Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-09-22

eRAvHYARp or THE sEA-wuY ruR pRxapY
| BLAND AND ms rREAcaERors sprrrrxe SHOALS
Ahf DREADED ~ sArloRs-oScn TIE KKsoxr or
| wREckERs AND PIRATES
| toOpyriehtedl
| special correspondence Of TEE Evxsrxo srAl
| ST. JOHNS, NEWFOUNDLAND, Sept. IA lsss
| gentle breeze from the northeast uiled n,ume-
IKE patches OF fog along the Irregular shores OF
the once cannon-studded harbor OF the American
military depot OF Louis XIV, In punches and banks,
shutting out here and there the land the sea aud
| tue starry nighthght ITSELF as I boarded our
\ staunch craft at nearly midnight and awakened
/ Jolly OLD captain Ballast with most unweicome
| news Crawling from the little ..cuddy- with
| many roaring sea-wise obJurgation his face fell
as hung him huge package OF recent newspa-
pers. old magazines and secondhand book an
sorts, with the remark that "The folks over at
sable Island will keep US a ux-month FOR that
bundle OF reading"
.sable Island! Sable IsIandl WHY. man. we've
gon no charts an ye might as well pint rur Davy
IAN night" answered cheerily "weu nnd the
| Iocker tnen. Lively now, captain. Wen head
be among the Sable Island wrecks and ponies."
Inc Old man awoke Tom with a kick got the
| anchor aboard and we stood out TO sea quickly
Like ghostly sail our craft cut into and emerged
| from the almost pal pable punches OF fog Well out
| OF the weird old harbor OF Louisburg never was
|
| gsewsome grumbing, the Embarrassing tales, the
yarns OF wreck, and death and unlaid ghosts that
narrowed my ears that night were something
n ghtful Moaning, grooming, cursing protesting
round-oellied Capt. Ballast revenged himself upon
me Tor the uncanny trip TO the '.lostest, lone
soonest hurtingest place as ever sailor cussei
| or salt water thumped," as the good man
put IL. Tom WINGED open-mouthed and pale as
prophecies OF our utter destruction came
faster ana more furious; more than once wished
my self back on solid ground, where the mighty
! bulwarks OF old Louisburg once STOOD; but .'we
US, good stout craft beneath US, ali OF ten
spanking knots an hour over a land-luobef's smil-
ing sea; and before O'Clock the next afternoon
my glass showed me triumph over my half-mu-
tlnous crew, and the far outlines OF Sable Island
where the eternal roar or the surf has stilled the
agonized cries or countless helpless ones for more
tnan quarter thousand years.
APPROACHING SABLE ISLAND.
AT distance, the outline OF Sable Island is
merely long series Of dark hummocks, as II some
great monster OF the deep were pushing toward
American shores to devour the land. Monster it is
sun, as these gloomy ridges melt into fluctuations
OF sward and sand, and great i,ht-nouses ike
lofty head and tail, show to the west and east
their crystal domes 40 feet above the SURF as
wnen the intrepid Sir Humphrey Gilbert In 1888,
perishng on its cruel coast, gave those memorable
words OF exalted faith. 'Heaven is as near by sea
years wherein its hated yellow face nas glowered
and threatened the SILENT scared look Of every
vessel bound from the eastern 10 the western
hemisphere; monster 10 all craft wherever bound,
day distance from Its sunken shoals outreach-
Ing beneath the Sea for wreck and death: monster
ever, 10 the brave sher-folk that battle for bread
upon the Banks, and, homeward bound leave car
| goes and lives tue sport OF its surf, wnile Dale
faces lean far and farther d over the rottng
bulkheads OF Old Gloucester own, peer1ng and
p. ying for fathers, brotrs1 cas-, lovers VINO never.
| more will come.
