The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-06-04

of the missing Collier Cyclops?
Is she a prize in some German port
the victim of treachery? Does she
cove of the tropical seas driven there
and helpless by accident?
Or has she made her last voyage
and with more than 800 souls turned
up in Port of Missing Men to join
seventeen other ships of the Ameri-
can Navy which have disappeared
just as mysteriously since 1881?
Sailing from Barbados in the West
Indies, March 4, with a complement
naval collier has not since been sight
ed or reported. By order of the
Navy Department all available navy
craft in southern waters have been
making a dragnet search for the
vessel, but daily the conviction among
officials grows stronger that the great
modern mystery of the sea will re-
main unsolved.
But the search for the ship still is
maintained with undated intensity.
Cruisers and destroyers have retraced
her route. Every island among the
scores that dot that portion of the
sea is being carefully scrutinized for
any trace of a ship apparently p1ucked
in a day from the busy lanes of the
South American trade routes.
To account for the disappearance
of the Cyclops there have been sug-
gested many theories-all possible
none entirely plausible.
Was she blown into fragments by
heavy charge of explosives placed in
her hold before she left port? This
explanation is hardly acceptable be-
cause wreckage would have covered
the sea for many miles around.
Was she torpedoed and sunk with
out a trace" by German submarine
that had crossed the Atlantic to prey
on comparatively unprotected ship
ping? That theory is discounted, be-
cause in such a. case, at least, a few
S. o. S. calls could have been sent out
before the Cyclops went under. More
over, floating wreckage certainly
would have been found.
Was she attacked and captured by
a marauding enemy raider that had
slipped into the Atlantic after eludins
the British fleets? Even if attacked,
it is claimed thee oilers wireless
would have put her in communication
with other naval vessels or merchant
shipping.
Did enemy agents, carefully
planted" among the ships personnel,
seize control of the Cyclops in the
night and dismant1e the radio to make
wireless communication with the out
side world impossible? This explain
alton has had but little support be-
cause it is claimed that a small enemy
force hardly could be expected to reg
duce to prisoners a force of nearly
800 men, many of them naval reserv-
lists.
Again, if taken by an enemy force
abroad where is the Cyclops now
Every bay every inlet capable of ad-
hitting a vessel of her draft, has
been carefully searched. She had
not enough coal in her bunkers to
make the transatlantic trip to some
German port. Moreover, one engine
was out of commission, cutting down
her speed to ten knots an hour. Even
if additional coal had been procured,
she hardly could have slipped past
the British patrols into some German
port. Her limping gait would have
made her an easy victim for the fast
Allied destroyers or cruisers.
Did the crew succumb to the eff
fects of a poisonous gas given off her
cargo of Manganese? Hardly, it is
thought, because all shipping men
used to cargoes of that character take
precaution to eliminate the danger.
Did the big vessel of $4,000 tons
displacement, constructed with a view
to withstanding the heaviest weather
founder in a severe tropical storm
This theory sounds unreasonable 20
many who believed the ship capabt e
of riding safely out of any storm she
might encounter, yet in view of all
the known circumstances the explain
alton is accepted by most naval Off
Gals as the most probable account
for the disappearance.
The Cyclops although of deep draft
and broad beam carried a remarka-
bly, high and heavy superstructure.
over her hull, and there was other
heavy framework placed above decks
to give her medium Of efficiency in
loading or discharging coal.
In case of a heavy list to port or
starboard, perhaps to the extent of As
degrees, the Cyclops, burdened with
her heavy derricks was perhaps I'M
able to swing back into equilibrium,