Semi=weekly graphic., 1899-03-29
War Vessels That Have Dis appeared Without Leaving
 Any Explanation.
SOME QUEER INSTANCES.
A Gunboat That Went to the Bot. tom With All On Board Before
 She Was Named.

Fate of the sloop-of- War WAteree-Ttdal
 Waves, HuvriOanes and Collisions Re-
 sponsibIe for Some.
 Curious disappearances and acci- dents to our warships characterized the early history of our navy, and. in spite of all the efforts of the navy depart ment to explain the cause of the dis asters, many of them arc as absolute mysteries today as when they happen ed.
 When the government built ten new gunboats to prosecute the war against Tripoli, in 1895, 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. 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 ali on board before she had ever been named.
 A most extraordinary accident hap pened to the corvette Monongahela at Santa Cruz in 1867. While at anchor in the harbor tremendous tidal wave lifted her upon its crest and carried her clean over the town of Fred. erichstadt and back again without injuring the town or the boat to any great extent. The receding wave landed her on the beach instead of in the deep waters of the harbor, and it cost our government $100.00O to float her again. Fully as strange was the fate of the sloop-of-war Wateree.
 She was anchored in the harbor of Africa. Peru. in 1868, when huge tidal wave swept inland and flooded the whole city. The wave carried the sloop several miles inland, and finally land ed her in the midst of tropical for est. It 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 today 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 sail- ed from Philadelphia in October, 17S0, under the command of Capt James Young. there was DO finer or hand somer warship af1oat That she was as formidable as she was attractive she soon demonstrated in a practical way. After cruising around 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 en- countered a British ship of line. As the Saratoga carried only eighteen guns and the Intrepid was 8 seventy four-gun ship. Capt Young considered it safer to run away. The enemy did not chase her far. but returned to pro- tect and recaDture the British prizes The Saratoga sailed away in the very teeth of a storm. and she was never heard from again Dad ghe founder at sea in the gale or was she blown up 6y Der own magazines?
 There were some peculiar accidents to our naval vessels in the past that are accounted for. but, while the mys- tery of theiT loss is removed and ex- plained. 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 into her and cut of her stern. The injury was so mortal that the Oneida i immediately fired her gun Of distress, but In the darkness tho Bombay crew crept away instead of returning to as- sist her. In a short time the sloop went to the bottom. carrying all of her crew with her. When the news reach ed Yokohama the captain of the Brit ish steamer was mobbed by the indig- nant 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 lS89 The brig-of-war Bainbridge was turned over by hurricane of Cape Hatteras in 1863, and everybody on board was lost except colored cook, Rho 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 of Norfolk. and she was bounded to