The Pascagoula democrat-star., 1898-11-11
MYSTERIES OF the DEER.


MYSTERIES OF the DEER.
1t was In the dawn OF a December
morning fve-and-twenty years ago
that the shippers OF the fishing
schoOners, lying hound and helpless in
the white mists Of the Newfoundland
COASTS, were simultaneously awakened
by sound that sent a chill to every
heart. In the waste Of waters, pierc-
ing the impcnetrable veil that hid all
things from sight, there had tiOated Il
wall or cry, slowly rising and dying
away in moan like the signing OF the
wind. They waited and listened, and
presently the cry came again-once,
twice, thrice, fainter, fainter, then ST.
lence, dark and impenetrable, like the
mists.
And they said: "That cry is like
nothing we have ever heard in this
world" and then for love Of human
sympathy, they called to each other
and cried: "GOd have mercy on us
all"
Only long months after did these
fishers know that the cry was the
death drge Of the five hundred men
and women who went down in the
White Star steamer Atlantic, driven
ashore in the fog of Halifax, n. s.
The official records, supported by
several afiidavits, bear witness to the
fact that the Atlantic herself went to
pieces on the rocks and was long ago
swallowed up In the trough OF the sea.
The Newfoundland nsl,ers, however,
beg leave to differ with the official re-
port.
Else how, they ask, can the mari
time boards account for the giant
steamer, bearing the White Star
lights, that looms up silent and slad.
owy in the mists OF the Banks, always
riding inshOre, right on the reefs?
Scarce a sailor on the Nova Scotian
coast but will tell you that the Allan
tic still rides the sea, with a phantom
crew and phantom captain, and a
ghostly thrOng Of white pecring over
the sides. Only when thea mists are
heaviest and the sky as dark as night
may she be seen.
"See IT," says Capt: George Nchol-
sou, an old Nova Scotian sailor, now
anchored for the rest of his days In
the Snug Harb0r; "there's fifty of us
have seen her. And just as sure as the
Atlantic rides the water it means dis
aster to the one who meets her. He's
going to lose his life or his boat or
both. There's Con Brady, him as
was passenger on the real Atlantic
and swan out with a life line and
made IL fast to a rock-the line that
saved two hundred odd lives him;
he'll tell you as l do. Mystery? There's
more mysteries 10 the sea than ever
was heard Of on earth since the world
was a world"
Assuredly the records OF the Marine
Department contain evidence suffi-
cient to lent color to Captain Nichol-
sons theory. An examination Of the
books will show upward OF 200 vessels
OF whose fate nothing Is known, or
ever will be known. until the sea gives
up its secrets. They have left port
and have passed from the ken of hu-
man knowledge. Missing ships, like
dead men, tell no tales. Thus says
Capt. John Griffin, once Of the coast
fruit steamer Sandford, as lie strikes
into the conversation.
II always wondered what the name
Of that little girl might be, !" says the
captain. II mean the little girl as we
found floating In mid Pacific morning
after that fearful hurricane one night
in January, twenty years ago. Mel
lie every man In my crew Insisted she
was, mainly because her lovely golden
hair and the prettiest blue eyes In the
world made II, seem the likeliest
name, and as Nellie we buried the
pO0r lamb.
1T was just aftor sunrise when the
man on the lookout yclls: Raft
ahead, and we made q bce-line for
that raft Just about 500 yards away.
We came up 70 her presently, and
there wc were all knocked speechless
BY the sight that met our eyes.
flashed down oo = hnlf dosen Pine
logs vas . little Girl--a wee little
thing, Just about the aye, as II might
be, u my little girl At home. She lay
back With her head In her arms and
her fscs turned aside a. II she we're
sleeping. She died of the cold aud
.Af4 n Nn}t CIV W tsssl AI fss II