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Picture taken in the 1920's by William Vogler's mother Marion. Picture courtesy of Marie Vogler, wife of William (Bill) Vogler.
I am not sure who the two men are.
Stories and events in "Vogler" lives.
One (of many) history of the name Vogler brings us to Thuringia, located between Hessen and Lower Saxony in the West and Saxony in the East. Originally a kingdom of the Germanic Hermunderen in the third and fourth centuries, the land was conquered by the Franks and Saxons in 531 AD. In the eleventh century the Ludowinger Dynasty became rulers of Thuringia.
In the Middle Ages the name Vogler has been traced back to Thuringia, in the southeastern part of Saxony, where this family name became a prominent contributor to the development of the district from ancient times. Always prominent in social affairs the name became an integral part of that turbulent region as it emerged to form alliances with other families within the feudal system and the nation. The family can be traced as far back as the year 1544 when Heinrich Vogel the Elder founded a branch of the family in the Duchy of Gotha.
The numerous variations of the name Vogler include: Vogel, Voegel, Vogele, Voegele, Voegelein, Vagel (northern Germany), Vogeler, Vogler, Voegler, Vogl (Austria), Vageler (northern Germany), Fogel, Fogeler, Valke, Vakel, Vogal, Vogels, Vogall, to name a few examples.
The name Vogler translates in German to fowler or bird hunter. The earliest recorded Coat of Arms for the name of Vogler consists of: A blue shield with a chevron, two stars and a rose. The family crest is composed of an eagle.
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Postcard courtesy of Marie Vogler, wife of William (Bill) Vogler.
The white print bottom left says "Oxemobile at Vogler's Cove".
I found a site by a gentlemen named Jens Vogler from Lauenburg, a small town in Pommern/Prussia
(today Leborg/Poland). He has this translation of the last name Vogler (which I like better).
http://agn-www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/people/1vogler/vogler-e.html
Frederick Vogler's house was on the coast near the recent home of Cliff Whynachts chip yard. Family stories tell that Mrs. Vogler's home at Five Houses was often attacked by privateers. For that reason , a cannon was mounted in an upstairs bedroom window. At another time chains were strung across the river to keep ships out.. By Blake Conrad
William Vogler 1837-? was a master mariner. His house stood near the government wharf, on the present site of the home of Ann Mullins. William (Capt. Bill), James and Eldred owned the schooner "Flying Mist".
The "Flying Mist" Schooner was built and owned by William (Bill), Eldred and James Vogler, and was built in Vogler's Cove, in 1865. It went aground on an island in St. Peter's bay, Cape Breton, on April 3rd. 1867, and was salvaged Oct. 1869, was split three ways. They had borrowed $2,000.00 to build it and had paid that off, Nov. 15 1865.
It was 65 feet long, 19 foot 8 lengths breadth, and 7 foot 6 lengths deep in hold, from tonnage deck to ceiling at Midships.
Total registered tonnage 50 42/100
It's port of registry was Liverpool, Nova Scotia.
This was copied from some papers of the late E. Russell Vogler, that he had brought with him when he went west, and now in the possession of his daughter, Norma Vogler McGuire, of Surrey B.C. October 1997.
From Ruth E. Vogler-Kaulback (compiled 1987) comes this story of Stephen "Steve" Vogler
"Steve" was a terrific man! A cripple on crutches, he was a butcher, killed and cut up his meat, with his wife's help. Then he sold it door to door by horse and wagon. Between butchering and sales days he made the finest hay rake ever put on the market. He sang well, and could do a mighty fine step-dance, despite his disability. He was one of my favorite older relatives, and lived next door to my family. R.E.V.K..
From Ruth E. Vogler-Kaulback (compiled 1987) comes this story of Frederick Vogler 1835-
Frederick was a sea captain. He and his brothers William & Philip, & a nephew , all of Petite Riviere, were drowned 24 Aug. 1873 en route from Labrador, 24 souls aboard, leaving 7 widows & numerous bereaved families. The vessel later found, partly submerged, masts gone, & 4 bodies in the cabin. The vessel was towed into Nfld. where the bodies were interred, with-out identification, in a catholic cemetery.
Wreck of the Schooner "Three Brothers" at Little Codroy River, Newfoundland.
