A rough afternoon sea off Norton’s Point turned deadly in July 1909 when two men set out from Sea Gate in a rowboat and were overwhelmed by the water.
Charles Hendrickson and Martin Johnson had gone out for what was meant to be a simple outing, but the heavy surf soon left them exhausted and struggling in the waves. Captain Charles Kleiberg rushed to the scene in his motor boat and managed to pull Johnson aboard unconscious.
Hendrickson, however, slipped beneath the water before he could be reached. His body was recovered later and taken to the Coney Island morgue.
The dangerous conditions did not end with the drowning. A sloop carrying a fishing party ran aground while trying to help, and even a police launch sent to free it was disabled by a wave and left stranded off the Point.
By nightfall, the sea was still too rough for rescuers to drag the boats free.
Drowned From Rowboat
BROOKLYN, New York. — The heavy sea running off Norton’s Point yesterday afternoon proved too much for the rowboat in which Charles Hendrickson and Martin Johnson had gone out from Sea Gate for an afternoon’s outing.
The men were floundering about exhausted in the water when Captain Charles Kleiberg in his motor boat hastened to the rescue. Johnson was hauled into the motor boat unconscious, but Hendrickson sank before he could be reached.
His body was recovered later and taken to the Coney Island morgue.
The auxillary sloop R. Esterbrook, Jr., Captain Phillips, with a fishing party returning from the banks, put in near the shore to extend assistance, but the strong tide drove the boat aground. The water was shallow, however, and the 15 passengers waded ashore.
An hour or so later police launch No. 5 made an attempt to pull off the Esterbrook, but a big wave which swept over the craft and drenched the batteries and dynamo put the launch out of commission, and, like the Esterbrook, it was soon stuck hard and fast off the Point.
The seas were running so heavy last night that Lieutenant Mott, in charge of the police boat patrol, had to abandon his attempts to drag off the stranded boats.
Source: New-York Tribune. New York, N.Y. July 19, 1909.
