The Daytona daily news. [volume] (Daytona, Fla.) 1903-1926, 1912-02-08
OCEAN SHIP TRAPS
Deadly Shares Laid For It's Prey
BY the Glutton Sea.
kERTIsH KNOCK is PITlLEss.

This Trsaeherous Spot IL the Real Davy
Jones' Locker--Ne Hope For Vessel
or Man When Neptune Asks Toll At
This Submarine Graveyard.
"Davy Jones' locker that perilous
SPOT mention of which so often comes
from the lips of sailors. is not shown
on any ocean chart principally be-
cause it is not really settled place.
but If any ocean death trap deserved
the title it is the Thames estuary.
The British naval authorities have a
chart upon which is marked the posi-
ton of wrecks, shown by 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 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 Dayy Jones' locker.
At the Kentish Knock 1T is not keel
SCATTERING rocks nor piercing points OF
/ coral that wreck the ocean travellers.
| 1t Is sand-treacherous clinging sand
that grasps the doomed ship with
| grip of steel and holds it firmly while
the angry sea beats it to fragments.
Many a vessel posted at Lloyd's as
| missing would be duly accounted for
IL 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 dow
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 a
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 fat 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 all on board. One
Of the worst shoals in the Hooghly
bears the name Of James and Mary.
This was the name of a 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
point just beyond the Shambles bank
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 aud all hands went down
with her.
Ships bound to New York from Eu
rope pass near a deadly hidden shoa
which runs out from Sable island. ~
ing off Cape Sable, in Nova Scotia
The snoal runs out for miles In five
directions. like the fingers of a grea
hand reaching out for what it car
destroy.
When the gales blow heavy sea,
boom upon the shoals with sufficieu
force TO shatter the stanchest vesse
af1oat. and when the wind ceases tn,
beaches are strewn with the bodies o
those who have persisted. The distanc,
from the shore is too great and tn,
surf too heavy for the life savers t,
reach struggling vessel. and few
lives are saved at this point. Ten yes
sells have been wrecked In this trap Il
single week.
The rocky danger points In the oceaI
have nearly all been classified. ant
lighthouses have been erected on tn,
most dangerous-excep one. There 4
no lighthouse on the Virgin rock, anC
there never will be.
: Out In the mid-Atlantic this gian
pinnacle rears its head up from tn
ocean floor and vainly seeks to reacl
! the surface Of the sea. 1t is shor
by about eighteen feet There
stands, with it's sharp point hidden b
the ocean waves, waiting to pierce tn
bottom of some unsuspecting vesse
and send it down to join the pile 0
ships ribs and dead mems bones tina
Hitter the floor around its base.
The waves seem to be In league wit
the rock. for If vessel Of light dra1
tries to pass over its head the wave
drop 1t down into trough at the bo
tom Of which the point of the rock 1
waiting to rip out its keel.-Harper