Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-02-12
OCEAN ship TRAPS
Deadly Shares Laid For Its Prey
by the Glutton Sea.

"'paTy Jones' locker," mat pernon
spot mention of which so often comes
from the lips Of sailors, is not shown
on any ocean chart principally be-
cause 1t is not really a settled place,
but II any ocean death trap deserved
the title It Is the Thames estuary.
The British naval authorities have a
chart upon which il marked the posi-
ton OF wrecks, shown by black dots,
On this chart the Thames mouth tract
Is a SOLID black spot. So numerous
have been the wrecks the dots run
together. The point where the black
dots actually pile the one on the top
OF another is the Kentish Knock, and
this is the place among all Of the
ocean danger spots that deserves the
title of Davy Jones locker.
At the Kentish Knock it Is not keel
shattering rocks nor piercing points OF
coral that wreck the ocean travellers,
1t is sand-treacherous. clinging sand
that grasps the doomed ship with a
grip Of steel and holds it firmly while
the angry sea beats 1t to fragments.
Many q vessel posted at Lloyd'S as
missing would be duly accounted for
/ Il the Knock sand would give up its
/ prey. There Is no hope for ship or
man when Neptune asks toll at the
/ Kentish Knock. for the nearest land
/ IS twenty miles away and the nearest
/ llfaboat at Margate. thirty miles dis
/ liant.
/ The sands Of the ocean are far more
/ dangerous than rocks. The sand
/ banks extend over more space and
therefore offer more points of contact
than the rocks. which usually rise In
/ slender pinnaeles. The waters fiow
| over the sands in smooth waves. and
there are no warning breakers.
Next to the Thames mouth tract IN
point Of danger is the Hooghly. the
salt water river on which Calcutta
stands The most trying part Of
large vessels voyage from New York
to Calcutta is the last few miles Of
this calm river. In this strange stream,
In MINDLESS weather and fiat calm
water, vessels have been lost--dashed
to pieces on the dreaded ever shifting
sand banks by the force OF the tides.
The sands grasp the keel Of the
marked vessel and she stops. But the
tide moves on with relentless force.
md the helpless ship is carried over
On her beam ends. She careens over
and founders with all on board. One
NJ the worst shoals In the Hooghly
bears the name of James and Mary.
This was the name Of a great Indian
merchant ship wrecked on the sunken
sand banks.
, Another danger point dreaded by the
. master mariner has neither sand nor
rocks, but n great submarine water
, fall In the English channel there is
point just beyond the Shambles bank
where there is a sudden drop in the
sea bottom. The channel tides sweep
o. over the banks and down this sudden
drop, creating rapids equal in fury to
, those of NIAGARA. The American ship
. Georgian foundered In Portland race,
a the name by which this danger point
= Is known, and all hands went down
3 with her
! Ships bound to New York from Eu-
e rope pass near a deadly hidden shoal
> which runs out from Sable island, iy-
t Ing or Cape Sable. in Nova Scotia.
"A The snoaI runs out for miles In five
i directions, like the fingers of great
I hand reaching out for what IT can
: destroy.
When the gales blow heavy seas
boom upon the shoals with sufficient
force to shatter the stanchest vessel
pfoat. and when the wind ceases the
beaches are strewn with the bodies OF
- those who have persisted The distance
from the shore is too great and the
surf too heavy for the life savers to
> reach a struggling Tessel, and few
y lives are saved at this point. Ten yes
d Fels have been wrecked in this trap In
II b single week
y The rocky danger points in the ocean
II have nearly all been classified, and
,s lighthouses have been erected on The
E. most dangerous-except one. There is
~ no lighthouse on the Virgin rock, and
to there never viii be.
r Out In the mid-Atlantic this giant
Q. pinnacle rears its head up from the
ocean floor and vainly seeks 10 reach
49, the surface Of the sea. 1t ia short
BIZ about eighteen feet. There II
e stands, with its sharp point hidden by
- the ocean waves. waiting to pierce the
ID bottom of some unsuspechng vessel
To- ard send It down to Join the pile OF
&c shius' ribs and dead mems bones that
:; litter the foor around its base.
It The waves seem to be I'm league with
le the rock, for if a vessel Of light draft
- krles to pass over its head the waves
d drop # down into trough at the bot.
= .orn Of which the point Of the rock Is
e. waiting to rip out It's keel.--HarDer'
weekly.
D ! |