Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1912-05-16
AN OCEAN
MYSTERY
By DOROTHY HALE

( his house near the mouth Of Charles
ton harbor. on his left the Atlantic
! ocean, on his right the bay. He was
watching Il ship, with her sails set,
slowly making her way up the coast.
I Presently he got up from his seat,
went into the house and returned with
Il spy glass, which he turned upon the
approaching vessel. After keeping the
glass fixed on il for awhile he lowered
It ana exclaimed:
"Well. | declare!'
What surprised Mr.. Crashaw was
that the ship he saw coming had not
a single person on deck, not even a
man at the wheel Calling for some
OF his negroes. he led them down to
the brink, where he found Il yawl
Launching her, he got in at the stern
and directed them to pull him out to
the ship During the passage he kept
Ills eyes fixed on her, every moment
expecting some one to come up the
companion way OF to the deck. But
not sign of life appeared, and when
the boat was pulled up alongside on
ItI jOII ~" llltIt was III olIc w luhc
II rope The yawI was attached to the
bowsprit chains, and Mr. Crashaw
climbed up unassisted on to the deck.
Walking aft he went down the com
panonWay into the cabin, where he
found Il table set for dinner. a joint
was on Il platter at one end, Il fish at
the other and vegetables between. The
plates indicated that no one had been
served. How long the viands had been
on the table there was nothing to
show, but they had been there long
enough to get cold.
Mr. Crashaw looked through the
rooms. but found no one. In several
of them there were ladies' apparel. in
dlcating women had been on board
There were q few articles of clothing
In each room, and Crashaw searched
the pockets for some indication as to
who they were and what ship they
sailed in for If there had been any
name painted on the vessel 1t had dis
appeared. But there was not even
scrap of paper to show who were the
persons who had deserted her. where
she was from or where she was bound.
One stateroom was locked. Kicking
In the door. he found on the floor the
dead body OF young woman. In her
hand was vial in which a small part
of the contents remained The infer
ence was that she had poisoned her
self What reason could she have had
for doing so except to escape some ca
lamity?
Returning to the deck, Crashaw ex-
amined the lifeboats to see II there
was a name of the ship on any of
them. In these days names of vessels
appear on everything belonging to
them, but that was very different
age. Ships were fewer and smaller.
and the distances travelled were there
fore far greater than today. 1t is not
therefore so remarkable that there was
nothing to Indicate what vessel this
one was. The log would have shown
1t, but the log was not to be found.
Crashaw let down the sails and, get
ting out hawser. attached one end to
the forecastle and making fast the
other to the stern of his yawl he
started for the mouth of the harbor.
The progress made was slow, but the
distance was not great, and In due
time the deserted ship was anchored
just below Crashaw's dwelling
AS soon ms 1t was known that a ship
with a mystery attached had been cap
tured visitors from Charleston and the
i,VnI ~ nj ~ nj "A NJ nj In,
to see her. Every one had theory as
to the mystery, but no theory fulfilled
the conditions. Those who had desert
ed her could not have done so on ac
count of storm, for there was moth
ing broken, no lights stove in, and the
llfeboats were all in their places
or the several hypothesis advanced
the most likely was that the ship had
entered n harbor, all aboard had gone
ashore and she had been blown off.
But In that case she would not have
been left entirely unguarded and II so,
surely not without the anchor having
been dropped. Another theory was
that she had been blown ashore and
the passengers had swum to land.
WIN u FlSinS tlue she nau HOateu art
In either Of these two cases the YES
sol would have shown signs of bad
weather. and In the latter It Is to be
supposed that at least one Of the boats
would have been taken and certain
huoyant articles would have been used
ms tloaters
What became OF the ship has not
been recorded. In these days CraShaw
would have turned her In and received
prize money. He may have done this
rs would be done today. Had 1t not
been for crime committed by an old
man in New York in stahhing to death
n comrade, both OF whom had been
sailors, the mystery would never have
been solved. The murderer. who had
been brought mp Roman Catholic
was very penitent before suffering the
death penalty fer his crime and con
Tossed all his sins to n priest
Among them was piracy. He had