Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1904-09-24
GIVES UP DEAD SECRETS
Father Neptune's Mail Tells t.
Stories of Awful Dis g.
asters.

In February, 1897. some ifs, NV
gagged in cutting cod at a MAJ ,--
Buckle, in Banifshire. discovered .''-si
stomach of one of the largest ~ i. .''r
corked lemonade bot,!c. +7".'}
ms, on being opened. was for,l
contain a leaf hastily torn from =, ~,
etbo0k on which was scrihbIa1 j, -
pencil the following message: "Slh.., ,s''t
Ilusio foHndered eigh1y-six njie> ,c.
Dnnnett head. God help us. ]. claw
Client. Lerwick." ''"'''
Probably there is no authentic ra...,
OF stranger delivery acroanT.h
through the agency of what has '' i
not lnaptly chri@temcd by naviyg,'..'
Father Neptune'S bottle post
Which i saying 4 good deal. ia.
many similar deSpairinS messages. tcg
ing of death or disaster. have com, ~.
hand under circumstances that yorLj
seem Incredible were they not yrut,bat
for on the best authority.
For instance, when rhe Kent. F,..
lndiaman. was destroyed by tire IN in,
Bay Of Biscay on March l. 1923, a re.-
tain Maj. McGregOP east into the 50, d,
sealed bottle containing n MESSAGE .
dressed to his home in Edinburg.
Got Back His Message.
At the time he did this it looked 81,
though all OH board must certainty n1r
ish. But, luckily, a little later a lin,
schooner of 200 tons. the Camhri hor,
in sight and took off OF passengers gr5
crew out of total of G3T who were o,,
board, The odd 80 being either la,Dr1
or drowned.
Maj. McGregor was among the saved
and nearly two years later, 10 his nm
bounded amazement, his. own note was
returned to him through the oYlipay,.
post. 1t had been picked M on tb,.
beach ut Barbados by person bathin,.
The majors message had, however, el
traordinarily good luck. since hydroe-
raphers and others skilled in the va
carries of winds and currents, cakulate
that not more than q or S per cent. OF
the letters intrusted to Father NepfnDr'x
mail are ever heard of again.
And this opinion has been borne ont IA,
certain extent by actual experiment
Thus, in 1878, Mr.. Wragge, while vow
aging between Port Adelaide and Lon
don i'll the Hesperus, sent adrft no
fewer than $50 bottle-borne messages
Only six out of the whole batch came To-
hand
Almost All Are Lost.
During the time that the editor of a
well known comic paper was Offering free.
gifts of watches to readers of his jour
nal, Capt. y. Simpson of the Australia
sian, one of the Aberdeen White Star
line boats, threw overheard every day at
noon coupon inclosed within an empty
bottle.
This he did all the way out 10 Ans
tralia and back. Yet one only was res
cued and forwarded according to instrUc-
tons to the office of the paper.
OF course, however, there are some re
markable exceptions in the other direc-
ton. Two have been recorded above.
Here is another equally extraordinary
and equally above suspicion as regards
trustworthiness.
In December, 1891, the barque Caller
Gu left Grimsby and was never seen
again. 1t was generally supposed thai
she foundered in Il gale which sprang up
shortly after her departure.
No More Time; Sinking.
But on January s, 1893, missive was
delivered at Kilnsea, in Yorkshire, by
Father Neptune's mail, which told quite
another story.
May the Lord comfort my mother
by an unknown steamer.-Daws SOD. No
more time. Sinking"
At first the finder thought this might
be a hoax. But inquiry revealed that
the missing vessel had an apprentice
named Dawson on board. He had been
trained at Trinity house school, Hull
and the headmaster of that institution
u. Scaping, was able to identify the hand
writing as being that of his ex-pupil. -
New York Daily News.