The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-05-07
THE LOST
SEA ISLE
W. N. Armstrong on the
Theory of
Hague.
(Mail Special to the Advertiser.)

WASHING ION, D. c., April IL
The Geographical Magazine of Deem
Der last contains an article by James
and submerged reefs in that part of
the, Pacific which lies directly east
of the Hawaiian Islands The search
mainly originated in the desire to solve
the mystery of the sloop-ofwar Lee
want, of which nothing has been ever
heard since she left Hawaii in 1861.
Naval men are and always will be
deeply interested in the solution or
Hawaii will always be interested in IT
because her last anchorage was in Hilo.
I presume that this article or a
summary of it has appeared in the Ad
its contents: that the cruiser Tacoma
covered about 10000 square miles of
10000 square miles of ocean area with
in which it was imagined that islands,
reefs, or submerged rocks might be
found. None were found in spite of
the many sailors yarns of their ex-
istence. This fact, therefore, deepens
the Levant mystery. Mr.. Hague hoped,
if he did not believe it, that the vessel
had struck some island and her crew
had landed on it and might be even
at the present time living on
it, just as the mutineers of the
Bounty lived on Pitcairn island, be-
fore they were discovered, for over
twenty years. On the opening of the
will be constantly traversed by YES
Importance to correctly chart this vast
area of unknown sea.
AS to the loss of the Levant, navy
men differ as to the way of it. Was
she capsized in a sudden gale or hur-
ricane2 Or did she strike a reef ex-
posed or hidden and slowly go to
pieces? IF the latter was the case,
why did the crew not take to the boats
and the boats make the voyage to Ha-
waii, as a number of other. boats have
done at perhaps the same distancea
Or, on the other hand, was the sloop-
of-war suddenly capsized, so that the
boats could not be launched2 The mast
found by Mr.. Whitney on the Island
of Hawaii is the only connecting link
We have with the lost ship. Tt is about
this lost mast that I ask your readers
for information. Mr.. Hague in his
article referred to produces Mr.. Whit
ney's drawings of the mast and he
refers to the imperfect records of the
Navy Department, but he makes no
reference to the kind of wood used in
making the mast. Mr.. Whitney, in
1907 rho1 Of
matter. He stated that on examining
declared that it was eucalyptus, and,
therefore, was not mast of the Lee !
want. On communicating the discov- !
cry of the mast to the Navy Depart !
ment, this fact regarding the character
of the wood was stated. Mr.. Whitney
says the Navy Department replied
that its records showed that one of
the masts of that vessel proved to be
rotten and she replaced it with a new
one in an Australian port where the
was used. This strange CO.
incidence would be quite sufficient evil
dence of the identity of the mast. I
am surprised that Mr.. Hague does not
refer to this incident, especially as he
had many interviews with Mr.. Whit
ney. 1t is probable that the Adver-
t1Ser must contain Mr.. whitney s &C
count of the incident and settle the
question whether or not the character
of the wood was raised. My recollec-
ton is, though not positive, that I re-
published the story in your paper
while editor of it. /
In his article Mr.. Hague refers to
DR.. Edward Everett Hale's story of
'The Man Without a Country"
DIR. Hale, in the current
number of the National Geographic
publishes a letter regard
ing this noted story, which is most in
5eresting. Last week I lunched with
DIR. Hale and his family and he re-
oeated a curious incident regarding
the story. which is worth remember
ing. AS the story was not true and
ne did not wish it to be taken as true,
ne stated in the opening that Philip
\ olan was lost in the Levant in lati-
,ude 60 degrees west, and so it was
written in the original manuscript.
This would have located the loss of the
Levant, with Nolan on board, at some
spot on the top of the Andes in
Ecuador, and fixed the story as one
If fiction. Twenty years afterward it