Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1921-06-22

A. Deering seized the vessels and
carried them off to Russia"
The Press supplements, by an in
terview with Rev. Addison T. Lori
mer. who has assisted in unraveling
the case Of the Schooner Deering,
Capt. WormeH. found Jan. 81 On Dia-
mond Shoals, Cape Hattcras with all
sails set and no clew to crew Or car
go. He says:
AT about the time when the Deer
ing disappeared. by what seemed at
the time to be a coincidence, but
which now appears To have been part
Of deliberate plan, the Steamer
Hewitt. owned by the Union sulphur
Co. of New York. which was en- route
from Texas to Boston. disappeared
This ship was never found, nor has
there been any trace of her crew, but
oddly enough no wreckage was ever
picked up to substantial the belief
that she went to the bottom.
Find Bottle
1.-The next development which re-
lated to the disappearance of the Deer
ing. and which, as | have said, now
seems to have bearing on the van
fishing of the Hewitt, also was the
finding on April 26 at Blackstone. n.
c., which is near Cape Hatteras. of a
queerly shaped bottle containing
scrap of paper with message upon
it. The bottle was picked up by
man named Christopher Gray. 1t was
large enough. had it been filled with
liquid to hold about pint, was fiat
on two sides, and had third convex
side, and although of rather squat APP
pearance had an exceedingly small
by eight inches was found within.
This was ruled in pink, and bore a
message which seemed to have been
written with a fountain pen. the text
of ;cl, nlyn 1tchn in ha RI
land papers at the time.
Through the dispatch to the papers
Mrs. Wormell learned of the existence
of the message and she was deter
mined to leave no stone unturned no
clue unraveled, which could possibly
lead to a knowledge of her husbands
whereabouts. She sent to Christopher
Gray for the bottle, and it was for
1.-THE message on the piece of paper
within was not at first entirely
legible. Experts were secured. how
ever, and they finally interpreted it to
by oil-burning boat. Took off every
thing. Handwriting crew. Cannot pos
sibly escape. Finder please notify
Here the message trailed off into illeg-
ibility' but the %Srd which follower
spelled 'hdqts was finally translated
to mean headquarters of Deering.
while word which followed the
appeared to be chase, and gave rise
to the theory that the torpedo boat
chaser type of craft was meant.
LAS soon as Mrs. Wormell had Sc
cured this piece of paper she carried
Investigations step farther and had
it examined by experts. 1t developed
to be type of paper manufactured in
Norway and exported in large quanti-
ties to Central and South America.
THE next step in the inquiry car
red us to when and where the crew
of the Deering shipped as we wished
to determine If possible the author of
the letter found in the bottle. 1t de-
veloped that most of the crew shipped
schooner proceeded from there to Nor
folk. At Norfolk, Capt. Merritt, who
was in command. was taken sick and
a wire was sent for Capt. Wormell
who had retired from active sea SER
vice. 10 take command of her. Capt
Wormell proceeded to Norfolk, took
charge of the Deering there. and the
schooner went on to South America
was abandoned she was coming back
to her home port cargoless. She had
touched at Barbados.
After discovering. that the Deering
shipped her crew at Lewes we went
to Lewss and got the shipping pa
pers. Then we compared the hand
writing on those papers with the man.
uscript found in the bottle to deter
filhC whtSh itbIS lHdl HiOSt re-
sembled. We found that it was most
like that of Henry Bates, engineer
Of the schooner, who belongs in Isles
borc, this State, and was a close friend
of Capt. Wormell. We secured from
Bates mother in Islesboro letter
which ne had written her. and three
handwriting experts compared that
with the writing on the slip of paper
taken from the bottle.
Bates Handwriting
They unanimously agreed that
that slip of paper bore Bates hand
writing, which seemed to confirm our
heller that the nofa fnnnd IN Tho 49,