Sunday Washington globe., 1902-04-20


were carrying sail to weather the enemys
squadron and it is supposed all hands were
at their stations and the guns cast loose at
the time they met their sudden death The
sloop Of war Wasp, with nineteen guns and
a crew Of 40, has never been heard from
since October O. 1874 On that day she was
spoken in latitude I8 degrees north and
longitude 80 west. By some accounts she
is supposed to have been sunk in a night
action with British frigate, by others to
have been lost in the gale.
The same year the Alligator. Of four guns,
was sunk in Port Royal sound during a vio-
lent tornado and two officers and twenty-one
men were drowned. On the I4th Of July,
1915, the eighteengun sloop,oi.war Eper-
vier, bearing important dispatches from
Commodore Decatur, passed out of the
Straits Of Gibraltar and dropped forever
from human annals. Five years afteTward
the six gun schooner Lynx foundered at sea,
carrying her entire crew Of Fifty to a watery
grave In 1924 the Wild Cat, of three guns,
carrying crew Of thirty-one was lost with
all on board while cruising in the West
Indies. The brig Hornet of eighteen guns
and crew Of I4o, sailed from the United
States in 1929 and has never been heard OF.
In IS43 the sloop of war Concord, Of eighteen
guns, was lost on the west coast OF Africa;
her commander one other officer and one
OF the crew perished The same year the
Grampus, of twelve guns, was lost off
Charleston, S. c., and her entire crew of
seventy perished. On the Sth of December,
1916, the brig Somers, of ten guns, while
carrying sail 10 cut off a vessel attempting
to enter the harbor of Vera Cruz, was struck
L ~rree
her her gallant commander Captain Glenn
sen, Lieutenant Hymen and forty men.
The Somers was noted as being the only
American man-of.wa on which an officer
was hanged for mutiny. In 1854 the sloop
of war Albany. of twenty guns and a crew
Of 2Jo sailed from Aspinwall and no trace
of her has ever been discovered. The sloop
of war I.evant, with crew of over 200 has
never been seen OF heard Of since June 80,
1861 1t is supposed that she capsized in
squall, carrying all on board to a sailors
grave. The brig cambridge capsized in
squall August 2I, 1903, of Hatteras The
single survivor of the disaster was after
ward picked up at sea. The famous Mon
itor went down in a gale during the night Of
December 20 the same year the cambridge
was lost, and four officers and twenty. one
the monitor Weehawken foundered at her
anchors while trying to ride out heavy
gale off Charleston and carried half her crew
to the bottom with her. In January 1866,
the steamer Narcissus of two guns, found
cred off the west coast of Florida in a heavy
gale, and every soul on board-eight officers
and twenty six men--was lost
One of the most extraordinary cat as
trophies that ever befell vessel of our
navy destroyed the sloop of war Oneida in
1860 She had just sailed from Yokohama,
homeward bound, with Jolly ships com
pany eager to see sweethearts and wives
and native land once more when, not far
out Of port she was struck by the British
mail steamer Bombay, bound in The stem of
the Bombay cut off the stern of the Oneida.
The ship was sinking rapidly and guns of
distress were fred, but the Bombay steamed
on heE way and left the vessel to her doc m
\ She went down and all but two or three of
her crew were drowned. The captain of
the Bombay gave no other excuse for his
conduct than that he had Lady Eyre, the
wife of distinguished British satrap, on
board and did not wish to destroy her
nerves with scenes of shipwreck. The cap
tain was mobbed when he reached Yoko-
hama, dismissed from the service, socially
taDooed from that time and died in
disgrace year OF two later.
One of the most frghtful and at the same
time most nexcusable, disasters the Ameri-
can navy has met with occurred early on
the morning of November "a, 1877, when,
during heavy southeast gale and high sea
the sloop of war Huron stranded on the
North Carolina coast and Io4 of her crew of
I3S were lost, most of the bodies washed
out to sea and never being recovered The
loss of the Jeanette in the Arctic Ocean
June g. 1881, caused the death of twenty-one
officers and men.
No disaster in the history Of the United
States Navy has been SO tragic as that in
the. harbor Of Apia Samoa, in March, 1885,
The frightful catastrophe appalled, the
civilized world Apia has a very poor har-
Dor, insuliciently protected from the fright
full force of the hurricanes that sometimes
visit that region of the south Pacific and
afording little holding ground for anchors
On the date mentioned the Trenton, the
flagship Of the Pacific squadron, the Van
dalia and Nipsic we're anchored near the
shore. A hurricane swept over the island
accompanied by all the fearful phenomena
of tropical storm, and when night fell the
ships we're in deadly peril Amid the howl
ing of the wind and the dashing force of
the rain that drove like sleet the natives
gathered by thousands on the shore to
watch the battling of the ships with
the fury Of the elements. First the Nipsic
began to drag her anchors, and her COM
mander wisely slipped the cable and ran
her ashore, saving all except six of her
crew Among the other vessels in the harbor
was the British sloop Of war Calliope. I'M
fortunately she struck the Vandalia, which
was disabled by the shock and carried be-
fore the gale to a reef The Vandalias
captain was thrown into the sea and others
Of her company perished trying to save
themselves by swimming. The remainder
Of the officers and crew clung to the rigging
of the wreck.
Soon after the Vandalia struck on the
reef the Trenton rapidly dragged and was
soon driven ashore. As she was swept by
the Vandalia borne with all hands to al
most certain destruction. the 45o brave men
on her crowded decks burst into a mighty
shout Of Three cheers for the Vandaliapi
and the 100 or more unfortunates clustered
IN the tops Of the sunken Vandalia replied