There were two ships (of many) that sank in the August Gales of 1873. One ship was the "Young Nova Scotian" and the other was the "Three Brothers" from Petite Riviere. Both of these ships had members of the Vogler family aboard. To this day I am not sure who was on which ship…(Phil)
Courtesy of and transcribed By Sue O’Neil http://home.cogeco.ca/~nfldroots/
From the Harbor Grace Standard and Conception Bay Advertiser.
October 11, 1873
To the Editor Morning Chronicle,
Dear Sir,
On Sunday forenoon, September 14th, some of the inhabitants of Little Codroy River discovered the hull of a vessel laboring in the trough of the waves about three miles seaward from Nor-West Cove. They immediately set out five boats towards the wreck. The day was fine, but the sea high. They boarded the wreck before sunset, and discovered it to be a schooner of over 50 tons, - her registry afterwards showed her to be 60.
On her stern in white letters was painted the name Three Brothers, Petite Riviere, N.S., with a compass and square. She was laden with green fish, and supplied with all materials necessary for the prosecution of the cod-fishery,
They towed her ashore after three days and nights continuous labor, never letting her go all that time. Having pumped her dry they discovered in the forecastle the bodies of five men in an advanced state of decomposition. They were dressed in their oil clothes, and evidently prepared for heavy weather. They had been dead about three weeks, and doubtless met their fate in the terrible storm of August 25th. The bodies were placed in deal coffins, and buried with all decency and respect in the vicinity of the English Cemetery at Little Codroy River. Several articles of clothing, &c., were discovered which can be had by relatives of the deceased on application to John McIssac, Little River.
Among the articles discovered was a small sum of money, consistine {sic} of $5.25 which was expended in burying the bodies. In another trunk was found the sum of 22 shillings, a handkerchief and stockings marked M.M.H.; a boat or fish jack, marked J.V.; a book of Protestant hymns, with music notes, on one leaf of which was written James L. RIESEY, Petite Riviere. This book was entirely destroyed by the water. An English protestant Bible was found, on which was written in several places, Milford FRALICK, A.D. 1852; Milford Fralick, maney beblong (?) {sic} July 8, 1870, on board the schooner Alliance; also on the back cover of the same book "David ABBOTT, born in the year 1825". This book is not altogether destroyed. Some boots and clothes of smaller size, evidently belonging to a boy were also found, but no body corresponding to them was discovered.
The schooner was registered at Lunenburg, N.S., and belonged I believe, to Perry & Sons. In the hope that these particulars may tend to dispel the anxiety, and allay the grief of the relatives of these unfortunate men and assist them in recovering some of the objects as mementos of the departed, I beg the insertion of these particulars in your Journal and remain.
Yours Truly,
M.F. HOWLEY
R.C. Clergyman
Young Nova Scotian
Constructed 1860 in Port Medway. It was a wood hull schooner with no figurehead. Official registry number was 36982. Registered in Lunenburg 1860. Gross tonnage 66, net tonnage 64. It wrecked August 24, 1873. The registry was closed December 29, 1873
Three Brothers
Constructed 1872 in Petite Riviere. It was a wood hull schooner with no figurehead. Official registry number was 59492. Registered in Lunenburg 1872. Gross tonnage 54, net tonnage 52. Sold at St. John's, Newfoundland. Registry closed May 30, 1879.
All information is from the Canadian Heritage Ship Information Database at http://daryl.chin.gc.ca:8000/basisbwdocs/sid/title1e.html
Antecdotal Histories of Life in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia
Site by Nancy Shaver.
A "very" interesting site, make sure you check out " The Diary of Johann Michael Schmitt ". My gggg-grandfather Frederick Vogler (son of Johann Heinrich Vogler & Anna Elizabeth Walter) married (April 6th 1790) Maria Elizabeth Schmidt d/o Thomas Schmidt & Christina Werth/Wurth.
There is a great section on the early days of Lunenburg.
This is from the site http://www.downtosea.com/ , "Out of Gloucester".
This story and the Oct. 31st story were both supplied by Roberta. A very nice site!
Gloucester Daily News
Saturday, October 29, 1927
The Avalon
Sch. Avalon
Rammed by Ocean Liner Off Cape Race This Morning
List of Missing Crew
Including Skipper May Reach as High as 11 Men is Reported
Craft Cruising for Mackerel When Struck by the Presidente
Wilson
Latter Stands by to Render Aid
Smashing her way through a blinding fog, the Boston bound liner Presidente Wilson, early this morning rammed and sank the local fishing schooner Avalon owned by the William H. Jordan Vessels Company, taking a toll of 11 lives. The captain, Edmund Vogler, his father Jabish Vogler and his cousin Clifford Vogler, were among the crew who perished.
