Daily Kennebec journal., 1894-04-02
RELICS OF THE KeARsARGs.
Nothing But charred Timbers Brought Home
-,Il Else De.tro,ed.

HAVANA, April 1.-The steamer Orior
Of the Boston ToHboat Company, wh'cf
left Boston on Tuesday, March Is, bound
for Roncador reef, the scene of the wrecl
of the United st .tes steamer Keaysarge,
and returned here recently en- route home,
reports
On Wednesday, March 2l, at noon, tn
ship was found to be within 260 miles o.
the cay. A strong northeast urrtnt o,
| l2 knots per hour being put down on thu
chart the necessary allowance was made
The distance having been run by II A. M
on Thursday without sighting the reef, tn
engines were stopped until after the noon
observation had been made and the exac'
position determined.
1t was then found that instead of the
northwest current, a souther.y current hao
been encountered and the ship was some
miles due south of the reef. The engines
were put aheai and before long shout
from the masthe ad announced that breaker,
were in sight. 1t is scarcely possible to
fancy the intense excitement on board and
every eye was strained to catch the CLEAN
of the surf.
AS the ship procee led msg1ifi cent line
of breakers came into view, forming
sweeping curve fully 10 miles long. A
small fl let Of vessels was also observed
cnored at 2. NJ, the cav beariag NORTH,
mile and a half away. Up to this time no
signs of the kssrsarge were to be seer,
though every bit of the cay had been SWEET
with glasses,
A dark spot in the breakers, however,
suggested her possible Whereabouts. TIE
surf boat was at once lowered and Wre OK
master Burgess and crew started to ex-
plore.
The small vessels that he'd been observed
were three schuoners sud one ,lJop, osten-
sihly fsherm from G,and Cayman, and
before long their dugcuts had uiled along
side, an / some Of the men cuue aboard.
From them it was lesrned that the dark
spot in the surf was the boilers OF tn. Kear-
sarge, these. with the stem alone, rising
above the breakers, though two pieces o.
the port side were lNiag in the water fur
Ter on the reef. They also added that the
H. arsHrge had been burned til II one of the
pieces Of the port ii lie was even then burn
Jog, ana as night came on the glow Of the
fire could he seen above the water.
WreCking Master Bargess substantisted
these reports. lie found the stem standing
cut Of the breakers, blackened and chsrreu,
with the stsrb pard anchor near it the keel
under water. but the boilers rising il
bleck mass above the surf.
The following morning at daybreak, Fri
day, March %, the entire wTecking crew
arred for the reef. the officers To make q
thorough invesii gstion anil the men to save
" whatever there Iaight be of value. After
rowing about a mite the pieces of the port
site were reached. They had bsen broken
of at the end of the floors and washed over
the reef, where they lay in from four 10
six feet of wster.
The first pis &c reached was 60 feet long
by p feet wide, and had the main channel
attached; the other, about $50 feet nearer
the wrt ok, was 80 feet long by % feet
vide, With The mizzen cha. mel attached.
Both of these pieces were burned to
point, which, had they been attached t, the
ship, would have be, n Is inches under the
spar3eck, the upper arms Of the hanging
kuees being burned of, the lower knees Re.
naming.
II vas impossible on account of the heavy
surf TO makea clos n ins ?ection of the msip
wreck, hut the chsrred stem, the s:srboard
anchor and the boi ers were seen as re-
ported By Wrecsipg Master Burgess the
night before. TIE vessel seemed, hos
ever, TO lay in the sane potion IS re-
ported by Admiral Stanton when he left
the reef.
The wreckipg crew at once began to
blow up the pieces of the port eide with dy-
Mantle eartfi sT 10 order to obtain some
Of the original live oak tiTnbers of which
she was fgil.. This continued until 3
o'clock. when more ,han t~o tons of TIM
he having been secured AMI Lieut.. Fors,
hariag completed his investigaii ms. III.
ancaor vas raised ami at G r. N. tue Orion
proceeded u Havana.
As to the time of the burning OF tn
ksarssrze no definite infor N ,,i,n couli Dr.
obtained.