Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1911-09-09
OCEAN ship TRAPS.
Deadly Shares Laid For It's Prey
by the Glutton Sea.

kE"1 I!'!!,,. Knock { P'7'LE !:|;:
This Trsaehsreus Spot 10 the Real pavy
Jones leekscNe Hope For Vessel
er Man When Neptune Asks Toll At
This Submarine Graveyard.
"Davy Jones' locker" that perilous
spot mention Of which so often comes
from the lp Of sailors. Is not shown
on any oaaan chart principally be-
cause it is'not really settled place,
but II any ocean death trap deserved
tho title it IL the Thames estuary.
The British naval authorities have
chart upon which IL marked the posi-
ton Of wrecks, shown by black dots.
On this chart the Thames mouth tract
b a solid black spot. So numerous
have been the wrecks the dots run
together. Tho point where tho black
dots actually pile the one on the top
Of another is the Kentish Knock. and
this is the place among all Of the
ocean danger spots that deserves the
title Of Davy Jones' locker
At tho Kentish Knock 1t Is not keel
SCATTERING rocks nor piercing points Of
coral that wreck the ocean travellers.
It ~ -treacherous. clinging sand
-tl!at grasps the doomed ship with a
grN of steel and holds 1t firmly while
tho angry sea beats 1t to fragments.
Many a vessel posted at Lloyd's as
missing would be duly accounted for
II the Knock sand would give up it's
prey. There Is no hope for ship or
man when Neptune asks toll at the
Kentish Knock, for the nearest landa
IS twenty miles away and the nearef d
lifeboat at Margate, thirty miles d.
tant.
The sands Of the ocean are far me-
dangerous than rocks. The "a o.
banks extend over more space M r,
therefore offer more points Of ccact s,
than the rocks, which usually IN h
slender pinnacles. The water now +,
over the sands In smooth wav1' ana n
there are no warning breakers r
Next to the Thames mout} fract IN
point of dan Ter is the Hoglly' the Il
salt water rfer on whici Calcutta -.
stands. The most trying pat OF q
large vessels Voyage from NV 1ork
to Calcutta ID the last few miles OF ,
this calm riyei. In this strane stream,
in MINDLESS heather and lat calm
water, vessels hive been leN -dashed
to pieces on til. dreaded ewi shifting
sand banks by The force of t r tides.
The sands gasp the kef OF the y
marked vessel aid she stops, But the
tide moves on With relentlss force
and the helpless ship is carried over
on her beam end'. She ca lens over
and founders Will all on bfrd. One
Of the worst shoas in thI Hooghly
bears the name Of James nd Mary.
This was the name of a kfat Indian
merchant ship wrecked onfhe sunken
sand banks.
Another danger point d1hded by the
master mariner has leiter sand nor
rocks, but a great s,b1arine water
fall. In the English hi mel there is
q point Just beyond the SAMPLES bank
where there is sud6e1 drop In the
sea bottom. The channd tides sweep
over the banks and dow this sudden
drop. creating rapids eq4l in fury to I
those Of Niagara. The Aerican ship
Georgian foundered in Eftland race.
the name by which this anger point
is known. and all hands went down
with her.
Ships bound to New Ydk from En-
rome pass near a deadly hidden shoaI
which runs out from Sab island, ~
ing of Cane Sable. in iowa Scotia.
The snoal runs out for Tiles In i've
directions, like the finger of great
hand reaching out for That 1t can
destroy.
When the gales blow heavy seas
boom upon the shoals WI sumclent
force to sbatter the stanhest vesse'
a:oat. and when the wind ceases the
beaches are strewn with t|e bodies OF
those who have persisted. ihe distance
from the shore Is too grht and the
surf too heavy for the lif savers to
reach a struggling vesse and re"
lives are saved at this poi1E Ten YES
sells have been wrecked IN fhis trap IN
4 single week.
The rocky danger points , the ocean
have nearly all been classified. ana
have been erefed on the
most dangerous-except one There IS
no lighthouse on the Virgin rock. ana
there never will be.
Out in the mid-Atlantic this giant
pinnacle rears its head up from the
ocean door and vainly seek3 to reach
the surface of the sea. + Is snort
by about eighteen feet. There II
stands, with it's sharp point hidden by
the ocean waves. waiting toPierce the
bottom Of some unsuspecthg vessel
and send it down to join tie pile OF
Ships ribs and dead mems tpnes that
litter the floor around its has !
The waves seem to be in league with
the rock. for If vessel Of light draft
tries to pass over its head tie waves
drop It down into trough at the bot
tom Of which the point of the rock IS
!