AFTER. al there may be something "onhuman an
temptin' on Providence" as sturdy Captain Bal
last remarked quite heate lly, in Drawing the Or
binary terror, or Sab.e Islands treacherous sea
environs TO merely visit on cd Acadias this
a no anf-fr Ilttf
| when, as We rounded the western extremity OF
the island. and nea ed the circling fringe or sill
| lily VINO exist here making preparation TO launch
the great e-boat, and as CALAMITY bring US to
| dry Land as though driven upon their mercies by
awful storm, and then noticed the pride OF my
brave, II grumbng, Old sailor friend rising to the
| requirement OF taking our sloop 10 anchor
10 lions san ~ ~, 1ar out dre.ting brine. l was
| me, my really intrepid companions and the very
| foolhardiness or my adventure. We swept inshore
line OF surf at a bound. Down came the Iore-ahd,
| ait and tib sails with zip and crackle. Then,
| with sort OF rcochet and bump bump, bump, we
SKINNED successive sand ridges In spume and
foam; and In a trice a score OF bare-legged men-
| and even women-shoulder deep at times In the
splendid surf, with shri cries and crooned ..shan-
tylngS" ran our craft out OF harms way, and with
creaking windass soon had her at rest In as soft
bed OF sand as sue was ever rocked In by dreary
ebb and now OF tide at home In old Passport bar
Dor.
BIT OF HISTORY.
While good Captain Ballast, now the real hero
OF the island, is receiving, with a drop OF grog,
proud tributes to his skill and seamanship at
headquarters little collection Of houses reached
through cleft In the sand hills or the shore-edge
and the only real settlem upon the island
with that gentle though roaring humility which
ever became the true Yankee skipper, let US chat
little about the geography, history, photography
and neurology OF this vampire OF the sea, Sable
Island. On your maps In latitude 40 and longi-
| tude 800, 100 miles south OF Cape Breton Island
| Scotia, you Will see tiny dot surrounded by the
geographer's wavy nnes. This spot is Sable
though 1t Is SAID that Morse tradition as nbes
II 70 Serolsond In the ninth century; II was
guese; and It must have been well known
10 the coonists or old Acadia, for II was made q
French penal colony Ia 1898. The priceless black
| Iox and The huge walrus In those day maze the
island their home. During the last quarter Of tue
last century and the early part VI tn 5, Sable
| Island was the resort OF wrrckers ard pirates
more hearJleSS and cruel than ever swept the Ca
r0bean or gathered under The bloody leadership
OF "Black- Beard OF The Bahamas; but In 1901
after the wreck OF the "Princess Amelia" contain
ing goodly Tot OF the belongings OF Prince Ed
ward, the father OF Queen Victoria The Nova sco-
uan government drove the pirates from the island,
and established In sinai way lookouIs and a
ire-saving force, which, In 1896, was effectively
augmented by annual provision ny the Brush gov
ernmenL About NIFTY years ago the oulidin.s low
found here were constructed; the lookout sta.
tons Increased; and, In 1873, the government
erected the two immense lighthouses, one al the
WtslcEu, huu que al tdSIcTu, enu VI lsan0.
DBATH-TRAP IN THE SEA.
The entire region round for great distance is q
hideous hurt TO navigation Lying almost directly
In the path Of the great transatlantic highways
OF the sea; set sQuarely In the way OF the entire
c0asIing trade between all American and Cana
and mackrrel nsners, no other known island or
coast mas equal dangers or possesses so startling
record for death ana destruction. For perhaps
MY miles In every direction the sea Is flied with
shifting shoals, over which In storms, wnicn
almost constantly rage, the ocean losses aud
hows with Uncomfortable fury. Sunkeu bars ex-
tend to the northeast and the northwest fully
thirty miles, anu between their extreme points
for twenty miles on Shore the sea lashes and
thunders terribly, the outreaching bars hidden
like monstrous I'll tacles grasping Tor prey. Old
Capt Baliast's theory regarding the formal on OF
this ocean vampire Is that "Jest so many sea.
rim folks has TO suffer somehow; n Prov
dence sol the cussed thing here, TO get even with
years have made something OF a study OF this
northeast coast with The action OF the sea beside
IL, and l modestlr offer an additional theory 10
thai OF my blum Yankee skipper. / believe the
entire formation OF the Grand Banks and this
knob OF deadly sand set out OF the Water upon an
other vast bank, or series OF shoals to be due
wholly TO the action OF tue opposing forces OF
the gulf stream and the tmmeasurab BILE lev current,
that sweep around Labrador ami Newfound and
from polar seas Together through the ages, they
have here ceaselessly deposited aLuvial and sand,
until vast submarin. mountains have been piled
along these waters, which. within the memory OF
man, have played, and forever Will break, in
Titanic commissions above and around the table
40 md mail Frlo..S rolxe