The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-10-22
FOUND 70 SKELETONS
ON ABANDONED SHIP
CAPTAIN OF BRITISH VESSEL RE-
PORTS WEIRD DISCOVERY IN
MAGELLAN STRAIT.
MISSING FOR q YEARS
ILL FATED SAILING SHIP MARL-
BOROUGH SAID TO HAVE BEEN
SIGHTED IN A ROCKY

A weird story of the sea has been
briefly cabled from New Zealand to
London. 1t Is the story of the find-
ing of the sailing ship Marlborough
with twenty skeletons on board.
The Marlborough. a Glasgow owned
bark, belonging to Messrs Leslie e.
Co. sailed from Lyttelton, New Zea-
land, with several passengers and a
crew of thirty-three under the COM
mand Of Captain 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 was ever
heard.
In April of that year she was post
ed as missing. and later on was Civ
en- 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
twenty of her crew In one of the
rocky coves near Punta Arenas
(Sandy Point) in the Magellan Strait.
The Captains Story.
The captain is quoted as telling the
story In the following words:
I'VE 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 a point into deep
cleft cove Before us a mile or more
across the water stood sailing yes
sci with the barest shreds of canvas
fiuttering In the breeze
1--WE signalled and hove to. No an
swer came. We searched the 'stran-
ger with our glasses. Not soul
could we see, not movement or 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 mem
I Der OF the crew boarded her. The
sight that met their gaze was thrill
ling.
"Below the wheel lay the skeleton
of a man Treading warily on the
rotten deck, which cracked anc
broke IN places as they walked. they
encountered three skeletons in tbs
hatChway.
/ IN the messroom were the re
/ mains of ten bodies. and six were
found one alone. possibly that OF th'
captain. on the bridge.
There was an uncanny stiffness
around and a dank smell OF moult
which made the flesh creep A few
remnants of books were discovered
in the captains cabin and rust.
cutlass.
Nothing more weird In the histo
nv OF the sea can ever have beer
seen. The first mate examined th'
still faint letters on the bows ant
after much trouble read. Marlbor
ough. Glasgow
Hundreds of Ships Pass There.
Punta Arenas Is a pretty larg'
town as South American towns go.
has a population of several thousand
and. of course. the Magellan Stral
is a great highway traversed b,
hundreds of ships yearly, which TAX
this way to avoid doubling the Horl
with it's furious gales.
The whole of the Magellan Strait
from Cape yirgus to Cape Pillar, i
, familiar to thousands of seamen ant
indented and rockbound though 1t
1t seems incredible that ship coul'
lie concealed for nearly quarter o
century in that part near" plac
like Punta Arenas.
Had the discovery been mad
among the desolate and multitudinou
isles of the Cockburn channel o
= down about Cook bay or False Cap
I Horn--perhaps the widest coasts i
the world--it would have been NOR
credible Indeed. shortly after tn
: ship was lost there was report tina
the crew of a passing ship saw sea
: men signalling from an island dow
that way which is 800 or 400 mile
from Punta Arenas.