The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-04-29
WAITS OF II SEA.


Derolicts That Are Floating About ana
the Lives They Menace.
The marvels. mysteries and tragedies o.
The sea for the last Ave years are soid IN
the Unconditional language Of ths STATS
tioian in the latest chart Of the hydro
oraphic Office, says the New York Sun, The
chart ID not altogether an artistic creation,
INIT has probably more startling informs-
Aim a. II than any other square yard OF
nsner ever printed. Its uppot half ID nlled
With red surlicues and crissesose lines
which represent The srratio drift OF famous
dereliots. All parts OF the oo.ss. from
Maine 10 the stormy cape OF Hattsras, are
plentifully spsokisd in red. Every srim-
son dot shows where . sailing vessel came
40 ~rief. There are q few blas dots. which
msrk The place whore steamers have foun-
dersd or have been dashed 10 pieces.
M wreck chart IL nearly surrounded BY
printed statistics. They help the student
the main. They say shat "the most relia.
bic ststistics show an average annuai totai
loss of =, 172 vessels with 1890 lives In the
OF the world. The estimated
value of the vessels and cargoes lost 10
about 300, coo. 900. The dots and the curly
cues show where 956 vessels were wrecked
on the Atlantic coast of North America,
GCXetuEE NlbA ~ pboishSo
doned vessels, of which l39 were frequently
reported and have their drift tracks plotted
as far rs the limits of the chat will permit.
In addition to these the monthly plot
charts and weekly bulletins show thai there
we're in this same region and period 90
derelicts which could not be Identified.
These 60 unknown. with the 332 known
derelicts. make a total Of 957 dereliots dur
ing the five years, or an average OF sixteen
for each month. The table of the DRIFT or
d~ereliots indicates, AZ fnr as can os esSi-
mated from the number OF days these
derelicts we're floating, that the average
time a derelict remains atoat 10 abous
thirty days, SO that it is evident ina she,e
are at least sixteen derclicts constantly
nloat In this region. This average is doubt
less underestimated. sinos it Is based only
on definite reliable reports, and no douot
there are many more which were not re-
ported or were not seen. The pilot chart
for February. 1893. shows fort five dete-
licts afloat in the North Atlantic, twenty
Ave of which wore In the vicinity of the
tracks of the transatlantic
The wreck chart shows that there we're
thirtv-eipht collisions with derelicts from
Jan. 16. 1887. to Dec. 4, 1891. or an average
of nearly eight a year. Ten steamships
collided with derelicts. Only one. the
Glenrath, was 80 badly damaged that she
sank. The number of derelicts has in
in 1888 eiehty-tw of the unidentified waits;
in 1890. Jag; in 1891. 172. In legard to the
unidentified dereliotA the photographer,
Richardson Clover wiitss: They in
clude all the reports of vessels floating
bottom up, floating hulks without
masts, and abandoned vessels with masts
standing, indicating the rig, but not estab-
fishing the identity. There are many re-
PORTS Of known derelicts not recognized by
the vessels making the report, but which
we're evidently the known derelicts because
of the date and position seen. When sew
eral reports of u~nrecoRnized vessels are for
the same time and place. it 10 assumed to
be the same one"