The morning call., 1893-05-18
A CRAFT WITH A HOODOo.

Many will remember the wreck of the
famous yacht Alva, belonging to w. K.
Vanderbilt, which was sunk off the Con-
necticut coast by the passenger steamer
Denmark in August, 1892. She was sup
POSED to be the crack yacht of her year.
In speed, beauty. elegance and comfort
she had no superior. Money had been
lavished upon her. A trip in her. if the
weather was fine, was said to be a fore
taste of Elysium. One day. as the owner
and his friends were disporting themselves
on board and merriment ruled the hour. a
big, clumsy passenger steamer ran into
her in fog and sent her 10 the bottom,
happily without destroying any lives.
She sank in water of moderate depth
and Mr.. Vanderbilt resolved to raise her.
He employed the leading wrecking COM
pany of New York, but their divers, after
making pretty thorough survey, reported
that the job could not be done in conse-
quence of the force of the currents. Then
she was sold at auction to a speculative
Boston firm, which also undertook to
raise her. They spent some money in ex-
periments, but finally abandoned the task.
The divers reported that the Alva, like
the British frigate Hussar, was bound tc
lie where she was until the crack of doom,
or until the restless waters ground her
hull into chips.
But she lay right in the ship channel,
eight miles off Chath am, and the Coast
Survey was informed that the wreck con-
stituted danger to passing vessels Acct
dents were reported from collisions with
submarine spars and points of masts.
The Government was compelled to under
take the removal Of the sunken vessel, and
bids having been called for the contract
was awarded to Kelley & Van Saut for the
sum of S5916.
They began operations ten days ago. A
diver was sent down to place ton of dy-
Mantle under the deck. The explosive
was connected with the contractors boat
by wire 600 feet long. When the diver
had come on board and the connection
had been made the spark was sent on its
journey. and the result was like subma-
rine earthquake. The contractors steamer
rocked and those on boa.u described the
sensation as resembling the pounding of
Titanic sledge upon her bottom. For an
area OF about two acres the water of the
ocean rose a couple of hundred feet in the
air, carrying with it fragments of timber
and mud. and fell back into a seething
pool. On the surface of this metallic OBJ
jects, such as brass lamps, kettles, pieces
of steel and brass rails. made a fitful ap-
pearance. Champagne baskets, wine boxes,
broken bottles and pieces of lumber in
every shape and form rose to the surface
and bore testimony to the hospitality of
which the lost steam yacht had been the
scene.
Meanwhile attention was directed to the
antics of huge whale, fifty feet long,
which had approached. apparently to find
out the purposes of the divers. When the,
explosion took place the whale spouted
and plunged, lashing the sea furiouslv as
if in agony. and dashing to and fro with
rapid rushes which alarmed the people on
the contractors boat. After time the
animal seemed to be convinced that the
bell buoy-with which he was probably
familiaI-was in some way the cause of
his sufferings. He made q dash for it,
broke the chain which held the bnoy and
towed the buoy itself out to sea, with the
bell ringing like mad on his back.
The feasibility of destroying the wreck
with dynamite being thus demonstrated.
the diver returned next day with a ton and
half of dynamite, which he exploded
amidships. This blew the decks out
shattered the bow and laid the sides low.
When the explosion was over the beautiful
Alva was really thing of the past.