The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1895-05-24
SUNkEN SHIPS.
American GunboatS That Went
Down Forever.
Brief Review of Naval Losses During Gem
tury Famous Men of War That
Have MysteriousIy Disappeared
from View.

Famous Men Of war IhAt
Have MysteriousIy Disappeared
from View.
Since the last great storm swept |
across the Atlantic 1t has become rea-
sonably certain that more than one yes
sci has been swallowed up in the waves.
In some instances the fate of the lost
vessels has been learned from the
wrecl<age seen by passing ships; but 1t
has happened, many times since men
first began to go down into the deep in
ships that an apparently stout stanch
vessel has set sail gayly from port only
to vanish as completely V as if her voyage
had been outside of the solar system.
Even the American navy has suffered
such losses. that are to-day and perhaps
always will be an unsolved mystery.
The first important loss of this kind,
SAYS the Boston Advertiser, was the
eighteen-gun man-of-war Saratoga, one
Of the few ships that composed the
American navy ll6 years ago. The loss
of the Saratoga was in itself a story
that might well attract the notice
of a writer of fiction. as it occurred at
the close of what promised to be sig
nally successful cruise. The Saratoga
sailed from Philadelphia early in the
autumn of 1850. and in October captured
three vessels bound from Jamaica to
New York Returning toward Phlla-
dclphia with her prizes the Saratoga
sighted the British man-of-war Intrepid.
and being clearly out-matched escaped
by putting off to the east. Her prizes
were recaptured by the British. and she
herself disappeared utterly from human
ken.
just about twenty years later the
United States frigate lnsurgent, carry
ing thirty-SiN guns, sailed from the
Chesapeake Capes under orders to
cruise between longitudes siXty-siX de
grees and SiXty-eight degrees west and
to go no farther south than thirty de
greeS north. 1t is proba bly, within that
very tract of the ocean that the Saratoga
was lost, and it was regarded as signit-
cant bv some of the old salts of the
American navy at the beginning of the
present century that the Insurgent
too. sailed off into the list of ships
whose faith no man knows. For all one
can say to the contrary the lnsurgent
and the Saratoga lie side by side OFF the
Chesapeake Capes.
In the same year. the only year in
which two of the American men-of-war
mysteriously disappeared, the fourteen
gun brig Pickering was ordered to
Guadeloupe to cruise along the coast
there In September, 1900, a heavy
gale swept the ocean. and it was gener-
/ ally believed at the time that the In
| surgent and the Pickering went down
/ at about the same time and in practic-
! allv the same storm. The Pickering
was not a very seaworthy vessel when
| equipped with guns, and there is little
| question that she foundered during a
gale. although there is of course no Ger
| tainty as to her fate.
When in 1905 the United States de-
cidcd To send ten gunbOats To help in
the war against Tripoi one of these
vessels known as ''Gunboat No :.
met with a mishap after leaving port
and was forced to put back again. Per
hapS If Lieut.. James Lawrence who
commanded 'Gunboat No. Is" had
been assigned to the unlucky No. :.
which Lieut. Ogelvie commanded.
l american naval history might have
been different. As it was No. g" ar
rived safely. and Lawrence lived to de
feat the Peacock and to fight the Shan
non; but Lieut.. Ogelvie's gunboat went
forth again after repairs and sailed
into the mysterious waters of the un
5 known. and another missing" shiI
/ was entered on lne nav = Tolls
5 The most famous of all the missing
ships of the American navy was th'
Wasp. In its brief history it had ;
. brilliant record, having within pc
: riod of five months taken fifteen yes
5 sells, valued at more than two hundre,
thousand dollars. Its prowess as
terror of the seas was remarl&ab bl
. that its name had grown to toe a menac
to British merchantmen. Late in tn
5 year 1914. less than six months afte
3 she had left the Portsmouth navy var
IS for her career of victory, the Wasp dis
IS damage received in an encounter wit
the enemy had weakened the sloop
timberS so that she fell an easy prey
e wind and water; but, whatever haI
pened. she left no trace.
. The last American man-of-war
vanish was the brig Epervier, whic
sailed from Decatur's fleet to tn
United States to bear the treaty mad
with the Dey of Algiers. July II, ISL
20 ! the Epervier was last seen near til
strait of Gibraltar. Since that time sh,
. too. has joined the fleet of the missin!
- Where the vessels of that fleet lie an
what became of the crews are matter
- that may never be known until IL
Judgment day; but perhaps chan,
25 NAV vet throw some light on the que
IS ton In the meantime the theme is OF
that may well invite the attention
o5 the lima rinatiV, novelist