Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-06-10
SWALLOWED UP BY THE OCEAN
An Average Of Sixty Vessels Disappear
Annually and Leave No TrsO Q.
TRAGEDIES OF The MIGHTY DEEP
Ten Thousand souls Lost on ships I'm
the Last FIFTY YeaFs-sOme OF
the Sea stories Told ON
stormy Nights.

and DOWN the Massachusetts, coast, the
sailors in port, sitting over their grog tell
stories Of the good ships which have gone
to sea and have neither come back nor left
even a trace Of their fate.
OF all these stories there is none more
CHASTITY than that Of the Pioneer, which
sailed from San Francisco in 1892 for the
Boring sea. From the time il sailed II
was never sighted, nor was a word heard
from It for two years.
Finally a whaler frozen in for the winter
in the Arctic, one day sent out hunting
party for game The men. at.s- wander
ing about all day, came upon the hulk OF
ship frozen into an iceberg. There was
nothing about It 20 indicate what might
be its name, for the grinding OF the ice
had worn It's sides smooth and destroyed
any clue to its Identity.
Some OF the men ventured aboard,
though the ship had been so racked that
the timbers trembled under their feet
| They pried open the hatchway and peered
| into the dark depths. They shouted down
the ladder, but feeble echo was the only
| answer.
Mastering UP courage, they descended
/ and. making their way into the hold, stood
aghast at what they saw in one Of the
cabins Seated about a table, their cheeks
J wan and sunken. their eyes CLASSY. were
eight men. some with heads on arms, some
with hands thrust deep into their clothes,
as though shrinking from the cold; one
with a prayer book before him. There they
sat. those men who had been two years
dead and were waiting for the sea to give
! them burial.
| Who they were, what the good ship was
from what port Il had sailed. the Mortified
| bo1 90 g.
as they looked the ship began to quake
1t was as though it resented this prying
into its secret, and the strangers. fearing
| It might turn over. hurried from the cabin
| and scrambled outside.
From a safe distance they watched st.
A mass Of ice crashed down toward il, the
iceberg settled upon its side, the dereIict
| tottered. and. after another small ava
| lanche of ice and snow, sank sideways
| into the cold waters. The eight had at
last received their burial, carrying with
them all traces OF their identity.
"MissinE-Fate Unknown"
But when the whaler returned TO port
and the men told Of their weird adventure,
| II was decided from the scant description
that this had been, in all probability, the
| Pioneer 1t will never be known to a GER
tainty, and for that reason the Pioneer
is registered with so many others as miss
ing-fate unknown"
The fate of many good ship dehes even
conjecture There was the Nevrach which
sailed for the Arctic in 1897 and was
caught in an iceberg and abandoned by
some of its crew. A few of the men pre-
ferred to take their chances with the ship
| Those who abandoned II were finally picked
up; but all search failed to find a trace Of
| the Nayra oh ny Of he pi,a bo5 a
by it.
One OF the most famous disappearances
at sea was that Of the City of Glasgow, a
l,6Oo-ton ship which left port March /, 1854.
| with $50 passengers 1t has never been
heard from since. Not bit of wreckage
| from It has ever been identified. Not a
| soul OF the hundreds it carried is known
20 have survived.
On January 90 1870 the City OF Boston
sailed from Halifax for England with l91
souls on board. 1t was a fine shrip. SPLEEN
didly equipped, but 1t disappeared without
| leaving clue to its fate
The Burvie Castle left London some time
ago, bound on a voyage to Australia. It
should have made a final call at Plymouth.
but 1t never came within sight OF the Hoe.
nor has human eye ever seen it from that
day it dropped down the channel.
1t was on May l, 1880 that the Lady
Nugent spread it's sails at Madras, with
S67 Of the Twenty-hfth Madras Light in
fantry on board, bound for Rangoon with
the regimental band playing, with the
friends of the passengers on the shore
shouting farewell. with a clear sea before
it. it left port. but 1t has newer reached
Rangoon or any other port known to man.
Two years later the Collins liner Pacific
dropped down the Mersey with $50 people
on board. 1t went the way OF the City CT
Glasgow and the others. What strange
port they found no one knows.
The ship President left New York fol
London early in 1871 with many dlstin.
guished passengers. among them a son OF
the duke of Richmond and the comedian
Tyrone Power. 1t was expected at IIver.
pool in March. but April 10 came the news
that it had put into Madeira for repairs
to its engines. II never reached Liverpco
or any other port
II was as late 1901 that the shin Lam,
orna sailed from Tacoma, CARRYING a
cargo of wheat for Queenstown. FoIlowins
close upon the departure came a fierce gale
Wreckage was found and the report was
circulated that the ship had been battered
to pieces on Cape FHattery But hardl,
had this report been spread when a Goa st
ing schooner reported having seen the shir
off Coos bay Battered, but apparently wei
able 10 Withstand the seas.
II was soon generally believed thar Il
was true that It had weathered the zaI,
ana was sailing about somewhere. Bu
"herey Weeks passed and it was no
again heard from Ships were asked "a h,
on the lookout for It. ard news Yves any.
iousIy awaited.
psPelict Gt Sea-.
IL was long time aRver thig thar th.
German SKIP Artemis sighted a derelict "a,
out at Ssa. steering about wildly. beatins
against head winds and yet refusing tt
display signals of any kind A Iitele late,
the unknown threw its head to the eaat
and executed series or freak Inaneuyers
IL locked for all the world as though IN,
snip was manned by crazy men who Nyers
trying TO puZsle the Artenls
The captain OF the Artemis was rnvstiasd
he S1eered nearer the strange craft. and
WIN the ala OF his spyglass made out m.
name Lamorna. Consulting his sbipnins
records he discovered that it was outWar6
pound and long overdue, But that hardly
accounted for its queer actions.
| When within few hundred wards NJ IN.
snip cine captain considered it danserou,
70 get very neaD he set signals. but re-.