Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1911-07-13
OCEAN snip TRAPS

Deadly Shares Lai.. 81 It's PREF
by the GIu;ts, Sea. =
KENTIsH KNOCK Is PITlLEss.
This Trsaeherous Spos IL the Rca! pavy
Jones' Locker.-No Hope For Vessel
or Man Whom Neptune Asks Toll az
This Submarine Graveyard.
"Davy Jones' locker that perilous
spot mention Of which so often come.
from the lips of sa iors. is not shown,
on any ocean chart principally be.
cause 1t is not really settled place.
but IL any ocean death trap deserved
the title 1t is the Thames estuary.
The British naval authorities have a
chart upon which is marked the posi-
ton of wrecks. shown 10y black dots
On this chart the Thames mouth tract
is a solid black spot So numerous
have been the wrecks the dots run
together. The point where the blac!::
dots actually pile the one on the TOP
Of another Is the Kentish Knock. and
this is the plnce among all of the
ocean danger spots that deserves the
title of Davy Jones' locker.
At the Kentish Knock 1t is not keel
shattering rocks nor piercing points of
coral that wreck the ocean travellers.
1t is sand-trcacherous. clinging sand
that grasps the doomed ship with a
grip of steel and holds it firmly while
the angry sen beats 1t to fragments.
Many vessel posted at Lloyd's as
missing would be duly accounted for
II the Knock sand would give up its
prey. There Is no hope for ship or
man when Neptune asks toll at the
Kentish Knock. for the nearest land
is twenty miles away and the nearest
lifeboat at Margate. thirty miles dis
tant.
The sands Of the ocean are far more
dangerous than rocks. The sand
banks extend over more space and
therefore offer more points of contact
than the rocks. which usually rise in
slender pinnacles. The waters flow
over the sands in smooth waves. and
there are no warning breakers.
Next to the Thames mouth tract in
point OF danger Is the Hooghly. the
salt water river on which Calcutta
stands. The most trying part Of n
large vessels voyage from New York
to Calcutta is the last few miles of
this calm river. In this strange stream,
In MINDLESS weather and fiat calm
water, vessels have been lost-dashed
to pieces on the dreaded ever shifting
sand banks by the force Of the tides.
The sands grasp the keel Of the
marked vessel and she stops. But the
tide moves on with relentless force.
and the helpless ship is carried over
on her beam ends. She careens over
and founders with I'LL on board. One
nj the worst shoals in the Hooghly
bears the name Of James and Mary.
This was the name of II great Indian
merchant ship wrecked on the sunken
sand banks.
Another danger point dreaded by the
master mariner has neither sand nor
rocks, but a great submarine water.
fall In the English channel there is
n point just beyond the SHAMELESS bnnk
where there is sudden drop In the
sea bottom. The channel tides sweep
over the banks and down this sudden
drop. creating rapids equal in fury to
those Of Niagara. The American ship
Georgian foundered in Portland race.
the name by which this danger point
is known, and all hands went down
with her.
Ships bound to New York from En-
rope pass near deadly hidden shoal
which runs out from Sable island. ly-
j ing off Cape Sable. in Nova Scotia
The snoal runs out for miles in five
directions. like the fingers of great
hand reaching out for what 1t can
destroy.
When the gales blow heavy seas
boom upon the shoals with sufficient
force to shatter the stanchest vessc'
nfloat. and when the wind ceases the
benches are strewn with the bodies OF
those who have persisted. The distance
from the shore is too great and the
surf too heavy for the life savers to
reach struggling vessel and few
lives are saved Mt this point. Ten vcs-
sells have been wrecked in this trap in
n single week.
The rocky danger points in the ocean
have nearly all been classified. ard
lighthouses have been erected on the
most dangerous-except one. There is
no lighthouse on the Virgin rock. and
there never will be.
Out in the mid-Atlantic this giant
pinnacle rears its head up from the
ocean floor and vainly seeks to reach
the surface of the sea. 1t Is short
by about eighteen feet. There 1t
stands. with its sharp point hidden by
the ocean waves. waiting to pierce the
bottom Of some unsuspecting vessel
and send it down to Join the pile Of
ships ribs and dead mems bones that
litter the floor around its base.
The waves seem to be in league with
the rock, for IL vessel Of light draft
tries to pass over its head the waves
drop 1t down into trough ut the bot.
tom Of which the point Of the rock Is
waiting to rip out its keel.-Harper's
Weekly.
II Was Easy.
"You didn't catch single fish dur
ing your trip?"
mo. butt