The Washington herald., 1921-08-21

worn about thirty tathoms from the end "fhcn was
aboard ship making about fathoms of fair line left
Nothing was said about the weather which made
the strain so heavy that big rope broke, In most
less hardy sailors would be thinking not about
losing few fathoms OF rope, but about getting away
from that particular place onto dry land. However
this is the Coast Guard
Read the brief statement from the cutter Seneca
which was doing ice patrol, warning big passenger
steamers, many times her Size OF dangerous bergS IN
the line OF their course. 1t goes like this:
On Thursday May 6, at $500 p. m, received
message from the S. S. Brunswyk stating that wreck
was seen at 41-so $3.50 w. After making allowance
for drift set for it and sighted it at aIo p M
about one-haf mile starboard bow IN Lat +7o3
NJ Long, $3.50 w. boat was lowered and gun
cotton wrecking mine with necessary equipment was
sent out.
moderate sea running and the weather was
soually Only a spar visible, which appeared 10
he the lower mast OF a tar sized schooner and was
held submerged by some attached wreckage so that
the waves completely covered the spar at times
line was thrown the spar and then the
mine was lowered close to the SPAR being heio III
proper position by a grommet After lowering ABOUT
twenty-five feet It fetched against some submerged
object The mine was then exploded and the spar
was broken into small parts and the wreck
age sunk
This wrecxage was in the transatlantic steamer
lane and was a serious menace. The pulling boat
returned to the ship at 3aS p. m, and the Vessei
resumed her regular duties in connection with the
international ice patrol.
Blowing up ship at sea does such
formidable task the landsman, but to person
familiar with work it means a deal Of hard and
dangerous work Many miles have to be cruised in
all sorts of weather and much ingenuity and seaman
ship exercised to locate the derelct Then may follow
day after day of aborous towing, at speeds rarely
exceeding two knots an hour. Blowing the vessel up
or rather down, into the sea, means handling high
explosive Mines in small open boats, often in freezing
rough weather. The mines must be attached to pro-
ecting spars which is oftentimes Of over
turning a small boat by the thrashing around in the
sea of loose rigging and spars underwater which be-
come dsodged when the higher spars are touched or
pulled.
Eighteen days is about long search as the
records of the service reveal That is as long the
coal supply will hold out. With the oil burning
cutters it will be possible to make longer searches,
And sometimes it is necessary for derelcts have the
unhappy habit Of going where they wish or rather
where the "old of the sea" wishes them to-
Popular tales tell that all derects eventually drift
down into the Sargossa Sea which is east of the
Bahamas. There they float round and round never
getting far from the center of that section OF water.
Finally they sucked down to the ocean bed. =
Rumors as to Sargossa.
DUT that is only rumor A derelict which got
ID into the Gulf stream might be carried clear
from the coast of Georgia the western coast
of Europe at the of from four to six miles An
hour in the warm current. And it would menace
every ship which was going coming in that cur
rent Consequently the Coast Guard goes at it as
soon word is received of wreck for they are
very we'll aware of the power of the and it is
always better to be safe than sorry"
A wind of twenty-five knots hour will cause
a derelict with small amount Of exposed surface to
drift about per hour Currents and tides add
their forces to change the location of the wreck.
Eastward, off Cape Henry Virginia Beach, cur
in the Atlantic (of many miles from the
shore) shows a speed Of three knots hour. In
four five days that current would carry vessel
900 400 miles from the place where it first