The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1901-09-04
Submerged
DereliCtS
Most
Dreaded
Of the
Oceans
Terriers
Perils
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Of the
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Mariner

Most dangers of the high seas, and
there are plenty of them, can be guard
ed against to some extent. Reefs can
be relied upon to keep their place, and
if ships DO not go to them they will not
so to the ships. Shoals and high winds
are heralded beforehand, the former by
lines of breakers and the latter by
signs that every seaman knows. But
who is to guess at the path Of the dere-
lict?
At the present moment there are
many Of these grim wanderers at large
Many a ship is abandoned at sea, vet
continues to live after the crew has
left
Take, for instance. the big Norwe-
gian bark that is troubling the minds
of liner captains She was abandoned
off the Norway coast some months ago
because she was hopelessly waterlog-
ged. The crew thought she would go
down, but she did not.
Not long since she was reported in
mid-Atlantic, right in the track of the
great liners that run TO America. The
ship that saw her had no means of
dealing with her. and any morning YOU
may read at breakfast that mighty
ocean greyhound has struck the dere-
lict and sunk. dragging down with her
hundreds of lives.
That vessel has been reported five
times and at places hundreds Of miles
apart. She appears to travel on an av-
erage 1G miles day.
Then there is the AIemsahib. She
was 4 British full rugged ship, clipper
famous for weatherIy qualities and
good passages. and she mostly traded
to Rio.
About five years ago she sprung a
bad leak, which soon got altogether be-
yond control. and the crew abandoned
her about 30 miles from the coast of
British Guiana They reached land
safely. but the Memsahib did not sink.
She got into a northerly current and
drifted up nearly as far as the Florida
keys, where a coasting schooner feel
ing her way along the trackless coast
ran into her at night. One of the hands
Jumped on board the derelict when
they struck, and he was left there by
the coasting crew, four of whom es-
capped out of six and landed ten days
later on the mainland.
They had a fearful time before they
got there, however, for they had no
time TO take water or provisions. The
man on the Memsahib had the best
time of it, for he found plenty to eat
and drink. He actually lived aboard
two weeks, during which time the YES
sci fell in with q westerly wind and
was blown 500 miles into mid-Atlantic.
The man, whose name, by the way,
is Max Peterson of New York, ran
up signals of distress and was taken
off, together with a chest Of valuables
he had annexed. and taken to Porto
Rico by a trading vessel. He is still
alive-it was only four years ago-and
the Memsahib is yet afOat.
she W us IPllOIlSo SOllIG ~AIIC AssO vi
St Helena and a year before that at a
point l20 miles east of st. Helena,
where she all but caused the loss of the
American tramp steamer John Cam
mock. The latter vessel had her bow
stove in by a collision with the derelict,
but managed to keep ahoat all the way
to Tlgo. in north Spain.
Still stranger is the history of the ia
nous Esterlng, q Danish brig tha
caught fire off the Farce islands, nortf
of Scotland She burned nearly to The
waters edge. and the crew were takeI
off by another brig that came to thu
rescue.
In some way the Esterling ESCAPED
sinking and was seen a month later OF
the Forth. 1t was remarked OF TIL
derelict that she must have passe'
right down the English coast an(
through the channel. Imagine dere
lict passing through the strait of Do
yer!
Anyway. an orient liner reported he
off Cape Finisterre, in northern Spain
and a year later news came that tn
charred hulk was knocking round tn
seas a few score miles out from tn
Cape Verde islands. She was evidentl
a tight vessel At last she came mort
again after a collision in the Atlanti
with a collier steamer and was sunk b,
a French gunboat in the Bay OF Bis
cay.
In all 35 different vessels reporte,
having seen her in one place or anoth
er. She had no masts standing an
was more like raft than a ship. lie
decks were nearly flush with the sea.
Another derelict of which much ha
been heard is the Katisha, a RUSSIA
wheat laden full rugged ship. \ fin
vessel she was, over 1000 tons burden
On her way to the river Platte, hOwey
er, she fell in with a ship stricken wit
IDr.Fenner'SGOL Den Relief