The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-03-23


recent The table was set for breakfast.
In the galley stove there was fire, over
which the tea kettle was singing cozily.
But the only animate beings on this brig
were dog and a cat.
The vessels longboat was missing. And
with that the story ends. for the longboat
was never found no member of the crew
was ever heard from. The only plausible
expla nation advanced was that the crew,
hearing the surf booming against the
Newport cliffs in the darkness just before
the dawn. had been seized by panic and
taken to the ongboat. But why was nc
body washed ashore, why was no least
splinter of the longboat ever found?
The brig was worked off the beach and
taken around to Godfrey Malhone's
l.wharf where she was sold and refitted.
Under her new name. the Beach Bird,
she made many successful voyages ard
when the British seized Rhode Island
during the revolution they found her dis
mantled at a wharf and converted her
into an armed galley
The Story of Helen of Troy
Most remarkable of all mysterious dis
appearances of the sea was that which
took place from the brig Helen of Troy in
the summer of 1871. In that summer
James Harding, a skilful navigator and
seaman found himself stranded in San
Francisco For several weeks he sought
an officers berth and finally shipped as
| second mate aboard the ship Thorough
| bred.
| The big Helen of Troy New Bedford
! vessel lay on the opposite side of the
dock Her captains name was Miller.
| His wife sailed with him.
| The New Bedford brig finished loading
| and sailed two days earlier than the
Thoroughbred. The latter had been out
about week when one morning Second
| Mate Harding, pacing the weather quar-
| ter heard a Soil no. from the man in
| the foretop. Springing into the mizzen
| rigging, he made out small brig about
| two points ON the starboard bow. Cap
| tain Shannon steered toward the brig.
| The two vessels were still about three
miles apart when suddenly the brig came
up into the wind, with her topsails
aback and after a moment lost her mo-
| mentum and lay motionless except for
| the rise and fall of the long swell, which
| buried her bows in smother of foam
| as she bobbed and courtesied in the bright
| light
"can you make her out, Mr.. Hardng?n
asked Captain Shannon.
"She looks like the Helen of Troy" re-
piled the second mate, and she proved to
be that vessel
Nobody could be seen on her deck.
Harding boarded her and found her de-
serted. In the staterooms everything was
In order, the hunks were made up, the
CAPTAINS sextant and a sight taken that
morning and partly worked out lay on his
bed. and there was nothing to indicate
that any disturbance had taken place
aboard.
In the cabin the table was set for din
ner with the food, barely cold. still on II.
Here the chairs were pushed back, as
though something had called the diners
A bnt half UNIV hatx hpI
cabin and the stairs a napkin lay on the
floor but this was the only suggestion of
hasty departure.
In the forecastle as in the cabin every
thing was in apple pie order The small
boats were in their places on deck. even
to the little dinghy. The cargo was undis-
turbed The captains log, which was
entered I'D to the preceding noon, testi-
fed to a quet uneventful voyage. There
was no sign on deck of struggle. of any
sort
The Thoroughbred cruissd about in the
vicinity in the hope of picking up some
clew to the mystery, but when 1t was evil
dent that nothing was Forthcoming the
second mate was ordered to take the
| Helen of Troy back to San Francisco.
There the vessel was turned over to her
agents With his share Of the salvage
I Harding who. month earlier had been
walking the shore In search for employ
ment, purchased snug little business
| ashore The agents offered him command
of the Helen and he later had cause to
icongratulate himself for refusing, for the
brig was never heard from after starting
on her next cruise.
! The classic among the tales of mys-
ferrous disappearances of the sea is that
of the Marie Celeste. which has been told
so many times that it will bear only the
briefest of recitals. She was 400 ton
brig, and when IN 1872 she set sail from
New York city for Genoa with cargo of
oil there were 10 souls aboard her, in
cluding. Capt. BENJAMIN Briggs wife and
small daughter. On December of the
same year the brig was sighted simul-
| saneousy by German tramp steamer
and the British brigantine Del Gratia
some 300 miles due west of Gibraltar.
Suspecting Something Wrong
| The German passed On her course, but
the British vessel, suspecting something