The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1894-08-29
THE LAST OF THE 'kEARsARoE."
As Told In Sketch by Those Who Went
to Visit the Wreck.

Fancy that in the middle of the month
of March, few weeks after the news of
the loss of the "Kearsarge" had arrived
you were with us on board the steam
ship "Orion," with Norfolk, Virginia,
and Fortress Monroe left behind, stand
ing out between the capes of the
Chesapeake, headed for San Salvador.
We were bound for Roncador Reef,
where the old Kearsarge went down; for
the Government, unwilling to abandon
such faithful servant without an effort
in her behalf, sent out our expedition to
see whether the ship could not be raised
and brought triumphantly to port.
After the noon observation on
Wednesday, March 81, Captain Smith
announced that by eleven o'clock on the
morrow we should see the Kearsarge.
All were on the lookout the following
morning, but by eleven O clock, as there
were no signs of the Kearsarge, the
engines were stopped until the noon OBJ
servation should determine the position
of the ship. We were beginning to fear
that we had again gone astray, when
shout from above, and then another, and
another proclaimed Breakers on the
starboard bowl"
"Yes; there she lies over to the lee
ward of the breakers; one mast in her.
Mol moi that s small ship and no
wreck. can't see any signs of her.
Yesi yes! there she lies off yonder! No!
That s not the Kearsarge. .
Thus the uncertainty continued, but
in the mean time we had caught the
CLEAN of the surf from the deck below,
and before long the whole sweep of the
breakers coming into view offered a
most magnificent spectacle.
We approached nearer and nearer;
but found no signs of the Kearsarge.
"She g gone!" exclaimed the lieutenant.
The breakers, rolling in a mile and a
half away, kept up a continuous roar, so
that we understood why the Spanish
should have named the reef "Roncador, !"
or "The Snorer."
After we had anchored, dark mass
in the surf was seen. It was the only
possible object that could be the Kear-
sarge. The scoundrels had burned her!
The Kearsarge was gone! Men
looked at one another and sadly shook
their heads Thus vanished all hope of
seeing the old ship afoat once more, and
brought safe home. The Kearsarge had
won her last battle, breasted her last
storm, sailed her last voyage. Hence
forth she belonged to history.
Captain Burgess, in the surf-boat,
went at once to explore; but before his
return the dugouts of some fishermen
pulled alongside and the men came on
board.
From them we learned that the Kear-
sarge had indeed been burned. What
was left was made up of the boilers and
stem, rising above the surf, together
with one or two pieces of the side,
washed farther up upon the reef. One
| of those pieces was even then burning,
and as night came on the glow of the
fire could be seen above the waves.
Who had destroyed her no one knew.
The exploring party returned at dark
with precisely the same story to tell.
The Kearsarge had evidently been loot
ed, then burned to the waters edge, and
the storms of the previous week had en-
tirely broken her up.
Bright and early in the morning the
boats were lowered and manned, and
all hands, officers and crew, started for
| the wreck. After pull of more than a
mile, the water shoaling to within two
OF three feet, we left the boat. and,
wading up to our knees, now
and then by big wave that gave us q
tumble in the surf, reached the first
piece of the wreck, large part of the
port side, lying in the water, washed
by the waves. Several hundred feet
farther on an even larger section of the
same side was out of the water, while
| just beyond, in the very heart of the
breakers, very much in the position il
which she must have struck, stood the
stem of the Kearsage, charred and black
ened-this, with the boilers, being al
that could be seen.-H. Gilbert Frost, IN
| ST Nicholas