The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-06-12
GRAVEYARD OF OLD SHIPS.
River Bottom on HutchinSon's Island
Uttered With Ancient Relies.

| RIVER Bottom on HutchinSOn'S Island
Uttered With Ancient Relies.
The dredging operations that have been
going on for some time along the shores
of Hutchinsons Island. on the side OF the
river opposite the city, have served to
bring TO light many relies of I'VE olden
time.'' in the shape of anchors, chains and
metal parts of once proud ships, that
roamed the seas from London to Cathay
and that are buried now and forgotten in
the waters of the Savannah
The part of the river which is being
1 dredged for the new terminals of the
Georgia and Alabama Railway is a grave
yard of old ships, gathered there from
many cline and sinking to rest and OBJ
hvion beside the shore. Some of them
went down in the full pride OF a glorious
youth, with the honors of a successful ana
adventurous voyage into unknown seas
upon them; some Of them have sunk to
rest afer life of usefulness and activity.
disintt grating and breaking up under the
touch Of Times resistless hand; some have
been brought in from sea after the endur-
ance of some terrific stress of weather and
been found then not worthy of repair;
some have been swept of fire and burned
to the waters edge
In every case their fate has been the
| same. and all are equally forgotten. The
tales that would be told could the old
iron thar the dredges bring up from the
| bottom of the river be given the gift of
speech, would pale the efforts of the ro-
| mancers INTO insignifcance and rival the
| legends Of a~l g. a
Perhaps the location of a new Treasure
Island might be revealed and the ill-got-
| ten hoard Of some buccaneer of the Span
| ism Main reward the zeal and determina-
ton of some modern adventurer
1t is told in the old chronicles that
! Savannah was a favorite resort with the
| pirates that roved the seas in the early
days of the colonies, and that frequently.
| through stress of weather or the desire
for pleasure or excitement, they passed
| up the river and cast anchor under the
guns of the city. In those days ships pa
| pers were not very elaborate matters, and
| by a penman skilled in the usage of the
ports and the mariner easily manufac-
| tured The ports of the buccaneer would
be closed, her guns masked, and, flying
| the flag of some nation at peace with
Merry England and exhibiting the papers
| of some honest merchantmen that even
| NlCllf psi maps la uNsAlOA ca ny ntT guns,
at the bottom of the Atlantic or The Ca
| ribbean, would lie peacefully at anchor
and al the mercy of the men who thirsted
! for her destruction. Her crew would wan
| der about the quaint streets of the an
cient city, and between puffs of a pipe
or sips of grog discuss with its citizens
| the latest reported outrage of their own
ship 1t may be the anchors or the chains,
or possibly the letters that were once in
/ no IF IF no M
that had bound The limbs of many a hap
less prisoner, that the proving wharf rats
| of a later day pick up from the spot
where they have been cast by the iron
arms of the dredge and sell to The junk
dealers for beggars pittance.
And then there were more honest craft
| who found their last resting place on the
! shores of the island. Ocean tramps that
| had weathered many q gale and that put
| into the harbor for a cargo of cotton or
| of rice, giving in exchange the tea OF
| China, the rum Of Jamaica or the manu-
| featured products Of the. mother country.
| More than one of these came 10 grief IN
| the harbor, through storm or fire or some
| other calamity of the seas, and the Old
| hulk suffered to lie on the shore until dis
| integrated by the action of wind and wave.
The dredges bring up old ship bells that
once sounded the passing hours and nou-
agone that it was time to clean the YES
| sci or eat their dinners. Poetry or tho
prosiest of prose, the hard facts of re
| ality or the glamour of romance might all
be retold If these old bells could ring again
and tell the tales their brazen tongues have
uttered in the days Of long ago.
These were the happenings of the very
early times and history has preserved of
them only the vaguest and most incom-
plete stories. Coming down to the mid
die of the century there is more exact In.
formation and there are many citizens of
Savannah who ho.d in remembrance tales
of ships that went down in the horbor Or
were so burned and battered that they
had to be towed across the river and left
to their fate. In 1859 the Eli Whitney a
steamer of the Baltimore Line. was burnt
and sunk and went TO pieces along the
shore OF Hutchinsons Island and many a
good ship more has shared her fate.
Back in the early times of trouble for
Savannah American, French and English
warships settled the differences on the
river and later during The civl war and
during the evacuation of Savannah can
non and appurtenances OF war were lost
in the yellow waters and mud Of the river
bottom. If the river was to run dry and
it's bottom be dug up and raked 1t would
reveal a curious collection
To the workmen on the dredges and ihe
negroes who pick up the Old iron and
profit from its sale the find of'an old an
Choir or a piece of broken chain. or may
hap a rusted and antique pair of shackles
conveys no meaning other than the pros
pective price that may be secured for 1t
at the junk shop but to The antiquarian
there is in these excavations a rich field
for research and an ample reward for his
diligence. Vino can tell what might not
be discovered or what stories of the
stored past might not be revealed If the
light of learning were thrown upon the
fncs that are made every day and which
excite among those who witness them
only passing comment.
CHANDLER HAS A SEA SERPENT.