rigging as the Idaho went down. They scrambled to the crows nest, and there the Mariposa found them in the morning.
While working on the pumps Gill and LaForce had stripped themselves to shirt and trousers, and there they clung, sprayed by every wave. Others of the crew had tried to launch one of the small boats and were swamped with it. Looking about them Gill and LaForce saw that all their companions had been lost.
LaForce, who was above Gill, sighted a vessel just at daybreak and signaled frantically for it, but it steamed by and LaForce temporarily went mad with despair. He beat his head against the mast, prayed, sang and threatened Gill, whose position was less secure, and who was lost if he let go with one hand. To add to their misery hail began to fall and cut their faces.
It was past noon when the Mariposa came into sight. The men were too stiff to signal her. They saw the Mariposa change her course, and captain Root bring her alongside. He lowered a small boat, but it was wrecked instantly. Three times he tried it. Finally he brought the Mariposa right up against the spar, and her crew lifted the men aboard. Gill was so cold that he could not unfasten his hands.
LaForce says he was in the hold when the stern n began to sink. The crew made a mad dash for the deck and one of the men was trampled to death by his companions, madly eager to escape.
Resolutions adopted by the Buffalo Merchants Exchange, commending Capt. Frank Root of the Mariposa for his skill and courage in rescuing the two survivors, contained this paragraph: In bringing a great steel steamer nearly 350 feet long, in such a heaving sea, alongside the spar to which the two unfortunate men were clinging for their lives with a skill and nicety which enabled the rescue to be successfully made, Captain Root and his officers and crew not only proved themselves possessed of the highest skill and discipline as seamen, but showed a courage, coolness and nerve which belong only to the truly brave. Their seamanship and their courage were both brought to a supreme test, and both proved unsurpassed. ............................
The Idaho was one of the oldest steam vessels on the lakes. She was built in 1863. A few years ago the Western Transit Company, which owned the boat, took her out of commission and she lay idle at Buffalo until a month or so before her loss. She was 220 feet long, with a net tonnage of 906. During the GAR Encampment the naval veterans used the Idaho as a lodging place.

Beers index lists two ships named Idaho.
#1 Idaho, schr. 37 g.t.b. '64, in com.

#2 Idaho, prop, 1,100 g. t. b. '63 Cleveland, sunk off Long Point, 97, 19 lives lost.