The Anaconda standard., 1898-12-13

ton. has been afioat ever since Oct. Is.
1891. She has not been sighted recent
showed no signs of WEAKNESS. and
probably she is now floating around the
Sargossa sea to get new start. She
has been through that strange sea once.
and has been north since then.
There are few weirder wrecks than
hers. She has. or had. her masts still
standing. and so. masterless and lone
ly, she swings and rolls over the swells
of the ocean. with-who knows?-her
ships bell tolling. perha~- TO some
ghostly deep sea crew to come aboard
and sail her. Many lookout has cried
a warning to the helmsman OF his snip
at sight of her. as she rolled suddenly
down on the speeding ship; Many
sailor has watched her fit silently
astern without lights or sign. and set
her down as a ghost. II may yet be
that. before she sinks at last into the
ocean grave which she has cheated so
long. her sodden hull will bring death
to some fine ship that strikes her in
the night.
The length of drift of the dangerous
derelicts is enormous. They seem TO
move like sentiment beings. for some
times they appear to drift in direc-
tions opposite to the blowing OF
the winds or the sweep of the
currents. Thus. the two parts of
Il. Taylor drifted in opposite direction.
The bow was sighted many times, al
ways going steadily north. while the
stern was last reported of Cape Cod.
The ship had been cut in two on the
Newfoundland banks by the steamship
Trave. and. being laden with lumber,
the wreckage remained afloat. 1t SEEM
ed mysterious that the two parts should
drift away from each other. but the
explanation was simple enough. The
stern part had two masts standing
with sails set, and the winds drove IL
south. The bow. with nothing showing
to catch the wind, was acted on by
the northerly current and drifted north.
The Fannie r. Wolston's drift is the
longest in distance as well as In dura-
ton. She had covered 1925 miles when
her voyage was charted last. The
next i'm record is the schooner w. l..
White, which drifted 5.910 miles. This
IL the more remarkable because the
great distance was covered in only
80 days, while IL required $50 days for
the Wolston schooner to make her rec
ord. The White got into the great
sweep of the gulf stream and drove
rapidly enough at times to do credit
to an able ship. The Wyler @. Sargent.
another schooner, drifted $500 miles in
els days.
All these stanch craft were American
built, and IL Is no bad recommendation
of the ability of the men who laid their
keels. But every advertiser will ac-
knowledge that it is good advertising
gone largely tn waste.
other long drifts of derelicts that
have been charted by the officials of
the United States photographic office
are: David w. Hunt. schooner, $500
miles: Ethel NJ. Davis. schooner. 400
miles: Telemach, bark, $3.50 miles;
NincenZo Perotta, bark. 1850 miles:
10, cob mil la "
Gibbon. schooner. 2.940 miles Carricks,
bark, 2.420 miles: Vestalnden, bark.
2,230 miles; Navarch, bark. 2.175 miles;
Robert p. Chandler. schooner, 2.9s0
miles. Twenty-Five derelcts have drift
ed more than 1000 miles before they
sank or were found and destroyed.
How dangerous these corpses OF ships
are to the vessels that ply over the
accepted trade routes may be imagined
from the fact that i'm three months one
of these derelicts, the bow of the Fred
erick II. Taylor, already mentioned,
drifted into the course of not less than
forty-seven ships, while the stern got
into the way of twenty.
The methods used by naval vessels to
destroy derelicts are illustrated by this
official report of the United States war
ship San Francisco:
"Oct. %. 1898, sighted the American
three -masted schooner Drisko, 25s tons,
lumber laden and waterlogged. IL hav-
ing been found impossible to tow. the
next morning three thirty-four-poun
gun cotton torpedoes were attached to
| her hull and exploded. doing great
damage, but leaving her still afloat.
| Five more torpedoes were exploded
under her keel, which broke her back
| and frames. The San Francisco then
rammed the Drisko violently amidships.
| The blow broke her in two parts. re-
| leased her cargo and she bepan to sink.
| As IL was getting dark and the derelict
| sinking. the San Francisco fired a few
| shells into her stern. scattering her
fragments, and resumed her course to
| Key West"
The resistance of this derelict to the
| mighty means of destruction that were
used shows what she might have done
| to a steamship had one run into her.
New York Press.