(2017)
Klaas Djarken Wessels (1869-1898).
While the protected cruiser U.S.S. San Francisco (C-5) was anchored in Provincetown in June 1898, 29-year-old Klaas Wessels, a coxswain aboard one of her longboats, fell into the sea as the boat was being lowered, after a stern line parted. As the United States was then at war with Spain, Wessels was given a military burial, 3,500 miles from his native Manslagt, Germany, after his body was borne from the cruiser to Matheson’s Wharf. His shipmates erected an expressive memorial, topped by a heavy cross, in which an anchor is crossed with an inverted torch, the symbol of a life extinguished.
¶ Last updated on 28 March 2021.
Provincetown’s Historic Cemeteries and Memorials, O-56, Page 13.
Find a Grave Memorial No. 151296310.