Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1893-04-27
A Lonx-Buried Shin

SOuc WOIhueu eASuSSu ia u6SAAS
out the earth for the foundations of
a large building shortly to be erected
in New York city came across some
thing that has puzzled antiquarians no
less than it did the simple diggers.
Not that 1t was anything so wondrous
rich or rare, but they wondered how on
earth it ever came there. This express
sion. ION earth," has real significance
here, for what the workmen found
was ship imbedded in the ground
twenty feet below the surface. and
some two hundred feet away from any
mooring that ship could reach to-
day.
The buried vessel is a three-master,
| ninety feet long and about thirty feet
| beam. Her timbers are of stout old
| English oak. and apparently as sound
rs the day they were put in. Among
| the articles found upon her are bay
onet. cannon-ball. bottle. some uni
form buttons Zone of which belonged
| to a soldier of the Forty-fourth High
! landers, famous British regiment
! that fought all through the Revolu-
! ton and surrendered ut Yorktown,
and several coins.
None of these things however, serves
to determine the date of the sinking
of the ship, and every historical "crank"
and every gray-whiskered old New
York salt has pet theory Of his own.
Some people claim to have authentic
information that British ship was
sunk in New York harbor about the
time of the historical Boston tea
party" \ member of the New York
Historical society brings forward proof
that ship called the Morning Star.
laden with 24S barrels of gunpowder,
was struck by lightning as she lay at
her moorings in the East river, on
Aug. Z, ITS and sunk. Still another
person, an old seaman, with an old sea-
mans tendency toward romance and
superstition. denies that any ship was
ever sunk there. except one that was
scuttled by her owner because his son
had committed suicide on board of
her, and his ghost haunted the vessel.
The father thought that the ghost
would prefer Il dryer habitation than
the bed Of the river. SO he bored a hole
in the ships bottom, and she sank,
whereupon the ghost left her
But whatever she may have been,
she is an interesting relic, and links us
with a time that seems very remote,
for the spot where she was found has
long been solid ground, having been
filled in one hundred and twenty years
Origin of the Term "Horse-Power."
AS with many innovations in science,
a bit of humor underlies the origin Of
the term horsepower.
In the early days of his career James
Watt, the inventor of the modern con-
densing steam engine, proposed to
wealthy English brewer to supply him
with machine which would do the
work of his horses at the derrick,
drawing the needed water supply. The
offer was accepted. Eight hours was
established as Il good Gays work for
a horse, and to settle the question as to
the exact quantity Of water that could
be drawn at that time, it was con-
Guided to make the actual test.
The shrewd brewer secured the
neighborhood for the most powerful
horse that could be found, and having
purchased him, set him to work. Ap-
plying the whip vigorously and allow
ing no rests, the horse accomplished
the exceptional feat of lifting about
81, 600 pounds one foot high each min
ute of the time at work.
Watt fulfilled his part Of the con-
tract, the machine slightly exceeding
this capacity; but what became OF the
poor horse history does not relate.
AS matter of fact, the average en-
during power Of horse is scarcely
more than one-third of the above fig
ure Later $4,000 pounds was estab-
lished as the unit of power in mechan-
ism, and this scale is at present in
vogue.