The sun., 1896-09-22
STOUT DERELICT, AT REST.
CARIBs PICK THE BONES OF TEE
SCHOONER ANNA CUMMINGS.

0,soO Miles or More she Has Wandered,
Rroysnt. Tennntless, between the Hes-
bergs OF Newfoundland and tho Tor
rid Islands, Where the Cyclones Breed.
letter from Colon, received hero yesterday,
tells of the fate of famous derelict, the Yankee
three nsted schooner Alma Cummings which
began her sea wandorings of the Delaware
capes on Feb. IL. 1s9b The steamship Sole
dado. which recently arrived at Colon. reports
having sighted the Cummings on Aug. 1s, on
one of the islands cff the San Bias coast in the
Caribbean Sea. Tho Indians were swarming
over the wreck and strippingit 1t.
The Cummings will take place in the rec
ords OF the HydroRraphic ONCE with the long
distance drifters the Fannie f. Wolston, the w.
l.. White, and the Wyer g. Sargent, all sturdy
lumber carriers, knocked out by cyclones of the
southern coast. The Cummings probably COW
cred as many knots as any derelict except the
Wolston, which zRzagged over more than 10.-
600 before she vanished. Tho Cummings was
sighted only eight times In the eighteen months
between the time she was abandoned and tho
time che stranded on one OF the San Bias ISL
ands. The last time she was sighted was by the
British steamship Ormston. whose skipper. Capt.
Whitby, under date OF March 8, this year, says:
Lat. 16' 90 N, Ion. SO 30' W., passed o
vessel Of about 800 tons register, burned to tho
waters edge: name on headboard almost oblit-
Grated; appeared to be Ann Cumming The
bowsprt and part OF forecastle were out of water
and the charred stump Of the mainmast was
standing. There were many barnaclen on the
vessel. and she appeared to have been adrift .
long time"
The Cummings was set on FIRE by her skipper.
Capt. A. S. Cummings. when he abandoned
her The fire was doubtless drowned out by
invading seas after It had burned to the water
soaked lumber II was still smondering. how
eyer. when the derelict was passed two days
after her captain and crew left her. She had
then drifted to the southwest about sixty miles.
She was again seen early in March. 1895. She
about $50 miles from the place where she was
wrecked.
She was passed on March 81 in the steamship
foundland. She had drift then about 1900
miles. and was apparently bound for the Irish
coast But she changed her course and was
ward of her former position. She was seen again
on April "a. May o, and May "a last year.
and had drifted about 45O miles further
courtyard; vi war Nothing more was heard hear OF her
about 10 degrees. or 1,14O miles. southward of
the point where she had been seen on May "a.
II 10 prebSbls that she became % %entanglea In the
oriss.cro drifting In its sluggish eddieR. In
stead OF her apparent record OF about 5000
miles, she probably covered nearer $500 miles,
In the interval of nine months and fifteen days.
Tho distance. as tho crow flies. from tho spot
where the Cummings was seen on March 8 to
the San Bias coast is about 2,40o miles. II 10
likely that she covered. in her drift Of about
flvo months from March 70 August, half across
the Atlantic to the westward, into the Carib-
bean Sea. not less than 3. 900 miles. This would
The Cummings was built of oak at Boston in
1890. under supervision OF the Shipmasters'
Association. She WAS rated Al. and was guar
anteed for fifteen years from the time she was