The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1880-11-17
A COLORADO YARN.
AFull Rigged Ship Found il Sealed Cavern
Shaped Like Chinese Junk, With Mon
golian Characters on the Prov.

The Lead7ille Chronicle pub.
fishes an account of the most
marvellous discovery yet made by
mortal man, provided that it is
true, which is more than doubt
full. Two miners, while sinking a
shaft near Red Cliff, are repre-
sented to have found a deep sub
terranean chamber without ap-
parent communication with the
open air. What they clam to
have seen is thus described
The'cave seemed at first empty:
but as their eyes gradually be-
came accustomed to the deep
gloom, the men saw in the further
extl entity a huge black object,
which, not without some trepida-
ton, they approached. As they
reared it, to their unbounded
amazement, they made out the
lines Of some sort of sailing craft.
1t was, as nearly as we could
judge, about sixty feet long by
some thirty wide, aud lay tilted
forward at an angle of about fit:
teen degrees over a rough pile of
stone. The body of the craft was
built Of short lengths of some dark
and very porous WOOD, rcsem bling
our black walnut, if it could be
imagined, with the grain pulled
apart like a sponge or piece of
bread, and made perfectly square.
Both ends Git was evidently in-
tended for sailing either sway)
were turned abruptly up like the
toe of a peaked Moorish slipper.
The planking was apparently dou-
BILE riveted On with nails Of ex-
tremeIy hard copper, only slightly
rust eaten, and with the heads cut
or filed in an octagonal shape,
while along the upper edge of the
ship eleven large rings of the
same metal, and evidently for the
securing of rigging, were counted.
At the bottom edges Of the craft,
and running it's entire length,
were two keels some four and a
half feet deep and six inches thick,
hung on metallic hinges, and at
the ends were fastened rough cop
per rods, extending upward and
bent over so as to attach to two
masts rising from the upper edges.
If the cross Of an inverted letter
Y be conceived to represent the
deck lines, the two stems are at
about the angel and position OF the
masts. These were upward OF
twenty feet long; and, as evidence
that sail was at one time stretch
ed across, some ragged remnants
of what appeared to be cordlng
were found clinging to the inner
edges. The ends Of the masts
were secured in pivots, and 1t
was evident that in lacking one
could be moved forward and the
other back, thus bringing the sail
at an angle with the body of the
ship-an idea which it might not
be bad for our modern navigators
to emulate. This, it is believed,
also explains the copper rods
which moved the keels SO as to re-
ciprocate the position Of the
masts. While the whole ship was
intact, the wood crumbled like
dust beneath the finger touch, and
fearful Of trapfalls the two pros
pectors did not venture to explore
the interior. Lying on the ground
near by, however, was discovered
o gold instrument bearing a rude
resem blance to the sextant OF the
present day, and possibly used to
calculate the Longitude. No trace
of any writing was found save at
one end Of the ship, inclosod in a
medal ring, were twenty-six cop
per characters rivited to the wood
and bearing much resemblance to
the Chinese hierogIyphics of the
present day. No human remains
OF any sort were found, although
it is possible that search in the
hold will reveal something Of this
sort.
They went to the cabin OF a
well.to.do miner living some thlr-
ty miles down the gulch, and to
him first told their extraordinary
story. This gentleman is per-
fectly reliable, and, together with
g we'll known mining expert resid-
ing in this city, has seen and ez-
o,ined the ship, and will take