The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-08-20

The ships course was far to the south of
the Azores, bat she was dismasted in
gale. driven to the north. and finally aban-
doned IN sinking condition. There were
not boats enough, and thirty of the pas
sensers took TO a raft. Only two of the
boats were picked up. The raft came
ashore on the island of St Maria after
knocking about for days. On il were lash
ed three bodies, shrunken and shrveited,
and burned back by the sun: but there
was a rare find for the beachcomber.
There were rings on the shrunken fingers
and gold In the pockets Of the dead. and
besides this loot there We're two or three
jewel-boxes. which had been made safe
before their owners died. 1t was esti-
mated that the comber got $4,000 off the
raft, but he had reaped his harvest and
disappeared before the news of his find
became noised about. The next comber
who took that beat was also lucky A
Nomans trunk. from the wreck of a
French steamer, drifted ashore, and It
was believed that he got about $1,000 in
jewelry and money
on some coasts a comber might wait and
watch for year and not make a find.
Not so on the coasts of the Azores. howev-
cr The currents are always at work for
beasure-huutvrs one day il may be only
a stcamer-Chair, lost from no one knows
what ship, the next a broken mast with
three or four sails attached. the third
wv Ndlltth lloil IT'S bdNllS perhaps a
Thousand miles away. I'm the year 1873
AN English steamer. to the north OF tho
azores, had TO jettison much OF her cargo
10 save herself. There came ashore on
Graciosa island clothing, dry goods, fur
nture, -four. and pork TO the value OF
So 600, and the greater part of the loot
Went to beach comber. In that same
year. and ON the coast of that same ISL
and, the SEA brought In a piece of amber
sris weighing seventy-four pounds, the
largest hnd of the kind every reported.
The stun sells anywhere FOR about its
weight in gold. In 1854 a British steamer
named the Ironsdes ran into a terrific
gale when within POO miles of Halifax Her
cargo shifted, and she rolled so far over
that her propeller was useless, and after
every effort 10 right her she was aban-
doned by all hands. The bonts were adrift
seven days before being picked up The
loss of the steamer was duly reported. and
the insurance money had been paid over
when she was heard of again. she was
passed In mdocean by an American ship.
and she was riding on an even keel Her
cargo had shifted back and being
stanch iron vessel, she was still afioat.
She would have been boarded by the
American skipper but for the heavy sea
running. steamer was sent out from
Halifax to look for her. and another left
the English channel, but they knocked
about for month and got no
seem. was sighted only that once. though
she was afioat for five months and drifted
thousands of miles. one night she drifted
into a little harbor on the south coast OF
the Island of Pico. A beachcomber got
help, and went off to her before she took
the ground, and brought her to anchor.
Here was ship which had knocked about
by herself for one hundred and fifty days,
meeting gale after gale, and always In tho
trough of the sea, and yet she had not suf-
fered great damage. She had general car
go valued at 1920. CO., and Il had come to
no harm. The derelict had accumuFa ted
barnaces and grass. and needed paint, but
she had come through her long fight with
the king of storms In better condition, per-
haps than IL she had carried a crew with
her. IL was a salvage job of the biggest
kind. and the beachcomber got enough
out of IL TO warrant him "a life of comfort
for the remainder of his days.
Two years later French merchantmen
named the Constance drove ashore on tho
same island, and a cOmber got 5000 worth
Of stun from the wreck There was d mys-
terry about the Constance which has not
been cleared TO this day. She was In per-
| feet trim below aud aloft, but had been
! abandoned by all hands. Her papers, log
| book, Instruments, and charts had been
! left behind, and the table had not been
cleared after the MONDAY meal Her boats
were gone, and had been launched In
hurry, but they were never heard Of after.
The French authorities spent many
months trying to solve the mystery, but
got no satisfaction. The ship was under
pain sail, but with her mainsal aback to
hold her steady when abandoned, and her
sails had not been injured In The least
when she steered herself ashore and was
wrecked on the rocks.