Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1912-04-24
The Menace
Of Cape Race
BY GEORGE HARDING.

Extracts from an article In HaFper's
April magazine made doubly interesting
BY the disaster to the Titanicl ..a
Every great trade route Of the world
has in season some peculiar danger TO
navigation which brings disaster TO YES
sells plying its lanes In the North Allan
tic for ships bound east and west over the
busy southern route, the particular meH-
ace Is Cape Race. In this neighhorhood
there Is an extraordinary conjunction 81
perils. Fogs. lcebergs. submerged rocks.
northeasterly gales. a sheer shore and a
slnxularly treacherous current create
large possibility of catastrophe, Cape
Race is a bluff, Jagged bit of coast
scarcely provided with strand, and null
titude Of submerged rocks are scattered
from the breaking water at the foot OF
the cliffs as far out TO sea as the Nirsin
Rocks, which outlis ninety miles The
Polar current, which runs like river
past tho gray cape, is 50 variable in the
direction Of it's flow that Il may race
southwest at one time and northeast at
another. In the spring and early summer
and often as late as the fall OF the year
-lesberss come down with the current
and lie sluEgishly off the coast hidden
from the sharpest eyes Of ships lookouts
in the dense aecumulatlons OF fog.
Il is the fog-almost continuously
raised by the contract Of the Polar cur
rent with the warm waters OF the Gulf
stream-whlch for centuries has made q
menace Of this cape OF evil name.
The route Of the transatlantic lines
from American ports runs past,
hundred miles To sea: but the slow .
going tramp, TO save a days steaming.
follows the shorter route and seeks to
pass within flag.signaling distance OF
tho cape. Added to the great fleet OF
tramps which must venture near are the
Canadian liners, which use the Cape
Race route during tho Ice season In the
strait OF Belle Isle. and many coastwise
craft, schooners and full-rigged fish
carriers. Altogether, thousands OF ves-
sells must pass within sight OF the cape
every year; and II Is vessels such as
these, astray In tho fog. off the beaten
track, which come to grief and give the
coast its gruesome name. In a single
month an Atlantic liner. crowded with
passengers. and four tramp steamers
were totally wrecked within twenty
miles OF one another. And once ashore
q craft has small chance; the atupendous
cliffs. with deep water TO their jagged
edges and exposed 20 the swells Of the
open ocean, have allowed but one vessel
OF the seventy that have been wrecked
there In the last twenty years to be re-
floated. The craft on the rocks Is
furiously pounded to pieces by the first
heavy sea. the Delta. tramp steam
ship, entirely disappeared from sight
three hours after going ashore: and the
Regulus, a tramp Of near 400 tons. ut
terIy vanished with the whole ships
company between dark and dawn. leav-
ing her propeller fixed In the cliffs
twenty feet above sea level. where II re-
mains TO this day.
OF wrecks on the cape record Is
kept In a more or less accurate fashion,
but on the narrow escapes from wreck
no account is taken. There must be an
enormous number OF these. II In nee
esnary for a bewlldered captain. unable
10 take MONDAY observations, and run
ming on a dead reckoning. TO locate the :
Cape Race fog whistle. There Is no
other way to determine his position. and
no IL in haste-tn desperate haste. when
he thinks OF his OWNERSHIP get along.
Consequently he takes chance and goes !
close In In murky weather Steamers
have come so close to the cliffs In the
fog. indeed. that the fisherman on the
heads, unable even 10 discern an outline
OF the blind craft have clearly heard the
panic on the bridge when the captain
reversed the engine room signals and In
the same breath ordered the hfeboats
manned. After that they have listened
10 the churning OF the screw. to the
orders from the bridge. and to the
gradual departure Of the vessel from her
dangerous position.
Once, at a point beyond range OF the
fog whistle. a fisherman heard from the
fog not only the orders to reverse the
engines and man the lifeboats, but q
loud command TO one of the officers to
guard the liquor. Vessels often slip past
In the mist. themselves unseen. their
presence, peril and escape from disaster
told only by voices coming muffled from
the obscurity at sea. Sometimes shippers
send boats ashore TO inquire the way,
but often they go by In care-free ig-
norance without the faintest notion that
they have escapede catatrophe by the
miracle Of a hairs breadth.
II heard a Teller go by today" said
a fisherman OF Chance Cove. II allowed
he'd fetch up on Fish Reef by the sound
Of his course and waited to see. but he
skipped her, and close skim. too"