Early on the morning of June 4, 1911, 16 Salt Lakers boarded the launch Galilee at Geneva Resort to hold a nautical party on Utah Lake celebrating the upcoming wedding of Mr. Edward Holmes and Miss Vera Brown. The excursionists intended to spend the day sailing west over a seven-mile stretch of the water to a ranch near Saratoga where they would eat lunch and return to the east shore. They planned to be back early enough to help Miss Brown send out the last of her wedding invitations.
After two hours of carefree sailing, they were halfway across the lake and within sight of their destination. Captain Brown and some of the passengers began to take down the sails. The boat was just beginning to make a turn when a sudden whirlwind caught the canvas that was still clinging to the mast at a sharp angle, and the craft flipped onto its side, throwing all 16 of its occupants into water 9-feet deep.
Everybody either swam back to the overturned boat or got to the lifeboat it was towing. When too many of the survivors climbed into the little lifeboat, it swamped and sank.
As time passed, a number of the beleaguered 16 tired and lost their grips on the boat and drowned. In the case of each fatality, when one person lost his hold on the boat another went to save him, and both drowned.
The numbed fingers of Helen Brown, Captain Brown's daughter, loosed their grasp, and she slipped beneath the waves. Immediately, her brother Frank went to her rescue. Those still clinging to the boat saw the brother and sister struggle momentarily in the waves, and then they sank together.
Of the 16 passengers only 10 survived.
After two hours of carefree sailing, they were halfway across the lake and within sight of their destination. Captain Brown and some of the passengers began to take down the sails. The boat was just beginning to make a turn when a sudden whirlwind caught the canvas that was still clinging to the mast at a sharp angle, and the craft flipped onto its side, throwing all 16 of its occupants into water 9-feet deep.
Everybody either swam back to the overturned boat or got to the lifeboat it was towing. When too many of the survivors climbed into the little lifeboat, it swamped and sank.
As time passed, a number of the beleaguered 16 tired and lost their grips on the boat and drowned. In the case of each fatality, when one person lost his hold on the boat another went to save him, and both drowned.
The numbed fingers of Helen Brown, Captain Brown's daughter, loosed their grasp, and she slipped beneath the waves. Immediately, her brother Frank went to her rescue. Those still clinging to the boat saw the brother and sister struggle momentarily in the waves, and then they sank together.
Of the 16 passengers only 10 survived.
Early on the morning of June 4, 1911, 16 Salt Lakers boarded the launch Galilee at Geneva Resort to hold a nautical party on Utah Lake celebrating the upcoming wedding of Mr. Edward Holmes and Miss Vera Brown. The excursionists intended to spend the day sailing west over a seven-mile stretch of the water to a ranch near Saratoga where they would eat lunch and return to the east shore. They planned to be back early enough to help Miss Brown send out the last of her wedding invitations.
After two hours of carefree sailing, they were halfway across the lake and within sight of their destination. Captain Brown and some of the passengers began to take down the sails. The boat was just beginning to make a turn when a sudden whirlwind caught the canvas that was still clinging to the mast at a sharp angle, and the craft flipped onto its side, throwing all 16 of its occupants into water 9-feet deep.
Everybody either swam back to the overturned boat or got to the lifeboat it was towing. When too many of the survivors climbed into the little lifeboat, it swamped and sank.
As time passed, a number of the beleaguered 16 tired and lost their grips on the boat and drowned. In the case of each fatality, when one person lost his hold on the boat another went to save him, and both drowned.
The numbed fingers of Helen Brown, Captain Brown's daughter, loosed their grasp, and she slipped beneath the waves. Immediately, her brother Frank went to her rescue. Those still clinging to the boat saw the brother and sister struggle momentarily in the waves, and then they sank together.
Of the 16 passengers only 10 survived.
After two hours of carefree sailing, they were halfway across the lake and within sight of their destination. Captain Brown and some of the passengers began to take down the sails. The boat was just beginning to make a turn when a sudden whirlwind caught the canvas that was still clinging to the mast at a sharp angle, and the craft flipped onto its side, throwing all 16 of its occupants into water 9-feet deep.
Everybody either swam back to the overturned boat or got to the lifeboat it was towing. When too many of the survivors climbed into the little lifeboat, it swamped and sank.
As time passed, a number of the beleaguered 16 tired and lost their grips on the boat and drowned. In the case of each fatality, when one person lost his hold on the boat another went to save him, and both drowned.
The numbed fingers of Helen Brown, Captain Brown's daughter, loosed their grasp, and she slipped beneath the waves. Immediately, her brother Frank went to her rescue. Those still clinging to the boat saw the brother and sister struggle momentarily in the waves, and then they sank together.
Of the 16 passengers only 10 survived.
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