Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1893-10-03
WRECKS IN THE NAVY.


/ The accident to the British wal
ship Victoria recalls some other disas
tiers In time of peace BY which the
American navy has suffered losses.
The most recent, of course, was the
disaster at Samoa. Some of these
disasters are mysteries which will
probably never be solved. One OF
the most famous of these is the dis
appearance of the Albany. a sloop-of.
war; She left Bombay India, in the
spring Of 1855, with 21O officers and
men aboard: When last seen she was
in West Indian waters She disap.
peared from the face of the deep as
completely as though she had never
existed. 1t was supposed that she
went down in a cyclone. No more
plausible explanation has been
offered since, and, the Philadelphia
Times says this is still accepted as
the reason for her disappearance.
Two years later there was another
mysterious disappearance. A sloop-
of-war called the Levant, with about
200 men on board, disappeared as
completely as the Albany. She was
IN Pacific waters when last seen. No
wreckage from her was ever found,
and no mementO of her fatal cruise
was left Communication in those
days was slow, ana it was MANY
months before she was given up en-
tirelY.
Two famous disasters to United
States vessels were the wreck of the
Monongahela in 1857 and the wreck
of the Wateree in 1858. The Monon.
gahela was picked up by tidal
wave, carried over q number Of large
buildings on the Island of Santa
Cruz, knocking one of them down,
and was left high and dry In the
streets OF the city. She was blocked
up by workmen and launched again,
and she Is now on the active list Of
The navy. There is no record of ia
talities connected with this accident
In the accident to the Wateree,
which was ;Of similar character.
only one man was killed.
She cruised up and down the Pa
cific coast for two years and in Au-
gust, 1868, was anchored off africa.
Peru, where she had lowed the
storeship Fredonia On the 8th of
August 1858, about 4 o'clock in the
afternoon, the men on the Wateree
felt violent trembling of the ship,
and saw cloud of dust approaching
from the southeast. They saw the
hills moving and heard heavy
rumbling like thunder. The ship
reeled. but righted herself again, and
when the cloud OF dust had settled
the whole town was seen to be in
ruins.
The roaring of the earthquake and
the trembling of the earth con-
tinued. Then the water receded un-
til all the ships in the harbor were
left high and dry, while the bottom
OF the scar was left exposed, covered
with struggling fish and sea mon.
sterS This was the time when the
fiat bottom of the Wateree saved her
crew from destruction. The round
bottomed boats in the harbor turned
over, but the Wateree rested on her
fiat bottom. The stores ship Fredonia
had been hurled against the rocks
and all of her crew were lost. Pres.
emily the water returned and the
Wateree flOated again. Efforts were
made to rescue some of the men
whose lives were in danger elsewhere;
but the small boat which was
Launched was entirely beyond con.
troll and all that the people on the
Wateree could do was to wait. for the
earthquake to subside. The men
stood to their guns, under perfect
discipline. AT $3.50 o'clock at night
the lookout forward reported a
breaker approaching. 1t was the
dreaded tidal wave. 1t came with
dreadful force, burying the ship un-
der a mass of sand and water. The
men held to the life lines, and pres.
emily the vessel struggled to the sur.
face again and after a time her mo-
tion ceased. Many of the crew had
been seriously injured, but none were
killed.
When the vessel had quieted down
lantern was lowered over the side,
and it was seen that she was on land.
The next morning it was discovered |
that she had been carried five miles
up the coast and that she lay high
and dry nearly mile inland, having
been lifted across q valley and over a |
railroad and deposited at the foot of !
the sea-coast range OF the Andes
There she lay with her bow to the
sea, and the flag still flying and the
anchor chain still fast to the bow.
The English bark Chanacilia lay near
by, with one Of her chains wound
around her, showing that she had
rolled over and over.
The Wateree was in a position
which made it impossible to launch
her, and so she was sold at auction to
hotel company. Afterward she was
used as a hospital. and then was
broken up by bombardment during
the war between Peru and Chile.
But her old ribs still loom up on the
Peruvian coast
The Horse.
In France, when a horse reaches
The age of twenty or thirty, it is des-
lined for a chemical factory; it is first