Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-11-12
An Ocean Tomb,
The Ghostly Discovery Blade by IA New
York Pilot.

The latest terrible discovery of q
disaster at sea is most graphically
told by Captain John H. Alters of
Pilot boat No. 8, (Pd) who brought
the steamship ScytI,ia to New York.
The Pet was beating about on tho
lookout for the Cunarder on the 10Th
ult., when about lG0 miles from
New York she fell in with vessel
floating bottom up, which subse-
quently proved to be the missing
Gladiator of Yarmouth, n. S. Said
Captain Alters:
We made something from the
! mastheap about 4 o'clock ia the af-
.ternoon of the 10th and bore down
supon it, but did not come up with
it until dusk. When we sighted it /
thought it was Il ships boat, and it
looked as though there was some
one i'll her. l got into one Of our
( boats with two of the crew, and,
when rss got alongside, we found it
, was 9, schooner of about $50 tons
floating bottom up. A more horri-
BILE sight you cannot picture. There
was the body Of one poor fellow
hanging tothe jib guys and inextric-
ably entangled in yards OF rope.
We raised him up about two feet,
but the smell was 80 overpowering
A.! that we had to let him go. The
flesh was falling away from his
bones, and we could not loosen him
from the ropes. He had on white
I shirt and an ordinary pair of trou-
sers, but whether he was n white or
colored man it was impossible to
say, for the body was So terribly de-
composed as to be beyond all recog
milton.
Then we pulled up to No. 8 again
and got an axe, l thought it would
be best to scuttle the schooner, as
she lay right in the track of the
ocean steamers. After u great deal
of hard work / succeeded in cutting
in her hole measuring about four
feet long by two wide just on the
water line, so that the air could get
into her. The stencil which then
arose right in our faces was thou
sand times more pestiential than
anything l could possibly have i'm
agined, and as one of my men
tainted from the effects of it, and the
other, as we'll as myself, were seized
y with violent retching, and darkness
was fast setting in, we had to give up
I, the Job. l intended, if possible, to
! have cut hole just above her cabin
, to see how many other bodies she
had ab GARD, but it was now dark and
the ses. was breaking over her, too.
l feel certain there must have been
q good many other dead on her, and
I think her crew were all undoubt-
edly lost.
have seen Il good many horrible
sights at sea, and know what it is
to DO floating about on piece Of
wreck at the mercy OF the waves.
| Yes, sir, 1 have seen those who were
my dear mates, struggling for dear
life by my side, sink one by one to
the bottom of the angry sea, never to
rise again, but in all my seafaring
life never before ran foul of such II
floating, noisome tomb on the ocean.
! What her cargo was 1 couldn't say.
After we had cut hole in her she
didn't sink, but continued to show
about eight fee. of her bottom above
/ the water. She had not been run
into, that was quite evident, but had
been turned over in gale of wind.
There wasn't anything broken about
her at all. On her stern was painted
" Gladiator, of Yarmouth" This
was somewhat difficult to make out,
as it had become much bleared by
the water, but N. S. was quite
plain. Her bottom was coal-tatred, !,
anis.she had not any copper on her.
4 Irs.s estimated that the census