The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1912-05-21
JAGGED CAPE RACE
One Of the North Atlantic Traps
That Mariners Dread.
ROCKY, FoGeY AND DEADLY.
This Gray, Grim Menace to VESSEL
That Come Within Reach Of Its Ice.
berss, Gales and Wild Currents Il,
One Of the Graveysrds of the Ocean.

One Of the craveysrds Of the Ocean.
In Harper's Magazine George Hard
ing describes Cape Race. that menac
ing point Of Newfoundland that is 3
terror to the mariners Of the north
Atlantic coast:
Every great trade route of the world
has In season some peculiar danger ia
navigation which brings disaster ia
vessels plying its lanes. In the north
Atlantic, for ships bound east and wes
over the busy northern route. the par
ticular menace Is Cape Race. In thii
Deigbborhood there is an extraordinary
conjunction Of perils. Fog. icebergs
submerged rocks, northeasterly gales
sheer shore and singularly treacher
Gus current create a large possibility
OF catastrophe.
Cape Race is bluff. jagged bit Of
coast scarcely provided with strand
and multitude OF submerged rocks
are scattered from the breaking water
at the foot Of the cliffs as far TO sea
as the Virgin rocks. which outlie nine
ty miles. The polar current. which
runs like river" past the gray cape
is so variable in the direction of its
flow that it may race southwest al
one time and flow northeast at anotb
er. In the spring and early summer
and often as late as the fall Of the
year-icebergs come down with the
current and lie sluggishly off the coast
hidden from the sharpest eyes Of the
ships lookouts IN the dense accumula
tons Of fog.
1t IS the fog. almost continuously
raised by contact Of the polar current
with the warm waters of the gull
stream. which for centuries has made
a menace Of this cape Of evil name
There Is little relief from #. 1T is 50
continuously present. indeed. that the
cape fOghOrn is frequently blown fol
hundreds OF hours at a stretch. -
The route of the Transatlantic lines
from American ports runs past a hun.
dred miles TO sea. and il is the vessel,
that go astray In the fogs of the beat
en- track which come to grief and give
the coast its grewsome name. In 8
single. month an Atlantic liner. crowd.
ed with passengers. and four tramp
steamers were totally wrecked with
once ashore a craft has small chance
The stupendous cliffs. with deep water
to their jagged edges and exposed u
the swells Of the open ocean, have al
lowed but one vessel of the seventy
that have been wrecked there in the
past twenty years TO be refoated.
The craft on the rocks Is furiousIy
pounded to pieces by the first heavy
sea. 4" The Regulus. a tramp steam
er OF near 1000 tons. utterly vanished
with the whole ships company be
tween dark and dawn. leaving her pro
PEELED fixed in the cliffs twenty feet
above sen level, where it remains to
this day
Steamers have gone so close TO the
cliffs in the fog that the fishermen ou
the heads. unable TO even discern an
outline OF eie blind craft. have clearly
heard that panic on the bridge when
the captain reversed the engine room
signals and I'm the same breath ordered
the lifeboats manned. After that they
have listened 10 the churnng 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. n fisherman heard from the
fog not Only the orders to reverse the
engines and man the lifeboats. but n
loud command 10 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
mufiied from the obscurity at sea.
Sometimes shippers send boats ashore
to inquire the way. but often they go
by in care free ignorance without the
faintest notion that they have escaped
catastrophe 10y the miracle of a hairs
breadth.
II heard feller 90 by today" said a
fisherman Of Chance cove. II allowed
he'd fetch Hp on Fish reef by the sound
OF his course and waited to see. but he
skipped her. aud a close skim too,'
IL is a coast To beware of. The bet
ter it is known the more il is feared.
The skipper Of New YOrk-St. Johns
liner. for a moment at loss for a
reckoning In the fog. took no chances.
but instantly turned tail and headed
for the open sea. where he lay for six
days waiting for the fog TO lift.
II IA no wonder the deep sea skipper
shakes In his sea boots when the fog
captures him in a treacherous current
or that coast. Some of the rusted
hulis OF bis forerunners In predicameni
serve as landmarks for or shore fisher
men. and on the wind swept barren OF
the heads. in graves marked by cross
IS raised by kindly hands and snugly
slowed away for good and all in the