The Saint Paul globe., 1898-08-07

From Leslie's Weekly.
Curious disappearances and accidents
to cur warships characterized the early
history of our navy, and in spite of all
the efforts of the navy department to
explain the cause of the disasters many
of them are as absolute mysteries to-
day as when they happened.
When the government built ten new
gunboats to prosecute the war against
Tripoli in 1906, they were sent out as
soon as they were finished and before
they were named. Each one was given
a number and dispatched to the scene
of the war. Number sailed from
New York June co. 1905, under the COM
mand of Lieut.. Ogelvie, and after she
cleared Sandy Hook light she was never
heard from again. She went down with
all on board before she had even been
named.
most extraordinary accident was
that which happened to the corvette
Monongahela at Santa Cruz, in 1851
While at anchor in the harbor a tre-
perdous tidal wave lifted her upon its
crest and carried her clean over the
town of Frederichstadt and back
again without injuring the town or the
boat to any great extent. The reced-
ing wave landed her on the beach in
stead of in the deep waters Of the har-
Dor, and it cost our government $780,
600 to float her again. Fully as strange
was the fate of the s,oop- -of-war
Wateree. She was anchored In the
harbor of africa, Peru, in 1863 when a
huge tidal wave swept inland and flood
ed the whole city. The wave carried
the sloop several miles inland and final
ly landed her in the midst of a trop
ical forest. 1t was impossible to re-
lease her from such a peculiar posi-
I'D cold g.,
a nominal sum. The purchasers turn
ed the vessel into a hotel, and the re-
mains of the once formidable war ves-
sci loom up in the tropical forest to-
day as a monument to the power of til
dal waves.
Among other cases of disaster, which
are attributed to the violence of the
waves or weather. there is none more
interesting than that of the strange
fate of the Saratoga When she sailed
from Philadelphia, in October, 1880,
under the command of Capt. James
Young, there was no finer or hand
somer war vessel af1oat. That she was
as formidable as she was attractive,
she soon demonstrated in a practical
way. After cruising around a short
time, she captured three British veS-
sells in succession, and then with her
prizes she started to return to Phila-
delphia. But off the Delaware capes
she encountered a British ship of line.
AS the Saratoga carried only eighteen
guns and the Intrepid was a seventy
four-gun ship, Capt. Young considered
1t safer to run away. The enemy did
not chase her far, but returned to pro-
tect and recapture the British prizes.
The Saratoga sailed away in the very
teeth of storm, and she was never
heard from again. Did she founder at
sea in the gale, or was she blown up
by her own magazines?
There are some peculiar accidents to
our naval vessels in the past that are
accounted for, but, while the mystery
of their loss is removed and explained,
the strangeness of their mishaps is no
less interesting. For instance, there
is the sinking Of the United states
sloop-of-war Oneida in 1869. She was
bound home from Yokohama, but
when a short distance from port the
British steamer Bombay ran into her
and cut off her stern. The injury was
so mortal that the Oneida Immediately
fired her guns of distress; but In the
darkness the Bombay crept away In
stead of returning to assist her. In
short time the sloop went to the bot
tom, carrying all Of her crew with her.
When the news reached Yokohama, the
captain of the British steamer was
mobbed by the indignant populace, and
he was dismissed from the service in
disgrace.
Hurricanes have been responsible for
the wreckage of several of our naval
vessels other than those at Samoa In
1889. The brig-of-war Bainbridge was
turned over by a hurricane off Cape
Hatteras in 1862 and everybody on
board was lost except a colored COOK,
who managed to cling to pieces of the
wreck until picked up. Ninety-eight
lives were lost by the wrecking of the
sloop-of-war Huron In 1877. A small
hurricane blew her on the shore off
Norfolk, and she was pounded to pieces
by the violent surf. The Saginaw was
WI ecked in the very middle of the Pa
cif1c In 1897