The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-06-25
A DERELICT's LONG VOYAGE.
Almost Three Years the Fannie IL.
WOOlstOn Has Been i'm the Atlantic.

Springfield (Mass.) Republican
A few days ago the little drab-colored
Norwegian fruit steamer Christian Jonn-
came into port from Cuba with her
usual load Of bananas. There was nothing
Of extraordinary interest about that; but
when her captain reported that he had
seen the Fannie Z. Woolston Swashing
around off Hatteras, maritime people, says
the New York Tribune began to do some ne
a terror of the seas than was ever the
Flying Dutchman, and for good reason.
According to sailors, the appearance or the
Dutchman was warming that the snip
sighting him would not reach port, but the
phantom of itself did no HARM The Wool
ston, however, swinging about over the At
iantic, is waiting for a chance, not to
give warning, but TO punch a hole in some
good ship and send her crew to Davy
Jones's locker without a warning.
The photographic office is greatly dis
turbed by the Fannie E. Woolston. When
she was abandoned, in October 1881, she
was northeast of Hatteras and on fire;
Instead Of burning to the waters edge and
going TO pieces as a well-regulated and
not evilly disposed vessel would do, she
started off to make a record as a rover.
Not until Dec. 8, twenty-one days after
she had been abandoned, was she seen, AND
In that time she had drifted six hundred
miles TO the eastward. Then she struck a
slant of wind or current and disappeared
until April 6, 1892, when she turned up d.
rectly in the track Of steamers bound to
the south of Europe, and more than one
thousand miles east of the American coast
Forty days later she was again seen, still
drifting eastward. Then she began a course
which made the track of her drift look like
railroad map in big atlas. First she
started for the northeast, but after about
hundred miles or SO gave ar II up iSa ana Sn
southwest. She kept this UP for more tnan
two hundred miles, drifting north again
doubled on her course, made zigzag marks
for. a time and then corkscrewed her way
into the path OF steamers coming from
On Sept. II. 1892 she was seen in the
latitude of Savannah. thirty-two degrees
north about seventeen hundred miles off
the coast and then went nearly due norsls
for $50 miles. Then she made some mo-
tangled records. and in February, 1893. was
sighted making a desperate effort to get
home again. How nearly she succeeded Is
shown by the reports of 1894, for in JAN
uary She made her presence known not far
from the Bermudas. Here she caught the
tide of the Gulf stream and again began
northward cruise. About this time naval
vessels were ordered to look out for her,
and one of the last expeditions of the Kear-
sarge was to hunt for the derelict- This
attempt was unsuccessful, and the We
suvius, which went on a special mission
after her, was also unsuccessful. Since
then she has not been seen until the john
sen met her off Hatteras.
Since the time she started from Hat
teras to the eastward in 1891, she has drift
ed nearly seven thousand miles, and the
johnson reported that the hulk ap-
parently good for another trip of the same
length. Her maSts were gone, her decks
We're awash and small part of her fore
castle, weather-WOrn ana SraSS-laden
reared it's head above the water A lonely
anchor hung from her starboard hawse-
hole. but everything else had been carried
away The captain Of the johnson thought,
from the appearance OF her decks, that she
had been hit by a passing ship, and it is
safe TO say that the ship was hurt more
than the Woolston.
With a record of seven thousand miles of
drifting to her credit, it is time her no.
madic career was ended. and it is likely
that one more effort will be made to find
nd n ctr the nCf n lfat
that has ever menaced lives and prop
erty on the Atlantic ocean 1t will take
vigorous measures to break her up, as her
cargo of lumber will keep the hull af1oat
for an indefinite time