Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1862-09-26
sensafiOH ia GeFEssaBy-I N ysteriOua Dis
appearance Of a FrsyaEe.


a sensation in 6seFSnaBy--5Ey ysterioua Die
Appearance Of a ErigUte.
From the n. Y Evening PostI
The question which German journals are nov
discussing is Did an American ship captain
run into and sink the Prussian frigate Amazon
and thus destroy the Prussiau navy, = winter
| agOl The GartealaHbe a very respectable semi
| political literary weekly of Leipzig, which ha.
a very large circulation, 100000 copies psr week
/ it is said, printed in recent number story
purpOrting to be told by an American sailor
mate Of ship he calls the Black Hawk, Of
! Boston. This peTsoHage, who calls himself
/ Charles Whitman, Of Pennsylvania, relates that
! he ssiled from Boston for Cronstadt, mate in tha
| Black Hawk, of which one Morton was captain:
that Morton was man of many adventures and
1 desperate character, who had been one of the
mntinous crew Of the Usited States brig Som
| ers, had atterwsrd sailed in sisysrs and was
put in command of his ship by the influence .ol
| those for whom he had in former times sailed to
the African coast that in CTOnstadt, and after
ward in Copenhagen, he was visited By persons
whose conversation, accidentally overheard in
the cabin, revealed to Whitman plot against
the frigate Amazon, which lay at Copenhagen at
tho time; that under pretence Of fearing ice in
getting out into the North sea, Captain Morton
had his ships bow considerably strengthened at
Copenhagen; that he sailed in compsny with
the Amazon, passed with her through the Skager-
rack, and in a heavy blow some days sfterWard
ran plump into her, and stove her SO that she
sunk with all on board.
The reward he was to receive for This piece Of
rascality is stated at two thousand pounds ster-
ling but an old grudge which Morton is said to
have had against the Prussian government,
which had injured him and imprisoned him once,
was an added inducement. The persons who
paid him for his crime are not so distinctly point
ed outi they seem to have been agents of the
Danish government, together with Prussisns.
Of a party which is opposed to & navy The
unfortunate frigate is said to have had poor
crew, and officers who were not good seamen,
which is very likely, as the PTussians are not
sailors though good soldiers. It is told that in
the gale she lost her main and mizzen mast,
and was endesvoTing to lie-to under a fore try
ssil and jib while they tyie.l to rig jury mzzen
mast.
Morton had the black Hawk, described as a
large clipper ship, under all the sail she would
bear, ana bore down upon the Amazon, which
lay helpless in the trough Of tie sea. When
within some cables length of his victims, be
pushed the seaman sway from the helm and took
it himself, kept her of ill abe was headed square
for the beam Of the Amazon, and then, as her
sails filled with ihe free wind and the ship gath
cred headwsy, he flung her down upon the help
ltb5 lliSolb5 bhEihAlE NcI oquhI6 aLQlQBulpS, ana
cutting her down through the upper deck. The
wreck hung to the Black Hawks bow, while
she was lifted in q great sea and came down
with a second blow, which broke the Amazon in
two and sent her pieces to the bottom, while
Morton sailed on, saving no one.
This is the tale, which sounds very mach like
cock-snd-a-sull story. What adds to the ex
citement in Germany s that the Amazon was
the only frigste in the Prussisn navy. In a
note Of the editor Of the Garteniau5s, however,
he states that the writer, "Chsrles Whitemen,"
namely, comes 70 him with saeh excellent intro
ductions, and his trustworthness hss been con-
frmed by recommendations of such importance
and character, that it was not thought proper to
decline publication Of the story. The editor
adds that the mysterious loss Of tho Amazon
fhgate, with all her crew, has till now been a
deep mystery, though there seems to have been
before suspicions OF foul play, He asserts that
the fragments OF the frigate, found at the time,
pointed BY their shape, character and position.
to some such catastrophe as is related above.
And finally, this editor asserts positively that
the pilots of Deal and Ramsgste, on the English
coast, reported at the time, speaking an AmsTi-
can clipper, with broken byowsprit and injured
bow, in the channel, and that they were treated
with very scant courtesy by the captain, who
passed on without stopping. he further asserts
that last winter the fact that an American ship
had run into and sunk the Prussian frigate, was
matter Of common talk in the haunts Of sea-
men in this city, New York that it was said the
American csptsin had been bribed to do the
deed, in Copenhagen; that in the Union feet
near Fortress Monroe, there is now seaman
who relates the same story.
1t is remarked, toe, with some plausibility,
that if ths ship had perished naturally, and not
BY so violent and looked for s catastrophe as has
been recOuHied in a narrow sea like the North
sea, it would scearcely have failed but that some
Of her crew would have been saved.
We have given the story as it Is printed in
Germany. 1t is, we hear, to be Investigated BY
the Prussian government, which has cited the
editor of the GarteHlau5s and the man who calls
himself Charles Whiteman before an examining
commission; SO that the truth is likely to be
elected Meantime, is there aclipper ship Black
Hawk, Of Boston7 had she a captain named
Morton and did be sail her to St. Petersburg
last winter