The Daytona daily news. [volume] (Daytona, Fla.) 1903-1926, 1912-02-03
OCEAN SNIP TRAPS
Deadly Shares laid For It's Prey
BY the Glutton Sea.
kEHTlsH KNOCK IS PITILEss.

Tale Treachsreus 8pee 10 che Real navv
Ssnss' Lsesssr-Ne Hope For Vessel
~ Man when Neptune AsIs Toll a
/ Thls suhnarins oravsyard.
sDavy Jones' loeker,- that perilous
spot mention Of which so often comes
from the bps Of sailors. Is not shown
on any ocean chart principally be-
cause 1t IL not really settled place.
but u any ocean death, trap deserved
the title 1t Is the Thames es:uary,
The British naval authorities have
chart upon which Is marked the posi-
tion Of wrecks, shown by black dots.
On this chart the Thames mouth tract
b solid black spot. 81 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 Davy Jones locker.
At the Kentish Knock it is not keel
SCATTERING rocks nor piercing points Of
coral that wreck the ocean travellers.
Il Is sand-treacherous. clinging sand
that grasps the doomed ship with a
grip Of steel and holds 1t firmly while
the angry sea beats 1t 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
hfeboat 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 fow
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
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
i bears the name of James and Mary.
/ This was the name of a great Indian
i 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 a 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 Eu.
rope pass near a deadly hidden shoaI
which runs out from Sable island, ~
ing on Cape Sable, in Nova Scotia
The snoal runs out for miles In FIVE
directions. ike the fingers OF a great
hand reaching out for what it can
destroy.
When the gales blow heavy seas
boom upon the shoals with sufficient
force to shatter the stanchest vesse
afaoat, and when the wind ceases the
beaches are strewn with the bodies OF
those who have peFfshed The distance
from the shore is too great and the
surf too heavy for the life savers t
reach a struggling vessel, and few
lives are saved at this point Ten yes
sells have been wrecked in this trap II
q single week.
The rocky danger points In the oceaT
have nearly all been classified. and
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 shor
by about eighteen feet. There 4
stands, with its sharp point hidden BY
the ocean waves. waiting to pierce thu
, bottom Of some unsuspecting vesse
and send 1t down to join the pile O.
ships ribs and dead mems bones tina
hitter the floor around its base.
The waves seem to be in league witt
the rock, for If vessel Of light draf
tries to pass over its head the wave
) drop It down into trough at the bot
: tom of which the point of the rock 1
waiting to rip out its keel-Harper'