The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1921-07-01
BELIEVE PIRATES AT WORK
Opinion Either Piratical Work OF At
Iantic Coast or Seizure of Craft
for Soviet Russia.

Washington, ID. Care pirates op-
Grating off the Atlantic coast? The
crew of an American ship is missing
and what seems to be conclusive evil
dence has been obtained that they
were made prisoner on another YES
sci and taken away to parts unknown,
if they were not murdered. A second
American vessel is long overdue and
two other American ships are unac
counted for unde1 circumstances rails
ing suspicion Of a similar fate. The
United States government has under
taken TO solve these mysteries of the
sea, which, in the opinion Of officials,
point either to piratical occurrences
off the Atlantic coast or the seizure
Of the vessels Tor the benefit Of soviet
Russia.
The state department has instruct
ed its consular officers to be On the
lookout for the missing vessels or the
members Of the kidnapped crew. The
treasury department through its coast
guard and ~lifesaving service is max
ing a search Of the Atlantic coast
The navy department has sent out
vessels to search. The department of
ommerce through its bureau of nav
igatiOn is assisting in trying to lift
the veil of mystery. The department
Of justice has assigned some Of its
best secret service agents to the case,
for the government Is working on the
theory that all the mysterious Incl
dents are inter-related.
Several months ago the five-masted
schooner Carol Deering, of Portland,
Me-, was found abandoned off Diamond
Shoals, n. c., with all sails set and
her officers and crew Missing. The
Deering went ashore near Diamond
Shoals lightship, and when the men
of the nearby life saving station went
aboard they found evidence indicating
that she had been abandoned in a
hurry for no conceivable reason, for
the vessel was in good shape, with
plenty Of food. In fact, it was appar-
ent that she had been abandoned when
a meal was about to be served.
A little later a hGttle, came ashore
near where the ship was found and it
was a note purporting to have been
written by the mate Of the schooner,
which reads as follows:
IAN o%il-burning. tanker or submarine
has boarded us and placed our crew in
irons. Get word headquarters Of
company at once
Tho contnin onH npnu nf thn nnnr-
ing numbered twelve, and not a trace
Of them has been discovered. The
Deering left Portland last December
for Rio de ~Janeiro, Brazil, with a gen
eral cargo. 1t was or her return vOy-
age with another general cargo that
she went ashore en- Diamond Shoals.
The writing found in the bottle has
been compared with the penmanship
of her missing mate, and handwriting
experts have testified that there is no
question that the mate wrote the mes
sage.
The steel steamer Hewitt. owned by
the Union Sulphur company, of New
York, is also missing. She sailed from
Sabine, Tex, several months ago with
a cargo Of sulphur for Boston and
Portland. The government authorities
have been unable to get any trace Of
her. Not a boat nor a spar from her
has come ashore or been picked up,
and not a body Of any member Of her
crew has been found. She might have
been off Diamond Shoals about the
time that the Deerinp went ashore
and the authorities believe that she is
still afloat intact.
At the department Of commerce the
statement was made that two other
American vessels had disappeared
under circumstances that led the de-
partment to believe that they had not
foundered, and they suspected that the
ships had been the victims Of pirates,
perhaps soviet sympathizers, who had
sailed away with them to ports of
soviet Russia.