New Britain herald., 1923-01-24
STORMS TAKE HEAVY
TOLL ON ATLANTIC
Many Ships Have Been Stranded
and Runs Have Been Delayed

New York. Jan, 20 iBy Associated
fFessl,-The hurricanes. whole gales.
half gales and storms which have
been sweeping the Atlantic for nearly
two months, have spent their force,
the weather bureau reports, but IN
their wake they have left stranded
and sunken shins, nnsoived ana mysr
FERROUS tragedies of the sea, and a.
series of delayed runs" for trans
atlantic liners which has not been
eqnalled since war days,
Worst Month OF Year,
Now comes the worst month Of the
year, January hrings more vicious
pounding gales 10 Atlantic ships than
any other. hut the weather bureau
Joins with maritime experts. this year.
In the belief that II cannot possibly
equal the late November TO January
] record.
That seven week period which
came 10 its end January left a rec
ord hard for any like period TO ap.
proaeh. The Atlantic claimed IL
ships; II took rs men 10 their deaths:
Il made Is giant liners more than ~
hours late--most Of them were from
to 3 days behind schedule-and II
left the unsolvable mystery OF what
happened to eight other ships.
In addition there were accidents or
near accidents on the Sea OF Mar
mora. the Pacific, the Great Lakes.
the Baltic sea-but the hurricanes
which crossed tho Atlantic we're the
worst.
Schooners Fail "a Report.
Secretary Hughes brought the first
great hurricane with him when he
returned from South America In Mo-
vember. II swept out from behind
Bermuda with force OF more than
100 miles an hour It tore across the
Atlantic. hit the French coast and
tore right back again. And on No
vember % there began to be reports |
OF trouble at sea.
Five Canadian fishing schooners
failed to report that day. Anxiety |
is felt for them" said the dispatches.
Later four got in; the fifth Is In the
list of missing ships.
On the same day a bootlegger went |
to pieces on Long Island. and resi-
dents of the vicinity got most OF the |
cargo, according to the prohibition
agents. Towards night bottle was
washed up on Long Island with the
story of six men WHO had fought
death two weeks In an open boat.
Two days later the Italian liner
Presidente Wilson crept into quaran-
tine here, and with her came the first
reports of what actually was hap
pening out on the Atlantic.
49, cnf1 nEfirnFQ |
storms? We have never experienced
anything like it. The gale at times
was 100 miles an hour"
For seven weeks since then incom-
ing liners have told the same story.
So often has 1t been retold that 1t had /
to be "a, particularly desperate fight to
get Unto the news.
Scars Of Fight
But from then until January Z
hardly a ship entered New York har.
Dor that did not show the scars of
its fight. And daily there were re-
portssof s O S received of founder
ing ships, OF boats driven on unpro-
tected shores, Of liners with passen-
gers battened in to keep them safe
from waves which crashed over smoke
stacks-in short, of everything terri
BILE the sea can do.
On December "a the liner Presi-
dent Garfield brought in a three mas
ter she had towed from off Nantucket
The Rose Ferlita, the schooner, was
in a bad way and her crew was starv-
ing. Two days later the Menominee,
another liner, came in three days late
with a fishing crew Of four. Those
men had fired their schooner, which
was leaking and crumbling under
them.
Many Are Late.
Such great ocean travellers as the
Caronia, the Berengaria, the Olympic,
the Majestic, the iceland, Samland
and many others, came in, all days
late. They told of terrific battles
with the waves. La Savoie of the
French line reported 100 mile gales
and 80 foot waves
Ships put into Halifax to get out
of trouble. On December rs small
boats crashed to the beaches near
New York harbor. They were all ILL
fated bootleggers.
The Heinrich Kayser, freighter,
joined the mystery ships on Decem-
Der 8. a wireless from her SAID her
rudder chains were broken. She was
drifting. There was a full gale. With
a crew OF ~ aboard she is still miss
ing. Her owners at last are ready to
admit her a probable loss.
The Valencia, freighter came in
January with story of two dead
and 10 hurt because cable drum
was torn loose by huge wave and
sent crashing among the crew.
The weather bureau says it cannot
the average force of the
gales for those seven terrific weeks.
We'll, IS miles is not too low"
says the bureau" 1t is probably
nearer IS. But be conservative, for
IS mile gales blowing almost con-
stantly for seven weeks is pretty
close to a record for the Atlantic"