A definite crew list is not available at the present time, but it is believed that the craft carried 14 men, being five short on her regular complement. Three of the crew were saved and two of the bodies of the crew were recovered and taken on board of the liner, and transferred to the destroyer Burroughs which at 11 o'clock this morning, was still standing by the scene of the wreck searching for other bodies.
Only meager information could be obtained up to noon, but from dispatches and radio sent to news services it was stated that the accident occurred this morning at 4 o'clock in latitude 42.09 North longitude 70.02 West. This would place the sinking approximately off of Peaked Hill bar.
From the information received, it would lead one to believe that the men were trapped below deck, and never had a fighting chance for their lives. this being borne out by the finding of the two bodies, the men having undoubtedly been killed to float on the surface.
The Avalon, after having discharged 9000 pounds of fresh mackerel at the Pier in Boston yesterday afternoon, left early in the evening for fishing. Most of the seiners have been taking their fish off of Provincetown of late and it is supposed she was bound there to try her luck.
A murky fog over-hung the lowlands of the Cape this morning, and visibility was poor. On this account, fishermen say that the crew, all except the watch and wheelsman, would have been below decks. Whether they heard the warning whistles of the giant liner as she hove down toward the and tried to avoid the fatality, or whether it all happened in an instant, cannot be told until the three survivors reach home
The three men reported safe on the destroyer are Nicholas Walsh, 55, Alvin Fleet, a cousin of Capt. Ambrose Fleet, both of Gloucester, and Frank (Frenchy) Hemeon, 44, of Shelburne, N. S. The known members of the crew up to noon were:
Capt. Edmund F. Vogler, of Port Joli, N. S., married, resident of Gloucester
Jabish Vogler, his father, of Port Joli, N. S., also resided in Gloucester
Clifford Vogler, engineer, of Port Joli, N. S.
Harry Anderson, the cook, native of Liverpool, N. S.
Charles White, believed to be from Sandy Point, N. S.
Frank Calder, native of Yarmouth, N. S.
Russell Dahl, believed to be from Sandy Point, N. S.
Manley Peterson, resident of Jordan, Shelburne County, N. S.
William Hemeon of Sandy Point, N. S., leaves a widow and five children
Everett Horton, resident of Gloucester, leaves widow and two children
one man not yet unidentified (tentatively identified as James Jamieson of Truro, N. S. )
(Original article listed only the first seven names. Other names and personal information were added from an article published on Oct. 31, 1927.)
Following the accident, the Presidente Wilson radioed to the Coast Guard and the Destroyer Burroughs and 125 foot patrol boat Alert, hustled under full steam to the scene of the disaster. At great risk they plunged through heavy banks of fog, and arrived in a very short time by the liner's sides. The three men saved were transferred to the Boroughs and will remain with her until she gives up her search for the bodies. Cruising around, the Alert found the seiners seine boat and has started to Boston with the boat in tow.
Information from the destroyer gave the location of the accident as a "few miles south east of the Highlands" and that the craft sank immediately after getting rammed. No wreckage floated on the surface..
The Avalon was built in Essex in 1902 and was 124 tons gross, 100 feet long, and equipped with gasoline engines. She was valued at $20,000 and was covered by insurance. Because of a heavy fog, which still hangs over the Cape, the Burroughs was unable to do anything more than hang around, hoping that the fog will lift and give an opportunity to search.
Gloucester Daily News Price Two Cents
October 31 1927
Avalon's Survivors Tell of Disaster
Members of Crew Claim Presidente Wilson Changed Course Twice Latter Blames Fishermen
Elvin Fleet, Nicholas Walsh, and Frank Hemeon, only survivors of the crew of the local schooner Avalon went down at the Highland Light at 4 o'clock Saturday morning with 11 men after being hit by the Italian Steam Ship, Presidente Wilson, told the story of the terrible accident yesterday afternoon. It was an amazing tale of being overtaken by the hulked shape of a huge liner while their young captain tried to warn the steamship with a flashlight. The vessel's horn was sounding like blazes in an effort to ward off the overtaking craft. Weather was hazy, but not thick with fog, as earlier announced.
Claimed Steamer Changed Course
In his interview, Fleet flatly charged the Presidente Wilson changed her course twice, after the schooner had altered twice, thus bringing them on the original course and causing the collision. He said the schooner did not sink, but was literally pushed down below the surface of the water.
