Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-08-30
Mistsllaneuus &sading.
DEATH TRAPS OF THE OCEAN,.
Sea Graveyards Of Ships and Sailors
Feared by the Mariners.


They have terrible titles many OF
these reefs and shoals which fringe
our british coasts. What could be
more 1ull of deadly significance than
BURIAL Island, the Black Middens,
Reef, Iron Rock Ledge, the
Shambles, Wolf Rock and The Mouse
Trap? Yet, as it happens, no one OF
these seven Is more than locally in
famous. with one or two exceptions,
the most dangerous spots around our
shores are not beaconed on the chart
by words OF plain ill-omen.
The danger from any special reef or
shoal is not to be judged by its inher-
ent deadliness, but by its proximity to
one or the great ocean highways. Did
the Shambles lie at the mouth Of the
it would doubtless more than
deserve its significant title. On the
other hand, were the Goodwins hum
dred miles to the northeast or south
west OF their actual position, the toll
they levy upon traffic would be far less
terrible than is actually the case.
1t is these sands, the Goodwins,
which hold the unenviable record of
causing greater destruction to ship
ping than any other reef, sand or
shoal in the world. For many years
this Unsuitable sea monster, whose
tawny back lies in the sea for full ten
miles along the Kentish coast, has
been responsible for an average of al
least one wreck a month. And this
has been the case for eight long CEN
turies, back to the year 1899, when the
sea swallowed up what before that
date was the fair and fertile Isle Of
Lomea and turned 1t into a vast
stretch of sunken sands.
Very rarely does a vessel once fair
ly ashore upon the Goodwins escape.
They are quicksands, capable Of swal-
lowing any ship, no matter what her
size. A few years, ago the great iron
sailing ship Mersey, homeward bound
from South America with a cargo OF
], 400 tons of logwood, struck the
sands on Sunday morning and broke
her back. Within three days she was
gone, and the sands had closed over
her, leaving not even topmast to
mark her grave. Another sailing ship
of equal size, the Hazelbank, was
in similar fashion a year or
two previously; her mainmast was un-
broken, and it was a weird sight to
watch the tall stick sink lower day by
day, until at last, when only a few
feet were left, gale tore the last relic
away. Somewhere down in the deep
est heat of the Goodwins lies a large
part of Good Queen Anne's navy. In
the great storm Of the 26th Of Novem-
ber, 1903, thirteen stout men-of-war
were driven upon the Goodwins and
destroyed. Twelve hundred
officers and men perished with them.
All those sandbanks which fringe
the mouth of the Thames claim heavy
toll of shipping. Never a year goes
by but sees two to five wrecks upon
the Gunfleet. Farther north the Bar
row and Buxey constitute serious dan
gers; while the Sunk, the Swim Mid
die and the Kentish Knock are all
names Of i'll omen to ship owners and
The Brake Sand or the Kent
coast has also an ugly reputation,
and in one recent year no fewer than
sixteen vessels went aground there.
The Essex shoals are most Of them,
hard sand, so hard that when black
nor'easter piles the cold surf of the
North sea over their treacherous
shadows a grounded vessel is ham
mered to pieces almost as rapidly as
If wedged upon solid rocks. New
come Sand, off the Suffolk coast, is
another death-trap. The yearly aver
age of victims to the Newcome is
eight.
If a reef obstructs the entrance to
an important harbor it can be blasted
away. New York so disposed Of He'll
Gate some twenty years ago; but to
get rid of silt or salt is very differ
ent matter. Dredge as he may, man
cannot control the set Of currents or
the ebb and flow of tides. By con-
slant hard work and heavy expendi-
ture Liverpool has made a well-nigh
perfect harbor Of the Mersey, yet
Hoyle Sands still remain a menace to
Liverpool bay. For the past ten years
the yearly average Of vessels strand
ed on Hoyle Sands is sixteen. This
actually exceeds the number Of the
Goodwins' victims, yet Hoyle Sands do
not really compare with the former
as a danger spot. The number Of to-
tai wrecks is lower and the loss Of life
than upon the Kentish coast.
There is hardly another reef upon
our shores which is so well known to
the public at large as the Manacles.
These formidable rocks lurk he hind
the Lizard, upon it's northern size;
and before the Lizard lighthouse was
erected they were the scene of we'll
nigh countless wrecks. The Manacles
are dangerous not only from their po-
sition, but from the wide area over
which they extend. They cover, 1t is
said, more than 700 acres, yet at high
water only single black pinnacle is
visible. For another thing, there is
deep water close up to their very
edges, and there are few spots where
run more swiftly than along
these iron-bound coasts. The Mana
cles are responsible for two of the
most famous wrecks of modern times.
The first was that of the Mohegan.
She was a steamer of 5000 tons bur-
den, nearly new, and engaged in the
passenger and cattle service between
London and New York. She left
Gravesend the 18th of October, 1898,
and down channel ran into squally
weather. But the sky was quite clear.
and to this day it remains a mystery
how it came about that at the next
evening she struck one of the outer
rocks of the Manacles. At the time
she was steaming full fourteen knots.
and the force of the collision was so
terrific that it must have ripped the
very bottom out of her. She sank in