The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1894-07-12
At THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN,,
Awful Secrets That Lie Cnrevealed Be-
meath the Placid Surface.

Awful Secrets That Lie Unrevealed Be-
meath the Placid Surface.
The recent accidental sinking of the
warship Victoria while maneuvering off
the coast of Tripoli in the Mediter-
ranean Sea recalls 4 long list of ocean
horrors. There is a peculiarly sad,
mournful side to these disasters Of the
sea that does not attend calamities on
land, for here there is at least some de-
tail and something on which affection
may seize and, 10 some extent, console
itself.
But the deep sea is pitiless. What
awful secrets lie unrevealed beneath
that placed surface that may ripple
as with innocence, be mirrored with
smiles, or even essay to sing lula
by. In q few minutes and all
trace of tragedy has disappeared,
childhood. youth, beauty. innocence.
strong manhood, daring courage
over all these sweep the remorseless
waves. Hiding them from all human
sight and covering ali with the mantle
of eternal secrecy, the deep blue
ocean rolls" unmindful OF it all. And
if sometimes the wreck does endure
for time as a derelict, with no hand
at the helm TO hold and guide, she
soon ships the waves and sinks from
sight,
The vessel mentioned rests in $50
feet of water and is probably lying on
its side with the heavy cannon which
made its upper armament lying on the
sea floor beside the wreck. This is
beyond the depth that divers can
reach and the light is already dim and
in rufliing water; deep shadows chase
each other during the day. Presuma-
bly,, when the vessel went down
cham ers of air were carried down
! with it, which as the bubble in level
would find the highest point, and pos.
sibly some of the imprisoned Seamen
may thus have been supplied for hours
before the exhausted oxygen would
/ leave them unconscious by slow as.
DhyXiatiOn.
But what a commentary on the
work of man is this secret of the sea.
Here is an iron leviathan on which
millions of dollars had been expended;
| huge engines of thousands of horse
power; formidable and terrible arma-
/ llltHt, XII lllt Notwithstanding IppIituCcS
| that naval science could deyise-all
this to deal out death and destruction
! 10 fcllowmen. Then on calm day,
when all is peace and it is simply
unanswered" in the exercise OF its
calling, il is accidently struck, goes
| down through the hundreds of fathoms,
and the more than 400 souls on board
| sleep in the hush and calm of the aw-
| ful depths and gloom of the devouring
deep!
! Certainly, TO the superficial concep-
! ton. she seemed safe, as she sat far
! down in the sea. but tOp-heayy with
| those upper guns. a terrible cash is
/ rent in her side far below the water
| line, abearing down as this heavy steel
/ prov of the colossal CamperdOwn plow-
! ed through her iron sheath: change,
/ quick and fatal, in her center of grav-
! ity; now wcighting on one side with
! the in-rushing water and then rolling
/ to the lower side of the heavy-laden
/ carriages, and now, when unfeeling
/ gravilation asserts itself, mighty
! vessel and her gallant men are strick-
| en- from the naval roll of the mistress
! Of the as-sWallowed at one fell
swoop. to be heard of nevcrmore.
In what numbers must THESE pitiful
/ sights strew the bottom of the sea!
Away from the atmosphere, down in
/ these deep, cold waters, the timbers
and woodwork are hardly affected by
! decay except when the strange iron
| penetrating terredO, with his acid-in-
| jecting drill, honeycombs them, which
! only in long years could be accom-
! plishod.
/ Let us glance at this strange specta-
! Gle. A mighty and splendid vessel,
! perfect in its appointments, here rests
! somewhat on lis side. Great boilers,
| ponderous ongine4. bunkerS of coal, all
| in fair order but strangely out of place
! in this surrounding. The ghostly fire.
| men in grimy clothes and r0llcd-up
sleeves are resting in all angles of re-
pose. and all 50 silent Above in ali
hooks, everywhere, in all positions, are
! sailors. hundreds of them, and. but
for a staring, frightened LOOK, seem
! sleeping with open ewes. The officers
are in full uniform, the nava. buttons
n little furnished with the salt, all in
the insignia of rank and authority.
Here, almost as in life, is all the equip
ment, all the thousands of unnamabie
paraphernalia. but all. everything, 50
weirdly, solemnly, strangely still
Nearly 800 feet above. in the glad
sunshine, the mighty world moves and
throbS. the bubbles of ambition are
blown, but now these silent men rest
around their unreverberating guns,
the officers all here, but no one voices
n command. Yes, this is truly a spec
tacle to which the atmosphere with all
its accessories can furnish no parallel
1t is as if ship, armament and men
were all phantasmic, and yet in ma
terial way all is real; the silent ma
rines are ell flesh, the careened vessel
and all her belonging are the work of
man, and the great ghostlike and
CHASTITY pantomine is all, only divided
by less than 500 from the living,
laughing world above. PHts5urg Dis
pataA.