The Cordele dispatch. (Cordele, Ga.) 19??-1971, 1918-06-18
THE MISSING cYCLoPS

disable in some unlrequented cove
of the tropical seas driven there and
helpless by accident?
Or has she made her last voyage
and with more than 300 souls turned
M in Port Of Missing Men to join
seventeen other ships of the American
Navy which have disappeared just as
mysteriously since 1881?
Sailing from Barbados in the West
Indies March 4 with a complement Of
295 men, the great 10000 ton naval
ROLLER has not since been sighted or
reported. BY order Of the Navy De-
partment all available navy craft in
southern waters have been making
dragnet for the vessel, but daily the
conviction among officials grows
stronger that the great modern mys-
terry of the sea will remain unsoved
But the search for the snip still IS
maintained with unabated intensity
Cruisers and destrQyers have retrac-
or her route. Eevey island among the
scores that dot that portion of the sea
is being carefully scrutinized for any
clue. But the unremitting anxiety Of
the searchers has failed to disclose
any trace of a ship apparently plucked
in day from the busy lanes of the
South American trade routes
TO account for the disappearance Of
the Cyclops there have been suggested
many theories-all possible, none en-
lirely 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
cause wreckaeg would have covered
The sea for many miles around.
Was she torpedoed and sunk with
out trace" by German submarine
that had crossed the Atlantic to prey
on Comparatively unprotected shipping?
That theory is discounted, because i'll
such a case, at least a few S. O. S.
calls could have been sent out before
the Cyclops went under. Moreover
Floating wreckago certainly would
lave been found.
Was she attacked and captured by
marauding enemy raider that had
slipped into the Atlantic after elud-
.ng the British fleets? Even if attack
ed, ii is claimed, the Golfers wire
less would have put her in eomunica-
zion with other naval vessels or mer
chant shipping
Did enemy agents, carefully plant
ed" among the ships personnel, soigo
control of the Cyclops in the night and
dismantIe The radio TO make wireless
communication with the outside world
impossible? This explanation has hut
little support because it is claimed
that small enemy force hardly could
be expected to reduce to prisoners
force of nearly 300 men, many of them
naval resewists.
Again, if taken by an enemy force
aboard whore is the Cyclops now?
Every bay, every inlet capable of az
hitting il 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 il
additional coal had been procured,
she hardly could have shipped past tho
British patrols into some German port
Her limping gait would have made her
an easy victim for the fast Allied des-
trOyers or cruisers.
Did the crew succumb to the effects
of a poisonous gas given off by her
cargo of manganese? Hardly, il is
thought because all shipping men
used to cargoes of that character take
precaution to eliminate the danger.
Did the big vessel of 10000 tons dis,
placement, constructed with a view
to withstanding the heaviest weather.
founder in a severe tropical storm.
This theory sounds unreasonable to
many who believed the ship capable