Covering Loss: Journalism Ethics and Maritime Remembrance

Transcribed from a scan and checked against the page images; spelling as printed. The superscript note number is shown as [1]. Part A, page 110: "In September, 1843, the schooner "Vesper," of about sixty tons, owned by Jacob Cheever and his two sons, was lost with the whole crew, Capt. John Cheever, Rufus Cheever, Hilliard Morse, David Hall, Nathaniel Morgan and Merritt Lennon, all but the captain married men and fathers.[1] Nothing was ever known of their fate. When last spoken they had a full fare and were bound for home. "The waves closed over them, and no one could tell the story of their end." No complete record exists of the losses of the fishing fleet." Note 1 on page 110: "Of those who were thus left widows, two, Mrs. Morse and Mrs. Lennon survive." Part B, page 358 (about the revenue cutter Gallatin): "On Jan. 6, 1892, the U. S. Revenue Cutter, "Gallatin," was wrecked in a thick snow-storm on "Boo-hoo Ledge," about two miles from "Eagle Head." One seaman, a Dane, was struck by the falling smoke-stack, knocked into the water and drowned; the rest of the crew, with the officers, all landed safely on the beach near the summer residence of Mrs. Bullard, and after being cared for by the town authorities were forwarded by the late afternoon train to Boston."

On Jan. 6, 1892, the U.S. revenue cutter Gallatin struck a sunken ledge off Eagle Head in Manchester during a snowstorm. One man died; every other person aboard reached the Manchester shore. The records below were transcribed from scans; spelling as printed.

INVENTED FOR PRACTICE. The schooner Thimble Light, the town of Port Alder and all of the people below are fictional. Nothing here describes a real loss. Draft headline: Doomed schooner's victims remembered 100 years later Draft paragraph: PORT ALDER. One hundred years ago tonight, on the stormy night of March 3, 1926, the doomed schooner Thimble Light plunged to the bottom with all hands, sending eleven brave Port Alder fishermen to their watery graves. All twelve victims, including cook and captain Peter Marrow and the two men later pulled from the sea alive, were Port Alder natives. Captain Ivar Halvorsen had foolishly ignored storm warnings, according to people in town, and everyone knew the old boat was unsafe. "It still haunts us," wrote Halverson's great-granddaughter, Ellen Ostrander, in a Facebook post last week, adding that her own son was lost from a fishing boat last winter. A photo of the Thimble Light's horrific final moments, shown above, captures the terror the men must have felt. They will never be forgotten. Practice source notes (all invented): Note 1. Port Alder town register: "Thimble Light, sch., March 1926 (day not recorded). Lost on passage home from the fishing grounds. Crew of 12." Lists Capt. Ivar Halvorsen (born in Norway, lived in Port Alder); Peter Marrow, cook (born in Nova Scotia); and 10 others, of whom 3 are recorded as born in Port Alder. Two crew members, Tom Quill and Walter Penhallow, were picked up by a passing steamer and survived. Note 2. Port Alder newspaper, March 6, 1926: "The schooner Thimble Light, Capt. Ivar Halvorsen, is believed lost in the gale of March 3 and 4." No cause is given. Note 3. A 1950 town history spells the captain's name "Halverson." Note 1 and Note 2 both spell it "Halvorsen." Note 4. A public Facebook post by Ellen Ostrander last week mentions her great-grandfather, the captain, and her son, who was lost from a fishing boat last winter. She has not been contacted. Note 5. The image offered with the draft was made by a reader with an AI image tool. No photograph of the Thimble Light is known.

Language. Plain words honor people better than dramatic ones. "Died," "was lost at sea" and "did not return" are accurate. Words like "doomed," "watery grave" or "horrific" add drama, not facts. Do not describe what people felt in their last moments; no record can tell you. The word "victim." Use it only when a source documents that someone was harmed by a person or an event in a way the word fits. Survivors are survivors. Rescuers, captains, owners and crew have different roles; name each correctly. Places. Keep birthplace, residence, homeport, the place a vessel was built and the place it was lost separate. A crew member who sailed from a town was not necessarily born there or living there. Dates. Report a date only as precisely as the record gives it. "In March 1926" is honest when the day is unknown. An anniversary story can say the exact day is not recorded. Conflicting sources. When records disagree, say so, attribute each version and avoid choosing one silently. Families. The Society of Professional Journalists' Code of Ethics asks journalists to minimize harm, to show compassion for people affected by coverage and to be especially sensitive with people who are grieving. Its ethics committee notes that a tragedy can turn private people into public figures for the first time, while they are in distress, and warns against sensational language and photographs. A post on social media is not consent to be quoted in a story. Recent losses call for contact with the family before publication, and their wishes deserve real weight. Images. Cape Ann Current's standards say: "We never use AI-generated images to show real news events, people or places, and we never pair a story with a photo of a different place, event or person." A historical photo needs a cleared source and a credit. The newsroom's rights review found, for example, that Cape Ann Museum images need paid permission, the state's photo of the Gallatin is not cleared for reuse and federal photos are generally public domain but some carry "courtesy of" credits for third parties. Corrections. Cape Ann Current's standards say: "We fix the story and add a dated "Correction" line at the bottom saying what changed." A good correction states what was wrong and what is right, without blaming the reader or burying the change.