The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1907-03-31
TUG IS A SEARCHER
FOR DERELICTS At SEA
Ocean Tug Rescue Probes Mysteries Of
the Deep.

NORFOLK, Va. March 30.-To cross the |
ocean following Hwell-defned and con-
ventionaI lane In a palatial steamer So
called, iss one thing. To go out upon
the ocean-vague, mysterious, fascinat-
ing. and treacheTOus-in search Of an
abandoned ship that is drifting no one
knows whittier, brings into action quite
a different set of emotions.
Arrayed in my best attire, I was about
to depart for Washington. when the
telephone bell rang. and I round Capt.
". s. Tooker, Norfolk manager of the
wrecking firm of Merritt & Chapman,
at the other end Of the wire
The Rescue goes TO sea in thirty
minutes We go on an interesting mis-
sion. We may be gone two days or a
month. If you can reach our dock in
half an hour. we shall be glad to have
you go along.
/ threw my other plans to the lind.
II is not every day that one gets
chance 10 go to sea on a mysterious
mission. / have always courted Ger
tain forms OF danger and am not averse
10 mystery when not Of the feminine
persuasion. There was not time 70 get
into sea rig, but ! stopped for
moment 10 pick up a friend. q famous
art connoisseur as reckless as myself,
who. i knew, would be welcome. We
reached the dock just in time and
/ boarded the great wrecking tug, where
we were heartily welcomed by Capt.
n. 3. Ransom, the skipper, and By
Captain ToOker.
Search for Wrecked Ship.
To sea. then, we went, and after we
had passed out Of marvellous Hampton
Roads and were blowing through the
blue ocean water some miles east Of
Cape Henry. Captain TookeT called his
two guests into the chart-room Of the
| powerful tug and with a twinkle in his
| eye. said. in his quiet way:
1.-THE three-masted schooner Charles
l. Mitchell is adrift at sea, wateT-lOgged
and abandoned. a private message
/ from New York informed us that the
/ steamer Arcturus reports passing Mitch
/ ell the I1th inst. latitude 36,47. lOngi-
/ tude 74:O4
Acting on this tip. we concluded to
/ indulge in a little nautical speculation
| The Mitchell being a derelict by the I'M
/ written law. half OF the salvage would
/ go TO anyone finding her and towing her
into port.
/ The vessel IS n menace TO navigation
/ She was at the time she was abandoned
/ bound from Savannah for Boston with
/ lumber. Another schooner rammed her
/ and as she was apparently in SinEins
/ condition a passing steamer took on the
/ crew
/ 1t is a singular coincidence in the
/ romance OF the sea that we should now
/ be seeking the abandoned schooner
I Twenty years ago she was wrecked on
/ Fishers Island and was rescued and
I taken TO New London By Captain
/ Cooley of our service, who recently
/ died on board the steamship FarWeI,
which went ashore at Cape Henry.
| Twenty years later we are trying lo
/ rescue her for the second time. The
| life of ships is like the life OF some
| men, often In danger before the inVll-
/ able end comes.
1.-THE treacherous sea obliterates all
/ tracks and evidences of its cunning and
( can only be Circumvented by an appeal
TO mathematics and the chart That
appeal IS entirely in the hands OF cap
tain Ransom
! found the Mitchell That we would
! have done so I have little doubt but
/ mai de mer I'm its most drastic form
/ laiC the art COnnolsseur by the heels
| and his sufferings We're so great that
/ the kind-hearted skipper determined 10
| return 20 port 10 put an end To them
/ Otherwise we might have devoted a
/ week OF a month 10 the search After
! passing cape Henry where the found
ers Of jamestown first landed In 1907 ana
/ were driven of by the Indians, taptdl in
/ Ransom n1!t the Rescue on a straight
1 compass course east BY south and ran
/ straight TO sea for two hours under 1ull
/ steam. At midnight We were at the
! exact spot on the ocean where the Are
/ ttrIs had sighted the abandoned schOOn-
| er. Here we fingered until day break.
| when we began the search for the
mOuTnfuI derelIct by steering due south
Mystery of the Sea.
Captain Ransom, as he studied the
chart, reasoned something after the
wise: The Mitchell was sighted on the
morning Of the 18th. On that day the
wind was north, northeast. Thirty-six
hours Of this would probably cause a
wateFIogged vessel TO drift, say, forty
eight miles. Then the wind shifted
north and a twenty-fOur hour drifl
would take her. say, twelve miles TO
| southwark. December Is the wind was
light and from the southwest. Couse-
quently, she probably drifted about ten
miles northeast.
In this manner did the thoughtful
skipper anaIyze and unravel the mystery
of the sea. A reward was offered to the
first man sighting the derelict schooner,
and in friendly rivalry all eyes were in
structively securing the sea All was
clear to southwark. while a dense wall
| of slate-colored cloud stretched itself
across the northern horizon.
Carefully mapping out "A course on the
chart from which ii appeared that the
lost vessel could not escape us, we
! secured the southern sea for two days
In vain reluctantly turning the Res
cues PROV toward port for the Tea-
son given above. While at sea the
weather was absolutely perfect, the
air was balmly and no yachting cruise
could have been more eXhilarating or
delightful. Every man on the Rescue
is an interesting study in himself. The
boat itself is an ocean steamer. being
one of the most powerful ea-gOlng tugs
in existence and the largest in the
United States.
Through the starlight we returned to
Hampton Roads and threaded our way
through the wonderful lights Of Nor
folk harbOr. At o'clock in the morn
ing as we tied up at the pier of the
wrecking company Captain Ransom was
handed a telegram which assigned him
to proceed at once to Jamaica. made
significant by the recent terrible earth
quake that laid Kingston and other
{ in Guaoia1 4.