Polk County news-gazette. (Benton, Tenn.) 190?-191?, 1913-11-20
CAPTAIN Of British Vessel Re-
ports a Weird Discovery.
Inflated Sailing Ship Said to Have
Been Sighted In a Rocky Cave In
Magellan Strait-Craft Miss
inq Twenty-three Years.

London.-A weird story Of the sea
has been briefly cabled from New
Zealand. It is the story of the finding
of the sailing ship Marlborough with
20 skeletons on board.
The Marlborough, Glasgow owned
bark. belonging to Messrs. Leslie
Co, sailed from Lyttelton, New Aea'
land, with several passengers and
crew of 33 under the command OF
Capt. Hird in January, 1890. She was
homeward bound by the Cape Horn
route and was spoken in midocean In
the southern Pacific after which no
other word of her was ever heard
In April of that year she was posted
as missing, and later on was given
up as having been lost around the
Horn, where the bones of many a
good ship and many a hundred sea-
men lie. A government cruiser
searched the rocky and tortuous
coasts of Patagonia. but no trace OF
her was found. The Marlborough be-
came just another Of the thousand
mysteries of the sea.
A day or two ago another British
sailing ship arrived in Lyttelton with
the story that she had found the
Marlborough and the skeletons of 20
of her crew in one of the rocky coves
near Punta Arenas (Sandy Point in
the Magellan Strait.
The captain is quoted as telling the
story in the following words
1--WE were off the rocky coves near
Punta Arenas keeping near the land
for shelter The coves are deep and
silent, the sailing difficult and dan
gerous.
I'VE rounded point into a deep
cleft cove. Before us mile or more
across the water stood a sailing yes
sci with the barest shreds of canvas
fluttering in the breeze.
I'VE signaled and hove to. No an
swer came. We searched the 'strang-
err with our glasses. Not a soul
could we see, not a movement Of any
sort.
"Masts and yards were picked out
in green-the green of decay.
"At last we came up. There was
no sign OF life on board. After an
interval our first mate with a mem
Der of the crew boarded her. The
sight that met their gaze was thrill
ing.
Below the wheel lay the skeleton
of man Treading warily on the rot
ten deck which cracked and broke
in places as they walked, they en-
countered three skeletons in the
hAtchway.
''In the messroom were the remains
of ten bodies, and six were found, one
alone, possibly that of the captain, on
the bridge.
There was an uncanny stiffness
around and a dank smell of mold
which made the flesh creep. A few
remnants of books were discovered In
the captains cabin and a rusty cut
lass.
Nothing more weird in the history
of the sea can ever have been seem
The first mate examined the still
ldlHJ lelltTS On lue poWo anu aitOi
much trouble read. Marlborough,
Glasgow
Punta Arenas is pretty large place
as South American towns go, It has
a population of several thousands,
and. of course, the Magellan Strait is
a great highway traversed by hun
dreds of ships yearly. which take this
al
its furious gales.
The whole of the Magellan Strait.
from Cape virgus to Cape Pillar. is
familiar to thousands of seamen and
indented and rockbound though Il is
Il seems incredible that ship could
lie concealed for nearly quarter OF a