The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1907-01-04
THE DOOM OF VENICE
IT NAY eE TO LIE IN THE BOSOM OF
THE ADRlATIC.
The Famous Bells OF 81. Marks May
Toll on Oceans Depths Like Those
of Old Port Royal-The suuken
Cities of the World.

/ IL Is pelIeNeu u! man! lnal venice
is sinking into the Adriatic and that
she gradually will disappear beneath
the waters Of the great lagoon from
which her palace crowned islands
arise. Other cities have gone that
way before her. and ships now sail
over spots which were once teeming
with populous life.
At the entrance To the harbor of King
ston, jamaica, the original city of Port
Royal lies fathoms deep beneath the
blue and sunlit waters of the Carib-
bean sea. \ narrow strip of land. on
which are Il small settlement and
fort Is all that is left Of what was
once the richesS and wickedest town in
the West Indies. 1t was the resort OF
pirates. who rested there from their
depredations and made the city hid
eous with their revelry. But these pi-
rates brought great stores OF their loot 10
the city, and its commerce grew and
tlourished. Palaces and churches were
built. "A pirate often striving by rich
endowment of a church TO square his
accounts with heaven.
Throughout the greater part OF the
seventeenth century no town in the
western world was so magnificent as
to its buildings or so luxurious as 10 its
habits as Port Royal. Then one day in
1892 the anger of the Lord shook the
island of Jamaica, and the greater part
Of Port Royal sank beneath the sea,
carrying with il hundreds OF its in
habitants. Towers, churches, palaces
and forts went down, many of them
not tumbling in ruins by the shock,
but sinking bodily beneath the waves.
On bright day, sailing over the
spot where Port Royal once stood, one
can look far down through the clear
! water and see the remains of the city
still standing there on the ocean bot
| tom, with fishes swimming abodt
among its towers and great tropical
seaweeds waving from its sunken
walls
The negroes OF Jamaica-and some
white people, too-will tell you that be-
| fore n storm the sunken bell of the
| great cathedral which went down with
the city on that awful day in 1862 can
be heard distinctly tolling below the
| waves runC as Il warning by the
ghostly hands of the spirits Of depart
ed buccaneers which haunt the subma-
rine city. People who do not believe in
ghosts, but think they have heard the
tolling of the bell, say the explanation
is that when the city sunk the great
| bell Of the cathedral was not thrown
from its place, but still hangs as it
originally did. The coming storm be-
fore it reaches Jamaica stirs up the
waters of the Caribbean and sends in
upon the shore deep waves, which roll
through the sunken city and set the
bell a-tOlling.
Another sunken city Of renOwn is
Baiae that splendid resort on the ltal-
ian coast where Nero and Caligula
"reveled and drank deep" A strag-
Cling village and heaps Of marble ruins
still stand upon the shore and bear the
name of Baiae. but the greater part Of
the city lies beneath the waters Of the
Mediterranean, and tourists from Ma
Piles go out there to gaze down into the
waters and try to catch a glimpse of
the submerged city.
The resort of all the wealthy mobiles
OF Rome when Rome was mistress OF
the world, Baiae was n marvel Of lux
urious splendor. Palace after palace
was built on the shore, and architects
designed magnificent structures eX-
tending out into the sea.
| When Rome decayed and the Goths
ravaged Italy, Baiae was sacked by
the invaders. Soon after the city be-
gan TO sink. First the buildings which
had then foundation in the water sub
sided beneath the waves, and then
the sea made an attack OH the land.
Gradually the shore line receded, and
the Mediterranean flowed through the
streets where Hadrian had driven his
imperial chariot and Horace had walk
ed thinking Of his next poem.
These promontories, crowned with
grand towers and gorgeous palaces,
were undermined and toppled into the
deep until at last the major part OF
the splendid city was submerged. It's
disappearance was not sudden, like
that Of Port Royal, and due to some
convulson Of nature, but Baiae went
down TO its death gradually, az Venice
is said 70 be going.
In Holland the subsidence Of the
land has brought It about that many
towns once populous are now covered
by the sea. The old Roman camp at
Brittenburg. after sinking beneath the
waves, emerged again in 1920, only 20
disappear. and its remains now lie in
deep water opposite the town Of Kat
wiik. The original Katwijk itself now
Is beneath the waters, as also are the
original towns Of Scheveningen, Dom
burg aud Egmond. In fact, succes-
sion OF towns bearing these names Is
now at the bottom OF the sea, for they
repeatedly have been rebuilt farther
, inland as the land sunk and the waves
come in TO take possession.
II 4 NHa ~ " a