Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-03-09
GIVEN UP AS LOST
Navy Departments Official
Record of Tug Nina.
VESSEL WRECKED IN GALE
Crew Of Thirty-Two Men Drowned
in the Surf.
FIXING THE DATE OF DEATH
Accounting Officers Arranging to
Settle With Heirs-Story of
the Disaster.
VESSEL WRECKED IN GALE
FIXING THE DATE OF DEATH

Lost with all on board will be the
official record at the Navy Department
with respect to the naval tug Nina. The
officials of the department are now in
consultation with the accounting officers
of the Treasury with regard to the set
tlement of the accounts of the thirty
two brave men who went down with the
tug. The main point to be officially es-
tablished is the date Of the death of these
men. In view of the peculiar circum-
stances of the case that date will have
to be Appropriated The pay of the men
runs to the day Of their death. Although
the naval officials are disposed to be as
liberal as possible in this case, they will
have to be governed in fixing the prob
able date of the loss Of the vessel and
crew by the decision of the Treasury Of
ficials
When the men of the Nina are officially
declared dead the heirs of each will
receive the balance of salary due the de-
ceased, together with a bonus of six
months salary. In addition, the de-
pendent widows and minor children will
each receive small pension from the
government.
At Sea in a Storm.
The Nina and her complement of thir-
ty-two men passed out of the capes of
the Chesapeake February 6. last bound
for Boston. She was seen the next day
making brave struggle with a heavy
storm off Winter Quarter shoal on the
coast of Delaware, and then Disappeared
notwithstanding the thorough and vigi-
liant search made by all available vessels
OF the navy. the only tangible evidence of
the fate OF the little vessel and her gal
liant crew was the finding of one Of her
yaWls on the beach at Lewes, Dell last
Saturday. On her last cruise she was
commanded by Chief Boatswain John
Croghan OF this city, who had as his
chief assistant, Mate Clarence E. Fow-
Ter also of this city.
While the United States NAVY has NOT
been exceptionally unfortunate in its
struggle against the perils of the sea, the
number of warships which have disap-
peared and left no sign has been sufficient
mystery of the deep to keep alive hope
and speculation.
In Port of Lost Ships.
ne Americans Of the revolution looked
and longed in vain for the homecoming
Of the two stanch cruisers, the Reprfsal
and Saratoga, crack ships OF their time,
which the sea must have engulfed Dur
ing the "quasiwar' with France the Con-
captured the French frigate In
surgent. fine ship. famous for speed
The prize was taken into the American
service and in July, 1900 sailed on a
cruise which carried her to the port Of
lost ships.
Almost no years have elapsed since the
Insurgent was last spoken, and no man
knows how the 100 officers, seamen and
marines persisted About the same time
the small cruiser Pickerine sailed into the
unknown The Wasp. famous in the year
1872, was never heard of after a certain
date in 1914. Her sister ship. the Hornet.
is supposed to have capsized in
''norther" in the Gulf of Mexico in 1880.
The Epervier. bringing home the Amer
leans whom Decatur had rescued from
captivity in Algiers. disappeared in 1915.
In 1854 the brig PorpoiSe. cruising in the
China seas. and the corvette Albany,
bound from Aspinwall to New Cork ut
terly disappeared. The manner of their
fate is unknown, but It is conjectured
that the Albany was literally pressed I'M
der the waves by brief great storm,
such as is known to have smitten the sea
over which she must have been sailing.
Never Emerged From Fog Bank.
The corvette Levant sailed away from
Hilo, one of the Hawaiian Islands, in 1860
and. entering heavy fog bank in the
Pacific apparently never emerged. No
trace of her. or her crew has been seen
or heard of from that day to this.
Since the application of steam and the
installation OF many modern resources
for safety, 'disappearances in the navy
Nina came to remind the public of the
power of the sea to make secrets beyond
the ken OF man.