St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1918-06-15
The Missing Cyclops

WASHINGTON, June 3.-What be
came of the missing collier Cyclops
Is she a prize in some German port
the victim of treachery? Does she lie
disabled in some unfrequented cove
of the tropical seas, driven there anG
helpless by accident?
Or has she made her last voyage
and with more than 800 souls turned
up in the Port of Missing Men to joir
seventeen other ships of the American
navy which have disappeared just as
mysterously since 1881?
Sailing from Barbados in the West
Indies March 4, with a complement OF
295 men, the great 19,000-ton nayal
collier has not since been sighted OF
reported. BY order of the navy de
partment all available navy craft in
southern waters have been making
dragnet search for the vessel, but
daily the conviction among officials
grows stronger that the great modern
mystery Of the sea will remain un
solved.
But the search for the ship still is
maintained with undated intensity
Cruisers and destroyers have retrac.
ed her route. Every island among
the scores that dot that portion of the
sea is being carefully scrutinized for
any clue. But the unremitting ankle.
ty of the searchers has failed to dis
close any trace of a ship apparently
plucked in a day from the busy lanes
of the South American trade routes.
To account for the disappearance of
the Cyclops there have been suggest
ed many theories-aIl possible, none
entirely plausible.
Was she blown into fragments by a
heavy charge of explosives placed in
her hold before she left port? This
explanation is hardly acceptable be-
caose wreckage would have covered
the sea for many miles around.
Was she torpedoed and sunk
without trace" by a German sub
marine that had crossed the Atlantic
to prey on Comparatively u~nprotect-
ed shipping? That theory is dis
counted, because in such a case, at
least a few S. o. S. calls could have
been sent out before the Cyclops went
under. Moreover, floating wreckage
certainly would have been found.
Was she attacked and captured by
a marauding enemy raider that had
slipped into the Atlantic after eluding
the British fleets? Even if attacked,
it is claimed, the Golfers wireless
would have put her in communication
with other naval vessels or merchant
shipping.
Did enemy agents, carefully plant
ed among the ships personnel, seize
control Of the Cyclops in the night
and dismantle the radio ITO make
wireless communication with the out
side world impossible? This explana-
ton has but little support because it
is claimed that a small enemy force
hardly could be expected to reduce to
prisoners a force Of nearly 800 men,
many Of them naval r~eservists.
Agan, if taken by an enemy force
abroad where is the Cyclops now?
Every bay, every inlet capable of adj
mitting a vessel of her draft, has been
carefully searched. She had not
enough coal in her bunkers to make
the transatlantic trip to some Ger
man 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 of the fast
Allied destroyers or cruisers.
Did the crew succumb to the effects
of a poisonous gas given off her cargo
of manganese? Hardly, it is thought,
because all shipping men used to car
goes of that character take precaution
to eliminate the danger.
Did the big vessel of $4,000 tons dis
placement, constructed with a view