The daily Alaskan., 1913-02-19
DERELIGTS,
Floating Perils That Drift With
 Winds and Currents.
A MENACE TO EVERY VESSEL.

These Vampires of the Sea, Some of
 Them Wholly Submerged, Are Dread
 ed by Al Marinsrs-Methods of Lo-
 eating and Destroying Them.
 Today, according to Popular Elec- triclty. there are about 2,oOO dereiicts in the waters of the world-foatlng perlls that go where wind aud currents bid them. Every sea Is made hazard ous by their presence. They have crash. ed into ocean liners and Into junks of the China sea. To them an vessels are alike-something to be destroyed. They crash against them in the dead of night when inky blackness 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. More 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" lt Is a rolling waste where many ships are buried lt Is a place where dere- licts borne by the sweep of the gull stream and the countercnurn of the Labrador current dart about Ike an- Cry sharks. eager Co f8steu their maws on the hull cf some ship.
 In the Photographic office at some seaport the wireless is sounding. A message is coming through the void, It is a message of peril coming from steamship lt warns that a derelict has been sighted squuroly in the path of ocean travel For days the men at fbe station have been waiting for word of gbls dcrcHCt It's position on the chart that an Photographic offices keep has not moved for week They have luSt track of it It's drifungs are as mystery The station men have been unable to wire back over the seas warming captains oi its where ahouts Any moment they may hear that it has attacked and wrecked.
 But now the derelirt has come into the light The Baltic has sighted it and sent a warning humming over the seas Now the men at the station are quick Co act. At a word from their chief they relay the message to the commander or the revenue cutter Sene- ca, lying by. The Seneca has been waiting for this saEe-waiung for the derclict's whereabouts Co De reveal ed. And now Knowing them, it gets up steam and sails forth, a burger Of the sens. on destruction bent
 or dcreliCts there are two kinds those that float observed and those that float unobscrypd Most people imagine that wrecked ships are ultimately driv- en ashore and that vessels reported sinking at the time ot abandonment go down soon after That is not true Abandoned ships breed vampires of the deep. For months they Goat Water, logged half sunkcn. pitched and torn by storm. they yet somehow seem Go survive They win live in gales that send Che stanchest vessels Co the bot tom. Only time Cuu destroy them thnt Is. unless electricity takes a hand
 Too heavy to rise Co the surface and yet not water soaked enough Co sink to the bottom and remain there, they crawl along just under the riding swells Their abiding place is nowhere From the untraveIed tracks of the sens they may be c0rrled by storm direct ly in Che path or navigation. Wbither they go no word goes before them They descend uuobserved, quietly, rrimlv. Not until they have struck is their presence known Then they take their ton They destroy a ship, and from it another of their kind is made It ls their way of multiplying and spreading the breed That Is why lt is SO important that they be destroyed.
 But now the Seneca has steamed into the province of the dereliCt High In the mast thp lookout Is casting hi7 eyes on all sides If he is not alert the dere- lict may attaCE those on board the Sem eca. Self preservation is strong in a vampire
 But now the tip of a submerged mass rises above a distant swell Caught in sudden pitch Of the sea, the derelict has revealed itself From the lookouts nest the cry sounds The speed of the Seneca Is reduced. It moves slowly toward lts quarry And now the work of harnessinE electricity for the de- structlon it 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 magpeto. A small boat is lowered, and the mines are taken on board. Then the boat rides over the sea toward the derelict. 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 Exquisitb care must be employed in their placing Finally tbe explosive charges are con nected by means of the insulated cleo
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