Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1908-02-14
THE NIGHTMARE OF THE SEA.
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buoyaney against the onslaughts of
the sea, and she is virtually unsuitable
if the whole of the interior is likewise
of timber.
Every derelict has its own story,
some more terrible than others. That
of the bark Florence E. Edgett, wrecked
in the Caribbean in 1902, is remarkable.
She left Nova Scotia for Buenos Ayres
and beside the crew of ten carried also
the Captains young wife, a girl of
twenty-three. A couple of months
later came the dread hurricane, that left
only jagged stumps instead of masts,
swept overheard the deck load, demol-
ished the bulwarks, uprooted the deck
houses, flooded the holds. And yet
even the cabin and fo'c'sle awash, and
most of the provisions ruined, the ten
men and girl remained by their ship
for four long weeks, rigging jury masts
to work her towards land, and burning
flares of distress at night. 1t would be
difficult to describe the long days in
an open boat across hundreds of miles
of stormy ocean, with each Individual
reduced to drink of water and three
ounces of bread day and with tropic
sun blistering every exposed part of
their bodies. During the whole forty
days between the fatal storm and the
sighting of land they saw not one ship.
Yet they were saved and the derelict
they left behind was sighted many
times. She drifted at last into the
Sargasso Sea, which seems to lure all
these carcasses to it's tangled and
matted bosom. No doubt storm drove
her forth again-another recruit for the
seas army of destruction.
lis amazing how numerous are these
dangerous waits. One February day
the ship Inchisal beheld three derelicts
at once-two water logged schooners
and brig turned upside down. And
the Strathmuir bebeld one vessel burn
ing and other alongside her dismantled
off Cape Cod. Many a narrow escape
too is recorded from these perils. One
night the steamer Virgil passed be-
tween the two masts of sunken dere-
llct, and yet most marvelously escaped
injury. The distance covered by der
elicit depends upon her condition. Some
will drift a mile day, others will
make hundred. One of them with
sails set will follow course as CLOSELY
as though a human hand was at her
wheel; another will, as has been shown,
zigzag through every sea. 1t is said
that thirty per cent of the floating
derelicts are seen upside down, and
that in such way as to be able to rip
the bottoms out of ships that collide
with them.
Now each maritime nation attends to
its own derelicts, and even sends out
warships to demolish them with big
guns or torpedoes, or the derelict may
be destroyed by fire or by ramming.
That they offer very serious passive
resistance, however, will be seen by
the painful experience of the United
States cruiser Atlanta. She sighted
the derelict British schooner Golden
Rod one day, floating bottom upward.
near the New South Shoal And since
the Americans seaboard is especially
afflicted with derelicts, the naval Cap
tains have orders to destroy them on
sight. For this reason the Atlanta open
ed fire upon the Golden Rod Something
like forty shots were put into the hulk
but only four exploded in her. Still
she showed no sign of sinking, and then
1t was decided to ram her. The first
blow sliced off the derelict's stern; a
second sheered off another section, and
the third impact caught her amidship
and bore her along for some distance.
The fourth stroke split the Golden
Rod in two, while the fifth tore her
under body and scattered her cargo of
barrels on the seas surface. Unfortu-
nately it was seen that this work had
seriously strained the cruisers stem,
and she was forced 10 go into dock on
reaching port, where it was found that
she had sustained considerable damage.
Now, however, the Government has
decided to build for the revenue cutter
service vessel of an entirely new type,
expressly for destroying derelicts. She
will have a steaming radius of five
thousand miles without stopping to
coal, and among her equipment are
several powerful derricks, together
with the most improved life saving
apparatus and magazine filled with
guncotton and other high explosives,
which if scientifically distributed would
clear all the lanes of navigation
of this terror of the sea.
This new enemy of derelicts will
have her field clearly marked by Nova
Scotia on the north, the Bahamas on
the south, and the mid Atlantic on the
East.
The other side of the ocean will be
patrolled by derelict hunting ships of
Great Britain or other European owners,
from which it will be seen that all the
Governments are thoroughly alive to the
Importance of clearing the seas of hap
less hulks, which at present are in
effect dumb, helpless pirates, preying
upon the commerce of all nations.
Philadelphia Press.