The Van Buren press., 1898-10-01
SINGULAR NAVAL MYSTERIES.
War Vessels That Have Disappeafeu
without Leaving ANY Gle"
10 Their Whereabouts.

Curious disappearanees and aeei-
dents to our warships characterize the
early history of our navy, and, IN spiSe
of all the efforts of the navy depart
meut 10 explain the cause OF the dis
asters. many of them are as abso-
lutte mysteries to-day as when they
happened.
When the government built ten ne"
gunboats to prosecute the war against
| Tripoli, in 1908. they were sent OUT as
| soon as they were finished and be-
fore they were named. Each one was
given a number and dispatched to the
scene of war. No. sailed from New
York June 20, 1905. under command 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 ever been
named.
\ most extraordinary accident hap
| peued to the corvette Monongahela at
| Santa Cruz in 1867. While at anchor in
| the harbor a tremendous tidal wave
| lifted her upon its crest and carried
| her clean ever the town of Frederick
stadt and back again without injuring
the town or the boat to any great ex-
tent. The receding wave landed her
! on the beach instead of in the deep
waters of the harbor, and it cost our
government 100000 TO float her again.
Fully as strange was the fate Of the
| sloob-of-War Wateree.
She was anchored in the harbor Of
africa, Peru. in 1865, when huge tidal
wave swept inland and flooded the
whole city. The wave carried the
sloop several miles inland, and finally
landed her in the midst of a tropiea.
forest. II was impossible to release
her from such peculiar position, and
the government sold her for nominal
sum. The purchasers turned the vessel
into hotel, and the remains of the
once formidable war vessel loom up IN
the tropical forest to-day as a monu-
ment TO the power of tidal 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, un-
der the command of Capt. James
Young, there was no finer or hand
somer war vessel afoat. That she was
as formidable as she was attractive
size soon demonstrated in a practical
way. After cruising around a short
time she captured three British vessels
in succession. and then with her prizes
she started to return to Philadelphia.
But off the Delaware capes she encoun-
tered a British ship of line. As the
Saratoga carried only Is guns and the
Intrepid was a 74-gun ship. Capt.
Young considered it safer to run away.
The enemv did not chase her far. but
returned 70 protect and recapture the
British prizes The Saratoga sailed
away in the very teeth of a 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 were some peculiar accidents
to our naval vessels in the past that
are accounted for. but. while the mys-
terry of their loss is removed aud ex-
planned, the strangeness of their mis-
haps is no less interesting. For in
stance, there is the sinking Of the
United States sloop-of-war Oneida in
1869. She was bound home from Yoko-
hama, but when short distance from
port the British steamer Bombay ran
sr+ !, I, -,
jury was so mortal that the Oneida
Immediately fired her gun of distress,
but in the darkness the Bombay crew
crept away instead of returning to
assist her. In a short time the sloop
went to the bottom, 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 dis
missed from the service in disgrace.
Hurricanes have been responsible
for the wreckage of several of our
naval vessels other than those at Sa-
moa in 1889 The brig g-of-war Balm
bridge was turned over by a hurri-
cane off Cape Hatteras in 1868, 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 wrecked in the very
middle of the Pacific in 1s7O.-George
Ethelbert Walsh, in Leslie's Weekly.
On the Eating of Looms.
Man is a creature of prejudice! In
Scotland he would not eat cells; in
Connecticut he will not eat sturgeon.
the royal fish of England, where the
first one taken in the Thames goes to
the queens table; in New York they
will not eat lampreys, miscalled liam
uap cells - which nra Ga1ioa pias in Con