The morning call., 1893-03-22
THE WRECK OF THE NARONIc.

The statement that the steamer Coventry
saw, iu passing Sable Island. two lifeboats
bottom up and both marked Naronic is in
Itself hard and matter of fact; but imagina-
tion clothes the statement with sarb of
the most toucS&ug romance. To q sailor, a
lifehoat bottom ~ tells tale of wreck, of
suffering. of despcf>te battle with the
waves, of supe 1>~,uan struggle for life,
and at last of sudden collapse of human
endeavors In the iron grasp of the sea.
Sable Island, near which the boats were
seen. is the most dangerous spot in the
most dangerous sea that is baYigated.
1t lies directly in the path of vessels
plying between New York and Liver
pool. 1t is bank of sand lifted up by three
seas which meet there in conflict. Out of
the jaws of the Gull Of ST. Lawrence flows
the whole discharge of the Canadian water
shed, which is supplemented by n stream Of
ice-cold water pouring through the straits
of Belle Isle from the coast Of Labrador;
let loose in the Atlantic, the torrent en-
counters an arm of the Gulf Stream on its
way north, which, with a suuthwesterly
gale, rolls mountains high; while the two
are in conflict an easterly wind will
pile on the cnmbatants great waves
which sweep past the inhospitable coast
OF Newfoundland. Each gale changes
the shape Of the island. No TWO surveys
agree as to its length. In September it
will measure eleven miles In October
storm will cut of a few miles from either
end and engulf them in the seething waves.
In January a steady blow will pile up new
sandbanks and swell the OLD ones till it is
larger than ever. Few ships which ap-
proach the Island live to tell the tale. For
800 years stout ships have ventured too
near, have been dashed on the sand and
every particle Of them has been buried on
the beach or swept out to sea. The life
boats which the Coventry saw probably
ceased 10 exist tweDty-iour hodr5 after
ward.
Conjecture loses itself in an attempt
to divine the probable cause of the
NarOnjc's loss. She may have collided
with another craft, as the Arctic did, but if
so what became OF the other vessel. and
why is she not reported as missing? She
may have struck an iceberg, though in
February, when she crossed the meridian of
Sable Island icebergs are rare in that part
of the ocean. Some heavy portion of her
machinery may have broken loose, fallen
through her bottom and knocked hole too
big to plug. But it is Just as likely that
ON INK " luACh htdLlGI duu possibly q
arrangement OF her chrOnometer, she
may have struck end on upon one
of the sandbanks surrounding Sable
Island. Such things viii happen even
With the most careful captains. Not
very long ago, as the passengers on one OF
the ocean greyhouuds were sitting down TO
supper, with the captain smiling at the
head Of the table, loud cry-a cry OF ter
T., In,
slant every one had rushed up the compan-
iOnway. The vessel was steaming at full
speed through a fog thick enough to be cut
with a knife, and there Gu the weather bow,
apparently only a few hundred yards dis
tant, though the distance was really several
miles, was the glaring light of Cape Race,
gIoomily incandescent.
Il would seem evident from the appear
anee of the lifeboats thatth accident. what
ever it was, was not so suddenly overwhelm-
ing that the people OF the Naronic had no
time to launch their boats. They were set
adrift probably full Of human beings. They
were not STAYED IN against the steamers
side. There must have been moment
when their inmates cherished hopes of max
ing a landing either in Newfoundland or
Nova Scotia, both only a hundred and odd
miles distant. But life50Rt, however we'll
built and however buoyant cannot resist
the rolling action of giant wave. 1t is
impossible to keep it always bow on. When
wave strikes it on the quarter it IS apt to
roll II over and over until the wave breaks.
Then the lifeboat, through its buoyaucy,
rises TO the surface, but its contents are
gone. The strongest man cannot cling to
the boat II it is rolled over three or four
times in succession. The only comfort in
conteml latlng such a catastrophe is that the
end must have been so sudden that its VIC
tins had no time for suffering.