The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-09-14
LEFT BY THE HURRICANE.
A Fleet Of Derelicts Floating in the
Atlantic Along Our Coast.


From the New York sun.
The latest Of the recent hurricanes along
the Atlantic coast was more destructive
on land than on sea; but the two imme-
diately preceding il, and particularly the
one that struck this city on Aug "A, left
a track of desolation among the uufortu-
! nate vessels that got caught in them
During the last week of August no less
than twenty vessels, schooners, banks,
and SHIPS We're abandoned at sea near our
coast, between Florida and New York
| not to mention the much larger number
| that were wrecked by going
! ashore Eight of these have
since been towed in, while the
| remaining dozen, occupying an area about
600 miles long by go wide along our coast,
form an unprecedented feet of dangerous
| derelicts some of which may stay atloat
for months or years. Some are bottom
| up, some are almost sunk below the sea
| level, while all are more or less disnasted,
with here and there a tattercd sail idly
| tapping in the wind. Driven hither and
thither by every wind and tide, with no
| directing hand at the helm, this battered
and ragged feet are the yeritable tramps
Of the ocean.
These abandoned vessels. with perhaps
| more TO be heard from, hold out a good
| inducement tothesalvor, since they are all
near land The one furthest east is the
Italian bark VincenZO GalatOla, 535 tons.
which left Charleston on Aug. 10 for
London, with a cargo of lumber She
| had almost escaped Odt of the cyclone
area when terrific revolving storm, then
/ coming up from the south, struck her,
Aug, %, about 230 miles east of Cape
Charles The same storm passed over
this city the next morning The GalatOla
was not very old, eighteen years, but the
violence of the wind and the turbulence
of the sea were such that she soon sprung
a leak, which grew worse as the center
of the storm approached. All hands
were needed on deck. There was no time
to eat, or even to look after the stores and
fresh water Tired hungry, captain and
crew We're only too glad to be taken of by
the first passing vessel.
OF the twelve derelicts in this unique
feet the names of only seven are known
as yet. Victims Of a power far mightier
than man, they have in turn become a po-
tency for destruction second only to the
storm itself, in that they are a constant
menace to vessels that pass them az night
or when the air is thick or tOgPy, because
collision with one of them may easily
sink the best Of ships. Their very silence
and passivity make them all the more
dangerous. This is well recognized by
n4dLlntIS, anu Ag bllt kEbdU llbEIndLlOldI
maritime conference held in Washington
three years ago, measures were discussed
leading TO systematic patrol Of the
more frequented parUs of the Atlantic by
the various navies of Europe and Amer
lea, and the destruction or removal Of der
elicit vessels. The same or similar plans
have long been advocated by our hydro
graphic Office at Washington, one of
whose branches is located here, and lat
fgvlA alec nv GCrr,v &c l,,ss e
the bureau Of navigation, treasury de-
partment.
The northernmost ship of the derelict
fleet Is an unknown waterlOgged vessel
near Barncgat seen there on Aug 20 with
only the stump of one mast left standing.
The sOuthernmost is the Norwegian bark
Dagny, 1858 tons, lumber-laden, about
$50 miles northeast Of St. Augustine. Her
crew were all rescued by an American
bark.
The small loss of life among all these
disasters IS noteworthy fea ture, and is
perhaps due TO the wonderful efficacy of
fish oil poured upon the sea. The oil is
used in striklngly minute quantities, con
sidering the large results, u gallon per
hour being sufficient to calm the sea on
the weather side of a large ship. One
drop Will smooth a square yard of sea
surface for several minutes. The waves
continue to roll in immense rounded heaps
as before, but their crests no longer
break over on a ships deck; they simply
lift the vessel up aud roll harmlessly from
under her. So, whenever it becomes nee
essary to send a boat to rescue sailors
from wreck, the rescuing vessel comes
up as close as prudence viii permit and
smoothes the sea with oil while the lie
boat goes to and fro
Manga vessel owes her safety to the
use of oil, and yet when it was first seri-
ously proposed by Capt. John Il. Bartlett
of our navy in 1888 he was doubted and
laughed at by most mariners 1t took
few years to get them to try it, but try
ing, they saw and believed, and now no
seagoing vessels outfit is considered
complete without oil-distributing appa-