Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1922-10-25
Ills TuRY'S.
MYSTERIES.
SHIP THAT NEVER CAME BACK
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ME sea has its full quota o. mys-
- teries-ranging all the way from
the depredati6ns Of Captain Kidd,
through the strange affair Of the
Marie Celeste, and up to the disap-
pearance Of the collier Cyclops during
the World war-but none Of these
contain elements any more remark
able than the vanishing of the Pres
ident, one Of the first Of the steam
levlathans to cross the ocean.
Eighty years ago, Englishmen and
Americans alike, were rejoicing In the
fact that steamers had succeeded In
regularly crossing the Atlantic, that
a voyage could be made In as short
time as two weeks and that the fist
OF the Cunarders, the side wheeler
Britannia, had come safely into the
harbor at Boston after the quickest
passage on record. Steam, II was
freely predicted. had conquered the
sea, and men who had gone to Lon
don, spent nearly a week In England
and returned within 80 days, were
regarded as wonderful examples Of
the new-found marvels Of trans
Atlantic travel.
One Of the vessels which had been
launched only short time before,
and which the English-speaking world
hailed as the latest word In luxurious
oceanic comfort, was the President.
Two hundred and sixty-eight feet in
length, "a feet wide, and with dis
placement Of 1880 TONS this liner
WAS not as large as many of the ships
which ply the inland waterways to-
day-but she was the marvel Of the
hour In 1910, and when she sailed
from New York on her Inflated voy-
age In March, 1871, every craft in the
harbor paid tribute to her size and
her superior ability.
In April, however, reports began to
alter In from Liverpool that the Pres
1dent was overdue, and throughout
the spring and far into the summer
there was an agony Of suspense In
England as well as in the Uni,ed
States--particularly as the passenger
list Of the missing ship contained the
names Of many prominent in public
life, including Tyrone Power, hailed
az the prince Of American comedians,
and George Glugston Goodman. whose
eloQuence was claimed to be superior
to that of Henry Clay or Daniel Web
ster. The latter carried with him the
first dispatch which Webster, as sec
rotary Of state, had written to Eng
land, and the superstitious Of both
sides Of the Atlantic claimed to see
strange omen In the coincidence that
the first President of the United
States to die in the White House
William Henry Harrson-had passed
away at the time when the ship
which bore the name of his office be-
gan to be missed
The fate of Power and Goodman
as well as that Of the duke Of Devon
shire, and hundred other passen-
gers, has never been settled. The only
ray Of light that was shed upon the
mystery was that Portuguese brig
had reported sighting a large steamer
moving slowly under sail, but as the
steamer did not hail the brig nor dis
play any signal to indicate that she
was In distress, no assistance was Of.
fered. AS a memorial. stone bear
Ing the name Of Capt. Richard Rob-
erts commanding the President ap-
pears in little churchyard near
Queenstown, concentrating the first
officer under whose command a steam
vessel ever crossed the Atlantic
ocean" SO far as Great Britain Is
concerned, this honor belongs prop
eriy to Captain Roberts, but ahead Of
him by 10 years, was an American,
Capt. Moses Rogers of the Savannah
: Whether the President foundered In
some violent gale-a theory which
hardly appears to be tenable. as no
other vessel reported trouble at this
time--was crushed and sunk by an
Iceberg in the same manner that the
Titanic came to her fate some seventy
years later, or was utterly destroyed
by fire--no man to this day has been
able to tell for not even splinter
or wreckage, or lifeboat was ever
found.
The President sailed from New
York.
She failed to arrive In Liverpool.
That Is all that Is known