The Washington herald., 1921-06-21
Four Ships Disappear,
One Drifts Crewless ::
On Shoals.
DAY OF BUCCANEER
RAIDERS RECALLED
N Note in Bottle Reveals
Capture of Men on
Carol Deering.

Shades Of Capt Kidd, the Flying
Dutchman. and all the evil omens
Of the deep have descende, upon
Washington with the mysterious
disappeara nee of three ships. with
their crews, and the wreck of an
other vessel. with its crew reported
to have been captured by pirates.
One report is that pirates OF Boil
shevik persuasion planned 20 run
up. at the first opportunity. Red
fiags on their Ships and HE for
Russian port
That portion of the Atlantic sea-
board OF Cape Hatterss takes rank
with the Spanish Main in the tales
of missing ships which have come
to the attention of the Department
OF Commerce and which are now
under investigation by the State
Department and the Department OF
Justice. Pirates. red faEs. stolen
treasure and even the seaRning par
rot figure in the mystery which be-
gins with the tale Of the Carol
DeerinE.
All Crew Gone.
This vessel. a fve-masted schoon-
o
self to pieces of the Diamond Shoals
/ Of North Carolina Her crew had
abandoned the ship. but all her sails
wer set. as though halted abruptly
in the midst of a voyage.
Sometime afterward a bottle was
picked up on a North Carolina beach.
the bottle containing a message
signed by one of the crew and de-
clsring that all hands had been
seized by another vessel.
This information was supple
mented yesterday when Secretary
Hoover announced that the Bureau
of Navigation in his department was
attempting to trace three coasting
vessels which had disappesred from
the face of the sea All OF them,
Hoover said. were lost" in calm
seas and clear weather, within the
past two months.
Crews In Mutiny.
Details are meagre, but IL has
been suggested officially that at
least one Of the crews from the
missing ships mutinied ard turned
pirates. In this event. il is be-
lieved they may have captured the
crew of the Carol Deering, and with
the three vessels in charge set sail
for foreign ports.
One Of the missing boats, the
Hewitt. was a 5,nee-top steamer
sailing from Sabine. Tex. for Bos-
ton. with a cargo Of sulphur and a
crew Of forty-one men. The last
time she wirelessed her position she
was 22s miles southeast Of Cape
Hatteras.
Cotton ship Lost.
Since the Hewitt's disappsarance
another vessel, out of New Orleans
with cotton cargo for a New Eng
land port was heard from last OF
cape HatteraS. This was a month
ago. No word has been received
from her since.
The third mystery is that Of a
frelghter which cleared from Nor
) folk with a wheat cargo. She was
heard from last of the Virginia
capes.
The Commerce Department solIc-
ited the aid of the Justice Depart
ment's operatives to trace the orr
gin of the missing crew. In the
; case of the sailor who had signed
, the bottled message, his signature
was verified. The State Department
became interested when Senator
Hale, Of Maine. transmitted an ap-
peal fro mthe daughter OF II. X
Hanson, skipper Of the Carol Deer
! ing. that search be made for her
father. merican consuls in every
corner of the globe have been in
structed tn watch for the missing
vessels and their crews.
No Trace Found.
Officials OF all departments have
had difficulty in obtaining accurate
information. Thus far no trace has
been found OF the missing boats or
men, nor has there been any success
in finding a clue to the pirates
A parrot. chattering the language
OF the sailor. was the only sign OF
life aboard he Carol Deering.
1n uEInTEn nnHnT