The true Democrat. [volume] (Bayou Sara [La.]) 1892-1928, 1896-12-26


ocean graveyard.
There, amidst 3 silence never broken
save by the scream of the seq gull or
the wild shrek of the storm, rides tho
Death Fleet, dreary and desolate By
day, under the burning glare CT the
hot, aemitropical sun; grim and
spectral in the siivery light Of the
moon.
Fleets may 90 and hects may come
in the world OF men, but this Death
Elect moves silently and ghostlikc Oh
its ceaseless journey toward the incvl-
table end. Regularly each month
there comes additions to this silent
fleet, but no booming Of guns welcome
the newcomer and no colors are dipped;
tho only greeting is waving OF tat
tered sails and broken shrouds and
ratlines. Slowly but surely, the new
comers take their place in the fleet,
and the endless cruise continues.
More weird and ghostly than any
conception of sea romancer is this
ocean graveyard with its Fleet Of
Death, known to geographers and sea.
men as the Saragossa Sea. 1t is 6 sea
of death in fact as we'll as fancy, and
it is in this midst OF death and silence
that nine .tenths Of the derelicts which
are abandoned in all parts Of the At
lantic eventually find an end to their
wanaerings, md, joining The Death
Fleet, cruise about tho seaweed
sen until, waterlogsed and weak
enel, they sink to the bottom Of the
ocean.
That peculiar portion OF the ocean
known as the Saragassa Sea lies in the
Atlantic west of the Azores Islands,
and is in appearance unlike anything
else on earth or sea. 1t lies just at
that point in the ocean where the
eastward currents turn southwark and,
half circiing the Saragassa Sea, move
sharply westward.
The ocean here is nothing but q
solid mass of seaweed, SO dense in
places as to support the weight of Il
,naa for O short time. It is here that
the majority of derelicts, caught by
ocean currents, which seem to centre
ct It's eastern edge, finally drift, and,
once within the confines of the sen, it
is rare that ship ever escapes with.
out the all of steam or sail. This
1nass Of seawccd, miles in extent, is SO
solid that even the heaviest seas have
little effect upon it, or anything that
may be within its confines. Isolated,
30 far away from the ordinary track
of ships, it is seldom visited except
by occasional scientific parties, and
some OF the reports which they have
brought back read more like fiction
than fact.
There are ships in all stages Of
wreck; some lying on their beam ends,
others turned bottom up, while others
are apparently as stanch and seaworthy
as on the day they were launched.
Some IRE partially dismant!ed, while
the rigging Of MI the different craft is
in all stages dilapidation. Sea gulls
find q resting place everywhere about
the abandoned craft. They scamper
over the surface Of this strange sen,
and there are ungaiuly crabs and
shollfsh unlike anything i'll any other
part of the globe.
Several attempts have been made by
venturesome salvage seekers to cap
turo some Of the craft Of this Death
Fleet, but owing to the density Of the
seG weed, and III every case to combin-
atious Of unforeseen circumstances,
the attempt has ended in failure. In
the majority of cases the wreckers
considered themselves lucky TO get
away with their lives and to reach
their homes in safety. sThen they told
wild tales Of hldeous monsters, with
hundreds OF arms that reached out in
MI directions from aboard the aban.
doned craft, entwlning in u grip Of
death the men who had the hardihood
TO invade their lGirs.
They told OF strange, uncanny
sounds at night, when through the
darkness tho raging Of the Storm and
the flashing Of the lightning could be
seen aud heard outside the limits OF
the mysterious sea, while within its
confines all was silent as tho grave.
Not even q sail would flap against the
masts, ard the adventures would
stand in speeches. fear upon the deck
CT tLcir own ship aud gaze in horror
as they sew pale, greenish blue lights
fit about TIE decks OF Death Fleet.
Under such circumstances it is hardly
to be wondered at that the average
sailor rasused to continue the work of
salvage seeking, and was only too glad
to abandon the enterprise.
And yet there is more than fancy in
these strange sailor yarns of the Sara.
gassa Sea and its Fleet of Death. The
hundred armed monster which en-.
twjned men and gradually killed them
was only ono of tho huge cutie or
devil fish, which abound IN that sea,
while the weird, greenish blue light,
which they took to be the forms of a
shostly crew moving about, was only
tho phosphorescent CLEANS we'll known