The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1905-01-17

| two'year cruise. piloted only by the
oreezes and currents, the Sargent was
seen and reported thirty-four times.
Another celebrated derelict with, II
IS believed, more victims to her credit
or discredit--than any other sea
ghost of record, was the bark Count
ess OF Dufferin. She was first report
| ed to the photographic office ON Dec
81, 1881, and between that time and
April 8, 1892, when she was last re.
ported, she had come into collision
with eleven vessels. This is partially
explained by the fact that the i'll
omened Countess had been shorn of
every spar and bit of rigging so that
orly her solid hull remained, half
hlled with water, and floating some
TOUR feet above water In calm.
1t being impossible fer the sharpest
eyes to see her when the sea and wind
waltzed ever SO lightly, the Countess
OF Dufferin soon became a terror to
all mariners on the ocean highways.
Within a period of ninety days this
famous derelict travelled 1880 miles
before disappearing.
Another derelict immortalized in the
sea logs of the world was the Ameri.
can schooner w. L. White. Her
cruise came to close Jan. 2S, 1889,
when she stranded and went down off
one of the islands of the Hebrides.
The White Ghost, as the derelict
schooner came to be known, was one
OF many vessels that met disaster and
was abandoned in the memorable hur-
ricane OF 1888, when SO many lives
were lost on sea and ashore.
Reaching the Gulf Stream she
veered to the eastward, and began her
remarkable cruise toward Europe, dt
rectly in the path of thousands of YES.
sells engaged in transatlantic trade.
drifting about at the within of the wind
and the mighty stream or river which
flows paradoxically through the At
lantic. Guided not at all, or misguid-
ed at best, she sped north-northeast at I
the rate of thirty two miles day until
she reached latitude A degrees north.
longitude 33 degrees west, when she |
began a remarkable zigzag perform
ance which lasted from the begin. /
ming of May to the ides Of October.
When she quoted down she was in
latitude 81 degrees north, longitude "a
degrees west, whence she moved cast
and northeast 1900 miles In eighty
-FOUR days, or at the rate of about
fifteen miles a day. strange feature
OF this derelict was that at distance
she seemed to be well-masted and
well-manned vessel. Only when she
was approached closely could the look
out watch of some passing shin oh
serve how peculiarly she was navigat.
ed.
During her extraordinary cruise she
was reported by thirty-six vessels and
had traversed upward of 5000 miles
when, off the Hebrides, she was seen
for the last time and boarded. A
boarding officer and crew found her
hold nearly full of water she having
evidently struck on some reef, and
she was In imminent danger of going
Town. Soon after being abandoned by
ler last visitors she plunged beneath
ne waves. Her sinking with all sails
set, In calm sea, was described nv
hose who saw 1t as weird and mn.
fanny sight. None of her crew was
sver reported found.
The case of the derelict English
bark Siddartha was an example OF a
ierelict getting too cocksure and
amiliar and being caught mapping
rhe Siddartha sailed from jackson.
'iile and was abandoned by her crew
When she was nearly a month out
Then that blessed bark began cayort.
ng In the lane of transatlantic com.
nerce much as the White Ghost haa
one, being seen first in one place and
hen hundred miles away In the
most surprising manner. She was re-
'orted no less than fifty times, but !
managed TO circumvent all govern.
nent vessels sent out especially To
ynamite her. Finally one day. pet
Ing saucy to the point of foolhardi. ,
ess, SO to say, she went merriIy sail ,
ng up the Irish coast. This was her :
oncluding exploit, for British man
f-war went out and towed her into ,
ort' where she was broken up. :
a very curious case of derelict ! :