Fleet, the only one of the three survivors who knows the maneuvers the schooner went through before the crash, declared, in a voice that has not lost any of its Nova Scotia twang, that the Avalon "hauled off to port to dodge the liner" and that the liner also changed her course to port.
When the Avalon, her auxiliary motor running full speed, changed her course to starboard, the liner too, changed her course to starboard. Fleet said with the result that the Wilson, the faster vessel, crashed into the starboard beam of the schooner. Both moves of the schooner were made before any similar change was made by the liner, Fleet declared.
Since the Wilson was the overhauling vessel, Fleet said, she was bound under the rules of the sea to keep clear of the schooner.
Hove to, her nose poking hazily into the light wind, the Avalon was waiting off Highland Light, Cape Cod, for daybreak.
Fleet's dinner was waiting on a table beside the bed, but he was so eager to tell the story that he had allowed it to become cold. And it was the first square meal he had been able to take since the accident occurred Saturday morning at 4:15.
Describing the details of the collision from the time the Wilson was sighted astern of the schooner until the three rescued men were aboard the liner, Fleet sat up in bed and used the reporter's pencil to illustrate the position of the two vessels when the Wilson was sighted by the schooner.
"This" he said "Is the position of the Avalon." He drew a figure on a sheet of copy paper. Directly behind this he placed another figure, the Presidente Wilson. Both were headed in the same direction about northwest by north.
Foggy During Night
It had been foggy during the entire night. In fact ever since the Avalon hove to on the Peaked Hill bell buoy flashing grounds the night before after the trip from Boston Fish Pier. At four o'clock, it had begun to clear a little Fleet said. but it was still hazy and the schooner's foghorn was still being sounded.
Fleet indicated by a line to the left of the schooner the course she took after the liner had been sighted.
Then another line to the left of the liner representing the Wilson indicating her course, Fleet said, after the Avalon had "hauled off to port to keep clear of the overtaking vessel". This line was parallel with that drawn to indicate the course of the Avalon.
"When the skipper saw her masthead lights begin to swing he was mighty worried, for this meant she was hauling over to port, too, " Fleet went on. "So he ordered me to put the wheel hard over and away we went to starboard. But the Wilson was coming too fast astern and before we could get out of the way further, she had crashed us."
Shown a newspaper copy of the statement issued to the press by Harold J. Felstal, New York agent for the Cosullch Line, owners of the Wilson, he charged that the Wilson did not change her course first as the statement indicated, but that this movement came after the schooner had first altered her course.
It was between 10 and 15 minutes before the crash that the Wilson was sighted in the mist astern of the Avalon.
Fleet, half dozing over the wheel that needed little attention, since the vessel was practically stationary thought it better to call the skipper, Captain Edmund Vogler, up from below.
The skipper had been on deck during much of the night, the helmsman said, but at this moment he was below.
Visibility was about half a mile Fleet thought, and the only lights he could see on the Wilson at the time of the first sighting were the masthead lights. The running lights red for port and green for starboard, came into view as the vessel approached.
Captain Aroused Men
Captain Vogler immediately ordered Russell Dall, whose watch on deck it was, to start the auxiliary motor. The schooner, as she hauled off to port and toward the Cape, sounded her foghorn rapidly, flashed a hand torch, while all three men shouted a warning, Fleet said.
Just what signals the Wilson sounded, if any, was not brought out.
When a collision was imminent, the Captain rushed to the companionway shouting to the 11 men below, "All hands on deck, hurry." in a voice that left no doubt as to the danger of the situation.
Out of the terror that filled his mind as the great bow of the 12,000-ton Wilson loomed up. Fleet remembers that the skipper shouted in a fearful voice, "We are being run down. Oh my God."
Those were the last words of the skipper, for with that the two vessels came together and everything was confusion. Some of the men, who had rushed to the deck wearing nothing but their underclothes, leaped into the top dory of the two, which were on the deck. Filled with water from the collision , this dory sank as soon as it reached the water, and the men, half dozen or more, were thrown into the water, all but one to their deaths.
The one who was not drowned in this boat was Fleet. He and the skipper went over the side together. The captain did not come to the surface.
Fleet swimming the quick over hand stroke that he learned in those boyhood days a few years ago in Nova Scotia, reached the other dory, which also had been put over the side and now was overturned.
