The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1921-07-01
Mystery of Lost Cyclops
probably Cleared at Last


AFTER the trip was uneventfuI except
Tor an occasional white sail on the
horizon and an incident one night.
at the end of the thirteenth day
we put into Bahia and dropped off
few of our 300 army passengers. We
mad gobs, diplomats and marine OIL
GERS ON board. Then we put to sea
again for Rio.
I'VE arrived at Rio four days later,
ana when we entered the harbor the
u ). ). Pittsburgh, with the adj
mirafs flag flying, ordered us to take
anchorage 1000 yards astern of her.
We lowered away one of our motor
Doats and sent to the Pittsburgh,
among other passengers, Captain Har-
rington of the marine corps, who had
peen assigned to the Pittsburgh for
duty.
Reports to Admiral caperton.
An hour later semaphore message
from the Pittsburgh read: Captain
nays Will repair on board Pittsburgh
Immediately and report to the force
commander
"A boat called alongside and
showed off for the Pittsburgh. Upon
arriving on board her / went to Adj
miral Caperton's cabin and was greet
ed by him very kindly. He asked me
to tell him about the Orion's Journey
southwark and particularly about the
OBJECTS we had sighted off Barbados.
Captain Harrington had told him In
chat about the incidents.
in reciting them to the admiral I
made it clear to him that In both
cases the Orion's captain ordered me
not to stop.
This relieved me of all RESPONSE
bility, and as l left the Pittsburgh
Captain Bosch was ordered on board
the flagship. He came back to the
Orion some time later, apparently up
set as result of his talk with the
admiral, andg he called me into his
stateroom.
Captain 5oesoh ain Trouble"
He told me it looked as though
we were in trouble He said almost
every one on the Orion had seen the
Franklin buoy, but as far as he knew
only the two of US had seen the life
raft. He asked me in a subtle way III
l was sure it was a life-raft. l an
swered that it might have been a phos-
phorous spot In the water.
1.-THE captain called in his yoeman
and dictated a letter to this effect
After careful consideration I have
come to the conclusion that the OBJ
ject reported as a life-raft was not
life-raft but a PHOSPHORUS spot in
the water caused by small seas
Il heard nothing more about the
matter. I thought several times,
though, of Amphitrite, beloved of sail
ors, who dances under a ships prov.
From Rio we went to Monteyideo.
On our way home we stopped at Sam
tos, Brazil, to take ON a cargo of 49,
600 tons of coffee. We were glad 1t
was not manganese. We stopped at
Rio again to pick up travel passengers
for the States.
A Dread Prophecy.
"While in Bahia the paymaster Of
the Orion and l went to the cruiser
Raleigh one evening to have dinner.
During the course of the meal we
were told that as the Raleigh's off,
GERS stood on deck watching the Cy-
clops put to sea on her homeward
journey they bet each other the Cy.
clops would never get back to the
States.
Il have often stood on tho fore
castle of the Orion looking ait and
watched her deck give In calm sea.
The cause of this is that the twin
screw Golfers are so long that when
both engines happen to thrust to-
gether the longitudinal strain is so
great there Is give to the framing
| of the ship. Outlines during that VII
bration have looked up at the bridge
and watched the foremost bend like
carriage whip.
The Raleigh's officers, even from a
distance. had seen the cyclops' deck
give under the strain.
The cyclops' Cargo.
ST went ashore at Bahia to see the
dockmen who had loaded the Cyciops
On the dock where the cargo was
slowed. the foreman, named Martins
explained to me as best he could re
| member just how the loading was
| done.
HE pointed out two cranes sci
about 800 feet apart on the dock and
told me the cranes had lowered the
| cargo into the Cyclops's holds. asked
him If the cranes had been moved
during the course of the loading, and
he said No He also said the Cy.
, clops had NOT shifted either forward
or aft along the dock.
''This implied that one-half the car
! go had been loaded into one or two
forward matches and one-haIf into one
or two after matches.
| with a GOLFERS 12,000-ton cargo
~ a.