The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1882-12-28
-Four Thrilling Sea Stories.
All the Year Round.

All the Year Round.
In the autumn of 1876 the schooner Ex-
plorer, having crew of two, captained
by John Waddel, left Chatham, Ontario,
for Georgian Bay. Toward the end Of
November the captain arrived at Goder-
ich alone The schooner had gone down
in sudden squall, taking the crew with
her, Waddel escaping in the yawlboat.
His story was not impeached, and the
money for which the vessel and her cargo
was insured was duly paid. Then the
captain took up his residence in G0derich,
and became in the habit of taking trips
to the north shore, accompanied 10y his
II year old son, until one of them ended
in the capsiZing of the boat and the
drowning OF its occupants. Some two
years afterward fisherman discovered
schooner in about hundred feet of water,
near the Hurd, but no attempt to raise
the sunken vessel was made until the
present year, when Capt. Jey, Of Port
Huron, undertook the task, and accom-
pIishlng it, proved those who thought
the Explorer had been Wilfully lost were
right in their suspicious. She had been
stripped OF her canvas, and her cargo
was represented by some tons Of stone
Twelve augcr holes were found close to the
keel, and the body Of a sailor lay in the
locked-up cabin.
If ships have been strangely lost, they
have been just as strangely saved. The
Hortense. from New Orleans to Massa-
chusetts, was nearing the Florida Straits
Before tuning in for the night her COM
mandcr warned the mate moi to omit call
ing him at 3 o'clock, as they would then
he approaching the dQRble headed shot
Keys, large and dangerous rock. The
night wore on. The mate went below to
get something ont Of bis chest sat down
upon it. and was soon fast asleep. The
men on deck thinking al was tight.
dropped oft one by one, leaving Spanish
lad at the helm to keep a solitary watch.
The wind changed, a stiff breeze sprang
up and the liOrtense sped swiftly on to-
wards the dreaded rock. The captains
terrier was on deck and wide awake.
Rushing To his masters cabin, he Jumped
upon the sleeping man and woke him.
Told 10 be quiet, Nep only Darked the
louder, till tie thoroughly reused captain
thought le might as we'll 20 on deck.
lie was lust in time. Right ahead lay the
vessel about. Three minutes later and
the Elortense would have been a wreck,
In Il newspaper Of l-c0 was 10 be read
"Ihe hrigantine Moorburg left Foo
chow, in China, in October last, for Mel
bourne, carrying a crew OF four, exclusive
OF the captain whose wife was with him
and the mate. Daring the earlier part
OF the voyage the crew fell sick. and one
after the other died. Tbs left the entire
management Of the Ship to the captain,
the mate and the captains wife. The heat
was irightfu, and, as if there We're not
sufficient difficulties already, leak was
sprung the mate was reduced to Skel-
eton, and was almost helpless from sick
ness the captain was COY cred with sores,
and his legs painfully swollen. The cap
talns wife, a small and by no means ro-
bust woman, kept her health, and not
only dld she nurse all the sick in turn.
and look after her baby, but she took her
turn at the wheel in the regular watches,
and did her share of seaman's work be-
sides. The captain, in spite Of his dread
tul condition, managed 10 let himself over
board and stopped the leak, and so, at
last, after all her troubles, the Moorburg
got into Brisbane half full of water with
two sick men on board, and woman at
the helm. More than this, the gallant
woman not only brought the ship safe
into port but her baby, too"
Strangest of all is our last story of the
sea. In December, 1873, the British ship
Del Gratia arrived at Gibraltar with the
Mary Celeste, an American brigantne,
found derelict in latitude 1920 degrees
north, longitude l7-I5 degrees west, but
without any apparent causes for her
abandonment. The Admiralty Court or
dered special survey. The exterior of
the ships hull showed no trace of dam
age, nor was there any appearance Of her
having struck on any rock or ground or
been in collision. The stern, sternpost
and rndder were in good condition. AS
with the exterior so it was with the in
terror OF the dereict. \ minute eXamin-
alton proved conclusvely that no acc-
dent had befallen her, and that she had
not encountered very heavy weather, for
the pitch in the water ways had not
started, and the hull, masts and yards
were as perfect as they we'll could be
There was not a crack in the paint of the
deck house. The seaman's chests and
sundry articles of clothing on board were
quite dry moreover, a small phial of
sewing machine oil, and a reel and thin
bic over it, had not even been upset
The harmonicum and the rest of the cabin
furniture stood in their proper places
the music and books scattered about had
evidently never been Wetted The barrels
OF spirits, forming the ships cargo, and,
saving one that had started. were intact
and IN good order No bills of ladng, no
manifest, rewarded the industry of active
seafchers. They found, however, abund-
ant evidence Of the presence Of lady and
a child on board the brigantine The last
entry in the log showed that at A. NJ.
on the 9th of November she had passt d
to the north OF St. Mary, one of the
Azores, but for divers reasons it was in
terred that She was not abandoned until
some days later
Why had the Mary Celeste been aban-
doned. \ terrible answer was suggested
by the finding of d sword, appearing as if
it had been stained with blood and after
wards wiped and the discovery that the
top gallant sail bore marks Of the same
ominous character, while both sides of
the ships bow had been cut by some
sharp instrument The Captain was well
known in Gibraltar, and nobody believed
him capable of lending hand to the
performance Of any foul play. Cup to the
present time" said the Gibraltar Chron-
icle, Of January 90, 1874, mot word has
been heard, not Il trace discovered, of the
captain, or the crew, or the lady and her
child. 1t can only be hoped that by giving