Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1907-02-08

capturing merchantmen. some of which
she burned and some of which she
sent back with prize crews to the Unit
ed States.
ION Oct 9. 1914, the Wasp was sno-
ken by the Swedish bark Adonis. being
then in latitude 1885 north, longitude
1910 west, Or we'll to the westward Of
the Cape de Verde islands. After
speaking the bark and taking on board
two American officers who were mas
sengers on the Adonis the Wasp made
sail in the direction of the equator,
and from that hour to this no mortal
eye has ever seen her; no bit of wreck
age has even been picked up which
might give a clew to her fate. In fact
she vanished as completely and az
mysteriously from the face of the wa
tiers as did the other Wasp.
"That these two vessels shonld at
the same time have met similar fate
and such fate-is one Of those CO.
medicines to be impressed with which
a man does not have to be very SUPER
stitious. There is a fascination in let-
ting a grewsome fancy range and pic
ture these two Wasps meeting some
where on lonely sea - those two
alone-and fighting each other until no
vestige Of either remained to tell the
tale, or perhaps some other strange
fate overlook them, and, caught in the
endless eddies of the Sargasso sea.
those two Wasps are even now float
ing side by side, from the GAIT Of one
dropping the moldering shreds of the
red cross Of England and from the
other few shreds Of what were once
the stars and stripes.'
Every pretty idea," said the pay
master, land much more romantic
than to simply suppose that they were
both capsized and went down with all
hands,"
"But if they had so capsized," re-
torted the first lieutenant, "would it
not have been likely that some bit of
wreckage, some boat or piece Of
boat. something about the decks,
should have been left floating about
for other ships to pick up and thus
give 4 cleW to their fate? If it had
been only one ship the wonder would
not have been so great, but here were
two good sized men of-war, both last
seen in the track Of merchant vessels
ping off the face of the waters almost
simultaneously and not a vestige Of
either ever seen-picked upland both
named the Wasp, and both sailing out
of a Portsmouth as their last home
port to the port Of the missing Wasps."
"Well," said the captain Of the ma
rines, "the case of the two Wasps was
the most extraordinary one Of the sort,
I think, recorded in naval annals, but
there have been many other ships,
have sailed from port and never been
seen by mortal eyes after they passed
out beyond the harbor's mouth.
''There was the thirty-six gun frigate
Insurgent, captured in our little war
with France and taken into our navy.
I'm July, 1900, manned by crew Of
400 men under Captain Patrick Fetch
er, the Insurgent sailed from Philadel-
phia under orders to cruise off the
coast in the track Of merchantmen go
ing from the West Indies to France.
From the time that that splendid frig-
ate passed out by the capes Of the
Chesapeake to this day no word Of her
has ever come back, though she went
to cruise in sea swarming with ship
ping"
"And would add to the list of those
American men-of-war which have
shared the fate Of the two Wasps and
the 1nsurgent." remarked lieutenant.
'the eighteen gun corvet Saratoga and
the fourteen gun brig Pickering.
''The Saratoga sailed from Philadel-
phia early in October of 1880 and OF
the coast took several prizes, which
the appearance of British ship Of the
line forced her to abandon. She was
then off the capes Of Delaware, but
she made no port. From the time she
was seen hurrying away from the Brit
ish ship of the line till now she has
never been sighted. There was a gale
the following day, but the Saratoga
had often weathered gales of more
power, and no piece Of wreckage from
her was ever washed ashore on the
coast near which she was last seen.
''The Pickering left port a month
after the Insurgent, under orders to
cruise in the vicinity of Guadeloupe.
She sailed to the same port as the two
Wasps, the fnsurgent and the Sarato-
ga, for she was never sighted after she
passed out beyond the capes Of the
Chesapeake"
'"These surely are mysteries of the
great Deep" said the doctor, "and we
who do our work upon it's waters can
not but stand in more or less awe OF
them. If the undevout astronomer is
mad, as the poet Young AYERS, then
surely the sailor free from all super.
bttion is not normal being and, / be-
usve, also mighty poor sailor. Let
~ imagine that all those American
mon-of-war which have sailed forth
Ind never returned are still somewhere
hflnaf in tho CaroaSsO Goa - xo,, xxv;1,