Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1870-07-14
MISSING SHIPS.

LIST OF THE "NEvER HEARD OF.
The mysterious disappearance in the
Atlantic Of the steamer City of Boston,
with large number of passengers on
board, recalls to mini many similar cas-
es in the annals Of ocean navigation.
Two occurred in the eighteenth century
which attracted general attention. The
first of these was the disappearance, in
1869, of the British frigate Aurora,
bound for India, which after touching at
the Cape of Good Hope, was never again
heard Of The poet Falconer,~ Au-
thor OF The Shipwreck,' was on board
of her as purser The other instance was
that of La Perouse, the French navigator,
Who, after long cruise of discovery 10
the Pacific Ocean with the frigates Astro-
labe and Boussole, left Botany Bay early
in 1888, and was never again heard of
again though, in 1928, traces of wreck S
were found on the New Hebrides, which
are now thought to have been those of the
missing squadron. The disappearance of
the President in 1911 caused the most I'M
paralleed excitement. Ocean steamers
were novelties in those days, TO-. only a
few years had elapsed since well known
philosopher had pronounced it inpossi BE to
cross the Atlantic by the use Of steam alone.
The President left New York early in
January, and was .despared of in April.
Tremendous weather had prevailed durin g
the interval, and unusual quantities of ice
I,,1 -, lcfi r.
her passengers were Lord Fitzroy Len
nox, son Of the Duke of Richmond, and
Tyron Power, the celeb ated Irish actor.
In 1854 the screw propeller City Of Glas-
go left Liverpool for Philadelphia, on the
lst Of March, with four hundred and eigh-
ty persons on board in all. She has never
since been heard of, and no fragments.
which could be identified have been dis
covered. In 1856 the Collins steamer
Pacific left Liverpool on the 22d ofJanu-
airy with one hundred and eighty-six per-
sons on board, among them Messrs. Eliot
Warburton, and Cathcrwood, the artist.
Nothing has since been heard of her
and she is supposed to have struck on an
iceberg. In 1862 the steamer Life
guard, which left Necastle on the Goth of
December, disappeared, and is supposed
to heve foundered off Marlborough Head.
These are the only cases within our knowl-
edge where large steamship has disap-
peared totally without leaving behind a
trace of her existance but, as an exam
pie Of the manner in which such terrible
calamities may occur, we may cite the
case of Lefort, a Russian vessel-ofwar
of eighty-four guns. which in tie year
1857 keeled over and went down bodily
in the Gulf of Cronstadt, within sight of
three of her consorts The whole ships
company, amounting to eight hundred
and thirty-six persons, were drowned.
No human tongue survived to tell how
the Hungarian. a Canadian steamer, was
wrecked. She was discovered in 1859,
on the rocks near Cape Sable, Nova SEQ
tia, and though two hundred peasons had
been on board. only three bodies were
found, while the mail bags were reduced
to pulp. The Prussian corvette Amazon
may doubtless be enrolled in the list of
missing ships. In 1861 she disappeared
from the ocean, and some arm-racks con-
tanning swords and guns, and marked IF.
w ;" (Fredrick William found on the
sands off the Helder, are the only proofs
of her wreckage Appletoa'sI Journal.