The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1912-06-07

coal anu, Wnen the veSSel
reached Cape Horn. the Bates hoo
doo"-as sailors always called it-got
In Its work again and the ship went up
In flames. Mrs. Bates and the others
on the ship were compelled to take to
the small boats
The Liverpool ship Symmetry. bound
TO Acapulco, rescued them. II was
learned that the Symmetry was laden
with coal, as the other two ships had
been. and Mrs. Bates and the sailors
gathered on deck and offered up pray
er that the Bates hoodoo" would pass
them by this time.
During the first three hours that
Mrs. Bates was aboard nothing hap.
pened. But the crew OF the Symmetry
were so positive in their superstition
that a fire would surely break out II
she remained on the vessel. that Mrs.
Bates and her husband were persuad.
ed 10 transfer themselves 20 the Fan.
chon, that passed the Symmetry on
its course to San Francisco. The Fan
chon, Mrs. Bates learned TO her hor.
ror, was also laden with coal.
On Christmas night. several days
later, when the Fanchon was twelve
hundred miles from land, the usual
hoodoo-f1re came about as sure as fate.
Half of the crew was quickly ordered
10 go below and fight the flames and
Mrs. Bates, donp!ng sailors clothes.
gave the men her assistance, remain.
ing below on watch for two days aft.
er the fire had been extlnguished. Five
days later the Fanchon struck the
rocks OF the Galapagos islands ard
Mrs. Bates was one OF those who was
hurled overheard by the shock OF col.
lision. Three hours after she reached
the shore-her life having been saved
by the merest chance-the flames
burst out on the Fanchon once more
and one hour later the vessel was q
black ruin.
After living for weeks as Crusoes on
the island. the shipwrecked colony was
rescued by passing bark. Mrs. Bates
was then transferred 10 the steamship
Republic. carrying four hundred pas.
sengers. Five days out, the old hoo.
doc again asserted itself. Another
fierce flight with fire was in order, but
this time with little damage.
In short. fire followed Mrs. Bates
as a shadow, not only for years on sea,
but on land as well. Shortly after her
arrival in San Francisco that city suf-
fered one Its greatest conflagrations.
Six months later the hotel in which
Mrs. Bates was stopping in Marysville
was destroyed by fire and Mrs. Bates
narrowly escaped death. The records
even show that in 1890, in Plymouth,
Mass, the house in which she was liv.
ing burned and Mrs. Bates was nearly
killed.
Mrs. Bates, "the fire woman of the
sea-" Is regarded by American sailors
as the most extraordinary escaper
from death that they have ever en-
countered
Four Strange Tales Of the Sea.
The sailors and records reveal hun
dreds OF similar unknown sea tales OF
fact that vie with the fiction book
shelves.
For instance, there Is the story Of a
pitched battle that occurred in 1858
aboard one Of the convict sailing ships
bound for England TO Australia, a bat
tie that lasted two whole days.
There is the story of the captain
of the bark L. A. Van Romondt, bound
for Cuba from Nova Scotia. The cap
tain had just married young girl in
Nova Scotia and thought the voyage
to China would be his honeymoon trip.
Before that honeymoon trip was ended,
twenty-six days later, wrecks and
transfers had placed the bride success.
sively on vessels carrying the Dutch.
Cuban, Norwegian. American. Mexican
and Italian flags.
Then there is the story of the strand.
ing OF the U. S. s. Wateree, Captain
l.. @. Billings, U. 8. ~. on august s.
1868, by a Gillian earthquake: OF the
frightful battle with the huge guns
that broke loose In the storm pre-
ceding the stranding and crashed back
and forth across the decks; OF the
subsequent fight on the part OF the
officers to bring the panicky crew to
discipline; and OF the final carrying Of
the ship by the earthquake two miles
inland and the depositing OF the vessel
at the base OF a coast range OF the
Andes.
AS the sailors say, "All truth may
not be stranger than fiction, but you
can bet your marlin spike sea truth
Isl"
What would you say5