Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-12-23

majority Of instances
occurrences Of thi
sort remain unheard
of, because the ships
concerned go down with all on board. This.
in fact, is the theory which accounts for
most Of the vessels reported as missing"
For general information a list of the acct
dents above referred to has been made out
and will be published with the pilot chart
for January.
Congress has recently authorized the
President to make an agreement with other
nations for dividing up the business of de-
stroying ''derelicts." 1t is suggested that
this shall be done by marking OF the ocean
into sections. each power patrolling the area
allotted to it. Happily, 1t would only be
necessary to patrol for this purpose a small
part of the water surface of the globe-ie..
a zone of the North Atlantic 1900 miles long
by 600 miles wide-because such abandoned
hulks elsewhere are few and far between.
But in that belt "a rowing feet always
hovers on the very pathway Of commerce,
more dangerous than a squadron of pirates,
because vastly more numerous. striking
more often at night than by day, and more
merciless when they do STRIKE
Such were the words in which a member
Of Congress recently referred to this menace
to navigation. Stirred up by an urgent re-
commentator Of the International marine
conference. Great Britain is taking steps
toward joining the United States in this
important work. An appropriation is now
sought. for use by this country, for build
ing a ship Of about 500 tons displacement
fitted for sea-going In bad weather. to blow
UP or bring into port floating hulks OF the
sort described. The vessel would require
very strong boats and special towing ap-
paratus. At present the Navy Department
destroy derelicts.
GOSd Work Of the San Francisco.
Only a few weeks ago the vesuvius went
out with orders to clear the coast OF New
Jersey Of derelicts. She succeeded In max
ing away with four. The Kearsarge blew
up one sunken wreck about the same time
or Cape Henry. But the most profitable
job in this way was executed by the San
Francisco. October 2. on her way from New
York to Key West. Right In the track of
commerce she found lumber-laden schooner
afioat. Boats were sent to fasten gun-cotton
torpedoes to the hulk and these were at
tached at different places SO as to hang be-
meath the keel. They were exploded by
electricity, but ten of them failed to break
the vessel up and release her cargo. the
latter being waterlogged and damned.
Finally. after officers and crew had work
ed from early morning until evening to de-
stroy the worthless craft. Capt Watson of
the San Francisco got angry and made up
his mind to resort to war methods. Calcu-
lating his distance at about a quarter Of a
mile. he put on full head of steam and aimed
his ship straight at the derelict. Striking
her at full speed, the steel beak OF his ship
passed through the object like a knife
I In, rlclas
1t was a fair illustration OF the irresistible
power OF the ram. The halves of the hulk
drffted apart, and to make the work COM
plete half-a-dozen steel shells We're fired
into the after part. breaking it to pieces as
they burst.
There is a marvellous resisting power in a
| floating hulk like that 1t Will swim for
years, SO solid with its cargo of water
| swelled 4umber that the forces of nature are
( expended upon II in vain. 1t easily outlives
| the storms which are fatal to the staunch-
est ships. II set attire it will not burn.
Nothing short of the most powerful ex-
! plosives will break it up, and. as illustrated
! by the instance above referred to, they
hnd the job tough one. These lumber car
riers have a way Of drifting in the gulf
stream northeastward across the track OF
/ transatlantic steamship travel. They are
menace to commerce. and particularly to
the great passenger ships. which rush
across the seas at the speed of railway
trains. each OF them carrying the popula-
ton of small town. with no leisure to
pause for fog or obstruction
Often these derelicts are mastless, some
times keel up, usually just awash. They
/ give no sign or signal to the ship approach
ing. They float because the loads they
carry are lighter than the water. A vessel
with cargo OF iron or any such heavy ma
terial will sink at once IL wrecked in mid
ocean. Likewise. a ship entirely empty will
| go down Immediately, Milling with water and
helped under by her ballast. But the craft
laden with lumber will stay on the surface
almost indefinitely. Why, then, is she
abandoned? Well. II anybody will imagine
himself on board of a hulk sunk to a Level
breaking, with no food nor drink obtaina able
he may not be disposed TO push the in
| quiry.
During the last two years a number OF
rotable collisions with derelicts and sunken
wrecks have occurred. On May 30.lSy3. the
! Italian barQue San Giovanni, off the Mas.
| sachusetts coast, struck a floating obstruc.
| ton, which broke her rudder gear and caus.
ed her TO leak az the rate of fifteen inches
per hour. Only by constant work. aided by
a windmill pump. did her crew succeed IN
reaching port On the 10th of the same
month the steamer Cragside hit a floating
hulk on the Nova Scotia coast and sunk
soon after I'm fifteen fathoms of water. ON
May Is the steamer Norman collided with
! the sunken schooner Booth Brothers oil
| Brigantine Shoals New Jersey. Her fore.
/ mast and mainmast went by the board
| and she suffered other damage.
On April Is Of this year the schooner ka.s
Il. GerdeS struck a sunEen wreck OF Tur
key Point, Chesapeake bay. and sank al
most Immediately, hole being torn fn hel
bow. In the previous month and I'm tn,
same region, off the tail of the Horseshoe
the Louis +. Pharo struck derelict durin,
a snow storm and sank i'm four and one hal
fathoms. The crew was saved.
On December =, 1S.2, the British schoonel
Ethel Emerson struck the wreck of tn,
sunken yacht Alva off Pollock Rip, Nan
tucket sound, and sank. A few hours late
the barge Beechwood in tow of a tug, hi
the Alva. and, to save her. she had TO b,
beached in ten feet of water. On Septem
Der 10 of the same year the ferry boa
South Brooklyn, bound from South Brook
lyn to New York, ran over the hulk of ;
canal boat OF Red Hook. She sank afte
reaching her dock. Another victim was tn
schooner ]. ]. Pierson. from South Amboy
which struck a derelict in Long Islam,
sound and stove a big hole in her hull Sh,
was beached at Orient Point, l.. l., fun o
. water.
Floating Islands of the Sen.
Much more strange and interesting 1,
their way than even derelicts are the is
lands which are sometimes found hoatin
, on the sea. One of the most remarkabl
phenomena Of this sort reported in recen
years was bit Of dry land adrift In tn
Atlantic ocean few months ago. 1t wa
| eli fe6 nv