The Van Buren press., 1893-04-29
SAILED INTO NO PORT.
Ships the Fates Of Which Are
Mysteries Of the Atlantic.
Many Have Doubtloss Foundered In Fields
Of Ice While Others Have "limped
In" After All Hope Had
Been Abandoned.

buried under binding mists, now
tossed by driving tempests, where
float vessels derelict more dangerous
than the mountainous iceberg, where
fire Is more pitiless than on land-who
shall say what tragedies are not there
enacted? And when mystery shrouds
the fate of those who have trusted
themselves upon the troachcrous
waters never to return. how much
more terrible the tragedy!
A stately ship steams from the har-
Dor for a voyage across the sea. No
alarm is felt when it does not reach its
destination on the day it is expected.
Twoelays or three days pass, and 1t
has been detained by head winds and
storms, the agents say. A week goes
by and still no news. Then the story
is that the machinery has broken
down. Other vessels arrive over the
same path, but bring no word OF the
missing Ship and anxious friends and
relatives are comforted by the assur-
ance that the vessel has drifted out Of
the usual course of travel while max
ing repairs.
They are told the ship could not sink.
It's strong steel sides could defy the
waves. Its water-tight compartments
would keep it afoat after any collision,
and 1t could not have burned, else its
iron hull would have been sighted by
other vessels attracted by the glow of
the flames. Another week and a month
and hearts grow sick with hope dc.
ferred
Perhaps then bit of wreclsage is
found bearing the name of the doomed
ship. More delay without news and
finally even the agents and owners
give up hope Then the insurance COM
panies pay, the vessel is officially lost,
and another is added to the mysteries
of the deep
There follows invariably the cruel
hoax of some idiot or worse. A sealed
bottle is picked up giving alleged news
of the ship Usually discrepancies in
the letters themselves pronounce them
bogus, but before this is discovered the
! feelings of those who have waited SO
long in vain are narrowed by tale of
storm and fire and despairing fare
we'll.
Fortunately. however, the mystery
does not always end in q tragedy.
Sometimes even after hope is aban-
doned the ship comes limping in with
machinery disabled or perhaps under
sail alone, with all ON board safe.
Sometimes after having drifted far out
Of the course it is towed in by another
ship. Or, even il it is lost, the passen-
gers are frequently rescued by some
passing vessel
From the stout steamer President,
which was lost more than half q cen
tury ago, to the Naronic. the list is in
deed long. The names of some of these
unfortunate vessels have become his.
toric.
The President left New York just
thirty-two years ago for Liverpool,
with thirty-one passengers aboard. 1t
steamed out of sight forever. Hope,
however, was not abandoned until the
Britannia arrived at Boston without
bringing any news Of the missing vcs-
sci. There were no transatlantic cables
in those days. and the news could only
be brought by water
Shortly before the Britannia sailed
there was great excitement at Liver
pool over the arrival of the Oriental.
which resembled the President, from
Egypt. The Oriental was at first sup
posed to be the long missing President.
In the New York Herald of Friday,
May Z, 1s4l, appeared the following
account of the fate OF the President:
Its probable fate was met in the inn
mense fields and islands of ice which
we recently described as intercepting
its course to the east She could not
swamp in mere storm. 1t has run
against an iceberg at night and gone
down head foremost.
God have mercy upon the soul OF
poor Capt. Roberts and oil his passen
gers. Roberts was the first man to
cross the Atlantic in a steamer. and the
first to fall victim to his honorable
enterprise.
Then followed the names of the
thirty-one persons comprising the pas
senger list.
No marine disaster before or since,
probably, has been the cause of SO
much excitement and speculation as
the mysterious fate which befell the
City of Boston of the Inman line.
The City Of Boston was in its day re.
gardcd as remarkably fine specimen
of naval architecture. carrying freight,
mail and passengers. The vessel had
been built under special survey and
had received the highest classification
at Lloyds' and the Liverpool Associa-
tion Of Underwriters. Its length of keel
was 3O5 feet and length over all 32a
feet 1t was 80 feet wide and ~ feet Q
inches deep. Under the old measure
ments its tonnage was a,a7s. 1t had
two engines of 300 horsepower each.
The City of Boston was of iron, and
its ribs and beams, and, indeed, its
whole framing, were securely bound
together by heavy springing plates and
ties. 1t was divided into eight COM
partments by seven strong and we'll.
secured water bulkheads, reaching
from keelson to upper deck. Besides
steam power the City OF Boston could
spread great deal of canvas, being
ship rugged.
The City of Boston left New York
January 25, 1870, and cleared from Hal
flax three days later for Southampton
and Liverpool. 1t had aboard, besides
the crew, liz cabin and steerage pas
sengers. 1t carried a cargo of cotton,
-four, beef, wheatand copper ore, weigh
ing 800 tons and 9S7 tons Of coal. The
machinery weighed 800 tons.
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