The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1918-06-20
The CYCLOPS MYSTERY
COLLIER MAY BE IN PORT OF
MISSING MEN.
Many Theories Suggested to Account
for the Disappearance
of the Cyclops.

port, the victim of treachery? Does
she lie disabled in some unfrequent-
ed cove of the tropical seas, driven
there and helpless by accident?
Or has she made her last voyage
and with more than 800 souls turn
up in the Port of Missing Men to
join seventeen other ships Of the
American Navy which have disap-
peared just as mysteriously since
1881?
Sailing from Barbados in the West
Indies March 4 with a complement of
295 men the great 19,000-ton naval
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 a
dragnet search for the vessel, but
daily the conviction among officials
grows stronger that the great mod
ern mystery of the sea will remain
unsolved.
But the search for the ship still is
maintained with undated intensity.
Cruisers and destroyers have re-
traced her route. Every. island
among the scores that dot that por-
tion 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 a day
from the busy lanes of the South
American trade routes.
Many Theories.
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
a heavy charge of explosives placed
in her hold before she left port?
This explanation is hardly acceptable
because wreckage would have COW
cred the sea for many miles around.
Was she torpedoed and sunk
without a trace by a German sub
marine that had crossed the Atlantic
to prey on comparatively unprotected
shipping? That theory is discounted
because in such a case at least 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 elud-
ing the British fleet? Even if at
tackled, it is claimed, the Golfers
wireless would have put her in COM
munication with other naval vessels
or merchant shipping.
Enemy Agents?
Did enemy agents, carefully
planted" among the ships person
mel, seize control of the Cyclops in
the night and dismantle the radio to
make wireless communication with
the outside world impossible? This
explanation has but little support
because it is claimed that small
enemy force hardly could be expect
ed to reduce to prisoners force of
nearly 800 men, many of them naval
reservists.
Again, if taken by an enemy force
abroad where is the Cyclops now?
Every bay, every inlet capable of ad-
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
German port. Moreover, one en-
CINE was out of commission, cutting
down her speed to ten knots an hour.
Even if additional coal had been
procured she hardly could have slip
ped past the British patrols into
some German port. Her imping
gait would have made her an easy
victim for the fast Allied destroyers
or cruisers.
Did the crew succumb to the effects
of a poisonous gas given off by her
cargo of manganese? Hardly, it is
thought because all shipping men
used to cargoes of that character
take precaution to eliminate the dan
ger.
Perhaps Foundered.
Did the big vessel of $4,000 tons
displacement, constructed with a
view of withstanding the heaviest
weather, founder in severe tropi-
cal storm. This theory sounds un-
reasonable to many who believe the
ship capable of riding safely out or
any storm she might encounter, yet
in view of all the known clrcum-
stances the explanation is accepted
nv most naval officials as the most