The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1913-01-16
OCEAN DERELIcTS.
Floating PeriIs That Drift with
Winds and Currents.
A MENACE TO EVERY VESSEL.

in the waters of the world-hoaing
perils that go where wind and currents
bid them. Every sea is made hazard
Gus by their presence. They have crash
ed into ocean liners and into tunks
OF the China sea. To them all vessels
are alike-something to be destroyed
They crash against them in the dead
OF night. when inky blaclzness hides
their coming Wrecks themselves. they
seem TO strive to drag all others to
their own fate.
SO they go drifting on the seven seas.
Axre particularly they seem to swarm
eagerly In the gulf stream,
From Cape Hatteras reaching north
to the Grand banks Of Newfoundland
is the graveyard Of the Atlantic" 1t
is a rolling waste where many ships
are buried. 1t is a place where dere-
licts borne by the sweep of the gulf
stream and the counterchurn OF the
Labrador current dart about like an
cry sharks, eager to fasten their maws
on the hull of some ship.
In the hydrographic office at some
seaport the wireless Is sounding. A
message is coming through the void.
IL is message of peril coming from
steamship. 1t warns that a derelict
has been sighted squarely in the path
OF ocean travel. For days the men at
the station have been waiting for word
of this dereict. Its position on the
chart that all photographic offices
keep has not moved for a week. They
have lost track of it. Its drlftings are
as a mystery. The station men have
been unable to wire back over the
seas warning captains Of its where
abouts Any moment they may hear
that it has attacked and wrecked.
But now the derelict has come into
the light The Baltic has sighted 1t
and sent warning humming over the
seas. Now the men at the station are
quick to act. At word from their
chief they relay the message to the
commander of the revenue cutter Sene-
ca, lying by. The Seneca has been
waiting for this message waiting for
the derellct's whereabouts to be reveal
ed, And now, knowing them, 1t gets
up steam and sails forth, a purger of
the seas, on destruction bent.
OF derelicts there are two kinds
those that float observed and those that
float unobseryed Most people imagine
that wrecked ships are ultimately driv-
Ell ashore and that vessels reported
sinking at the time Of abandonment go
down soon after That is not true.
Abandoned ships breed vampires Of the
deep. For mouths they float Water
logged. half sua&en. pitched and torn
by storm, they vet somehow seem to
survive. They will live In gales that
send the stanchest vessels to the bot.
tom. Only time can destroy them
that is, unless electricity takes a hand
Too heavy TO rise to the surface and
yet not water soaked enough to sink
to the bottom and remain there, they
crawl along just under the riding
sWels Their abiding place Is nowhere
From the untmveled tracks of the seas
they may he carried by storm direct
y in the path Of navigation. Whittier
they 80 no wore goes before them
They descend uDobseryed, quietly,
grimly Not until they have struck is
their presence known Then they take
their toll They destroy ship, and
from it another of their kind is made
1t is their way of multiplying and
spreading the breed That is why it is
so important that they be destroyed.
But now the Seneca has steamed into
the province Of the derelict. High in
the mast the lookout is casting his eyes
on aII sides If he is not alert the dere-
lict may attack those on board the Sen
eca. Self preservation is strong in
vampire
But now the tip of submerged mass
rises above a distant swell. Caught in
sudden pitch OF the sea, the derelict
has revealed itself. From the lookout's
nest the cry sounds The speed Of the
Seneca Is reduced. 1t moves slowly
toward its quarry. And now the work
of harnessiug electricity for the de-
struction ii must do begins. From the
magazines are brought mines charged
with sixty pound burdens of guncot-
ton. From the storehouses are brought
insulated electric cables and hand
magnetic A small boat is lowered, and
the mines are taken on board. Then
the boat rides over the sea toward the
dereIict risky ride If the swells are
running high
And the next comes the work Of plac-
ing the mines where they will create
the greatest explosions If the wreck
Is submerged the task is more difficult
More mines must be used. Exquisite
care must be employed in their placing
FINALLY the explosive charges are con-
neeted by means Of the insulated cleo
tfic cables and the wrecking party
draws or to a safe distance. The man
VIII the hand magnetic provides the
necessary current. the detonators OF
tu.mImte Of mercury explode. the
primers of dry guncotton are dealt a
Marsh blow, the explosion is sufficient
To loosen an the heavy powers OF the
MASSES OF wet cuncotton. and then the
uere,iet i'ies apart. its back broken. Its
sides flying through the air. scraping
oad rend.ng of planks, the sodden
splash as they hit the water again
the sound uf a vomnire diving