Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1900-01-18

LAsHED TO TIKI RIGGING IN DEATH.
who labored off Montauk in storm and
cold were destined to meet sight that
shook their stout hearts more than all the
perils they ever went through.
Down at the bottom of the ocean they
found the wrecks Of two tall ships, with
their masts and spars locked in a last
embrace.
After giving the necessary signals with
the communicating cord they were moved
to the level of the decks. Cautiously they
stepped forward after the manner Of
divers and peered out Of their great glass
eyes.
Each saw a skeleton lashed to the
shrouds nearest to him. Each peered far
ther into the green gloom, and each saw
more skeletons, skeleton after skeleton
without end.
There were skeletons dashed to the
shrouds. skeletons lashed to the stays.
skeletons dashed to the masts, skeletons
dashed to the bulwarks. skeletons lashed
to the bowsprit, skeletons lashed to the
wheel. On both ships It was the same.
These skeletons were grinning, praying,
gesticulating, clasping their hands in
prayer. raising their hands in frenzy.
Imagine the awfulness OF standing In
the green twilight Of the depths of the
sea surrounded by a swarm Of bound
skeletons striving to be free!
As soon as the divers could collect their
Mortified and scattered senses they gave
the urgency signal and were hauled up to
the surface.
1t was minutes before they could tell OF
the horror they had seen. They could
hardly yet realize the meaning Of it. 1t
seemed to them at first that some afro
cious villain must have bound the crews
of two ships to the rigging and sunk them
all to the bottom of the sea.
When the divers and their companions
began to think over the tragedy, its
meaning soon became clearer to them,
and they reasoned out what had hap
pened.
They learned that the Hanscom and
the Pace had been lost in the great storm
Of November, 1893, and they concluded
that these were the ships.
They must both have been running be-
fore the great storm. Probably they had
both been caught by IL when they were
outside the eastern end of the sound.
They turned or were driven back and
were trying to find shelter inside Of Mon
tauk point.
They must both have been running be-
bore the gale with bare poles utterly at
the mercy Of the wind and waves. The
crew. as Is usual In case Of such storms,
lashed themselves to the rigging and the
masts and wherever was convenient, so
that they might not be washed overheard.
A man on the deck of low lying, heavi
ly loaded schooner would otherwise be
without defense against the mighty
waves that sweep the ship from end to
end.
The crews Of the Pace and the Hans
com We're both in the same wretched
plight. half drowned and half beaten to
death by the waves, hoping. but helpless
Suddenly a great wave picked up one
ship and dashed her bow on against the
side of the other The ship that was
struck filed at once with water. The
ship that struck her lay for a moment
side on to the waves and was then over
whelmed She went down with her stern
still sticking into the vtais of her com.
panion in death,
The sailors, lashed to the rigging. g.swere
unable to undo themselves before the ship
went down. They were swallowed up in
n moment. That is why they were seen
by the divers in all kinds of attitudes,
some struggling, some praying. One OF
the skeletons actually had its fingers
clasping the rope that bound 1t TO the
rigging, Is.
The skeletons have been brought up
and buried. Taere was no means of iden
tifying them,
The discovery OF the Hanscom and
Pace at the bottom OF the Atlantic solves
an ocean mystery that has puzzled sail
ors for year. The two vessels were
about the best known of their class on
the entire Atlantic scaboard.