So many had jumped for the first dory that the number could not be estimated. Fleet thinks there were at least a half a dozen others, in addition to the captain and himself.
A swim of 50 feet. Heads bobbing about. Arms waving frantically. Shouts from the water that became weaker and weaker. Inky night that was softened soon by floodlights from the Wilson. Fleet lay across the overturned bow of the dory, struggling to keep his hold.
Claims Life Boats Not in Water
Fleet said at the beginning of his story and repeated several times that the life boats of the Wilson were not in the water and on the scene for at least half an hour. This fact he reiterated in answer to questions.
He was not inclined to be too critical of the efficiency of the boat crew that he saw. He maintained that he saw only one boat put over the side that he was on and, this story was supported by the other two survivors.
Speaking of the way in which the boats were managed, he did say however, that " by the look of them, I thought they'd never get there." To this he added: " If there had been any kind of a sea on, I don' t think they'd have made it."
As to his treatment aboard the Wilson on the trip to the Commonwealth Pier, where 350 passengers were waiting to take passage to Mediterranean Ports, Fleet had only the kindest words to say. Nothing that could be done for them was lacking he said.
The oldest of the survivors, Nicholas Walsh, lay in his bed, his right forefinger well bandaged, it is the strength of his forefinger that Walsh owes his life.
When he "walked off" the Avalon after the crash, he swam madly about in the water until he reached the upturned dory, which Fleet later came.
Unable to pull himself across the stern or bow as Fleet did, he clawed desperately at the sides of the boat in an effort to gain a hold, each raising of the arm sending his head under.
In one frantic grasp he managed to get his right hand up and half way across the bottom of the dory. And the forefinger slipped into the seaplug , which, minus the seaplug, was in some measure responsible for the overturning of the boat.
Finger in the hole, Walsh hung feebly to the boat all but his head and right arm in the water. He declared it was an hour before he was rescued by the Wilson, but pinned down more closely by this reporter, he "figured it was at least a half an hour". This length of time was given by the other two survivors.
In all his 55 years, most of which have been spent in Gloucester fishing schooners, Walsh has never had such an experience as this collision.
He was asleep at the time of the crash. Awakened by the shout of his skipper, he ran the to deck with only a shirt on.
Breaking away from the group that was about to put over the top dory, he ran forward and "walked over the side" .
The Avalon literally was pushed down into the water by the Wilson, he said, rather than being split in two immediately.
Walsh with the other two declared that the sinking of the schooner came two or three minutes after the crash. When he got to the deck after the warning, the Wilson was 100 feet away, heading straight for the starboard beam. The Avalon was struck about the main rigging, he said.
Walsh, like Fleet, makes his home in Gloucester, from which port the Avalon sailed two days before the crash, en route to Cape Cod via Boston.
The third survivor, Frank Hemeon of Shelburne NS, also was asleep at the time of the collision. He was one of those in the second lifeboat, and when this capsized he felt he was through, he said.
"Couldn't swim a stroke, you know", he said. As he was going down for the second time he managed to grab hold of an oar, and keeping his head above water with this, he gathered several pieces of debris until he could just support the wait of his body.
"For half an hour, if not longer, I floated about on that, with a grip on the oar like a tiger" he went on.
Except for the need of a shave all three survivors were in good shape yesterday, Dr. J.J. McGillicuddy and Dr. William E McLean, United States Public Health physicians stationed at the hospital, declared.
The two bodies brought by the Wilson remain unidentified at the Northern Mortuary late last night. A score of friends and relatives of the 11 men who were lost viewed the bodies yesterday, but no positive identification could be announced.
There was one visitor at the hospital however, who declared that he thought one of the bodies was that of James Jameison of Truro NS. This was Lawson Vogler , brother of Jabish Vogler, father of the skipper, who also went down in the crash.
It was brought out yesterday that there was only one Fleet on the Avalon, the helmsmen, but that there were two unrelated Hemeons, the survivor and William Hemeon of Sand Point NS.
Gloucester Fishermen's Cenotaph
For a list of men (including Canadian) who died at sea while sailing out of Gloucester, visit http://www.downtosea.com/cenotaph/index.htm The dedication ceremony is set for September 3rd, (Sunday) 2000. Edmund, Clifford and Jabish (Jabez) Vogler (Avalon) are listed. The above link is to the main site http://www.downtosea.com/ "Out of Gloucester" by R. Sheedy