The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1903-11-19
impossible for the Norwegian's arti-

lmpOSSlOIo IOI Vuc WcSiau dIti-
ficers to make hole in the iron bot.
tom large enough to permit the mans
liberation. He needed nothing but
water, so they started off with the
wreck in tow for Dantzic. Here the
vessel was raised, ending his strange
captivity. which lasted twelve weary
days and eleven nights.
The sea does queer things to the coal
and lumber laden vessels which ply up
and down the coast and even make
foreign VOYAGES. Most of the derelicts
afloat in the Atlantic today are coal or
lumber hulks. The coal hulkS sooner
or later feel the effects of gravity and
either sink to- the bottom or turn a
somerset, which dumps their cargo in
to the sea and permits them to float
keel uppermoSt for months or years,
perhaps, a constant danger to naviga-
zion. Lumber hulkS float upright, but
the danger from them to navigation is
equally great.
Some wonderful drifting "stunts"
have been done by coal vessels. There
was the Annie Johnson, of San Fran
cisco, formerly Britisher from Liver
pool. and known as the Ada Ireland.
In the fall of 1876 she was abandoned
in flames owing to the spontaneous
combustion in her cargo of coal. She
was few hundred miles from MarQue-
sas Islands, which her crew reached at
ter twenty-five days, with the loss of
only one man. The derelict drifted
westward to Tahiti, distance of $500
miles, and was towed into port by
French man-of-war eight months
after her abandonment. For year her
cargo continued to burn. Then it oc-
Cured to some one to extingulsh the
flames and repair the vessel, which
was done successfully.
The derelict record for long distance
drifts is doubtless held by the schooner
Fannie f. Wolston, which was left
lonely in October, 1891. She made a
tour around the Atlantic, and was
last seen in May 1894, not many miles
from the geographical position whence
she began her lonely drift voyage last
ing two years and seven months.
Just why officers and crews abandon
some of the vessels they do is mystery
Time and again the vessel is sighted
a derelict, even towed into port and
saved sometimes, while the crew is
never heard from. A case in point is
the Villa, which sailed from Egypt a
few years ago with a cargo of bones,
said to have been picked up on the
battletields. She was picked up dere-
lict by the Norwegian steamship Breid-
abik, and towed into this port, where
she brought some $1,000. What became
of her master and crew is absolutely
not known.
The difficulty of sinking q vessel at
sea has spoiled the plans of more than
one conspiracy TO detraud the lnsur-
ance underwriters The bark l.. T..
Cam was picked up in 1882 and towed
to a United States port. In drydock
fifteen holes bored from the inside
were found IN her hull. According to
every known law of the sea she should
have gone down and that was the in
tention of the MASTER who had shipped
bogus cargo.
Among the many ships caught in the
terrible Indian Ocean cyclones of 1895
was the Sir Lancelot, Captain Brebner,
tea clipper, which found herself in
front of an advancing, revolving storm,
about one hundred and eighty miles
from Mauritius.
Mountainous seas were rolling when
the captain found he was on the south
west margin of the storm, and also in
the dangerous quadrant. Il considered
it time to act quickly and seriously,
he writes. Having a fast ship, L de
cded to take my chances and run across
the tract into the naviga6le quadrant.
The two lower topsails were then set,
and with the aid of oil bags, she ran
comfortably. though the seas were
dreadful to behold"
He took in his lowest topsall when it
became dark, but determined to Sacrl-
fee the maintopsail in the race across
the storms path. At 10 O'Clock the
maintopSai was torn to ribbons, and
the Sir Lancelot scudded on under bare
poles. Only the speed of the ship and
the nerve of the captain i'll putting her
to the trial saved her from sure des-
truction. Indeed, she found it few
months later, while sailing from Mus
cat for Calcutta, under an Arab cap
tain. who did not know how to pace
with cyclone.
Waterspouts at sea have sent many
good ship to an untimely end. Other
vessels have successfully weathered
them. The ship Crest of the Wave,
Captain John Steel, was carrying war
supplies to the Crimea i'll 1850, when
overtaken with waterSpout The
crew were taking In sails, and had the
lib half furled, when the waterspout
carrying its lofty head i'll the clouds, its
agitated base spread over a larger cir
cular area of white foam and biting
spray, struck the ship on her port bow.
1t zigzagged the length of the deck,
whlrled around the poop and passed
over the stern, throwing water into the
stern ports. The ship qGivered and
shook for many minutes, but recovered
in time to fight the squall which fol-
lowed
In 1891 the American schooner Bal
tic was left battered wreck by wa
terspout in the Atlantic and in 1898 the
schooner Alice was torn to bits. Then
one can cite the miraculous escape of
the bark Lillian Morris in the South
Atlantic. Her captain, Sharp, tried to
dodge, but the waterspout boarded
without ceremony, 1t knocked her on
beam ends and tore away every rag of
canvas. The captain on the poop was
knocked down. blown or washed around
like bit of paper or shaving in
whirlpool, and narrowly escaped going
overheard. He thus describes the wa
terspout: 'Its base was from four hun
bred to five hundred feet in diameter.
The clouds into which it discharged
hung but few feet above the surface
of the agitated sea. 1t roared some
thing terrible and was followed by
severe gale"
Many have been the exciting expert