Evening star., 1925-06-28

Il Il
| The man at the bridge
| telegraph repeats the order
| ~ as he throws the lever to the
| indicated position. There Is
an answering jingle as the engine
room receives the signal. Then the
little vessel begins to surge steadily
through the choppy waters. holding
to a course parallel with that of a
second vessel more than miles
surface a Itny steel wire forms an in.
visible bond across the intervening
| space, the only hint of it's presence
| being a number of buoys which dot
the surface at regular intervals above
| the wire.
For a while there is no sound but
the muffled beat of the engines. The
| buoys move slowly ahead in a long
arc. Then comes a hail from the men
on watch as one of the buoys veers
| erratically out of line. A signal
| flashes to the second vessel, and the
engines are hurriedly stopped while
| the officers gather over q marked
chart.
THE drag should clear" observes
| the commanding officer. Tho least
depth shown Is 1S fathoms."
Within q few moments boat equip
| ped with sounding apparatus Is low
cred. AS 1t reaches the spot where
the wire has caught. the officer in
charge utters an exclamation. In the
clear depths Of the sea the tip Of a
| mast is plainly visible, its base almost
| lost to sight in a dark hulk below. A
| few yards away another mast rears
| upward. while a third. broken and
| Jagged, is barely perceptible beyond.
| Under the tangled shrouds and rig
ging the hull of the unknown ship
looms obscurcly, its outlines sugges-
| tive Of sailing days long past.
\ s*
! A S the officer gives the order for
4 buoying the masts so that they
can be found and destroyed later, he
finds himself sinking under the spell
| of the mystery he has uncovered.
| What ship can this have been which
| now lies at the bottom of a great sea
lane, it's lofty masts menacing the
| unsuspecting craft which pass close
| by? There is no record of wreck at
| this point, although that Is not sur
prising, for 1t must have occurred so
| long ago that not even the oldest in
| habitants of the nearest shores would
have any knowledge of it. Perhaps
| it is one of that shadowy, legendary
| fleet which has entered the port of
missing ships; one Of those unfortu-
nate vessels which set sail under fair
| skies never to be heard from again.
| early nineteenth century could have
told: possibly the secret is buried far
back in Revolutionary days.
| Whatever tho truth. 1t will never
| be known, for the Government Is too
kbusy to send divers to investigate the
sunken ships which are found by the
| Coast and Geodetic Survey in its fas-
cinating work Of dragging our coastal
waters. The mysterious wreck de-
scribed Is but one of four which were
found in the Atlantic by the survey.
Two lay not far from Boston, another
| in Penobscot Bay and fourth just
off Block Island. There are probably
more in the deeper waters where the
| wire drag was not set to penetrate.
| Locating the lost ships is not the
purpose of the drag, however. except
in the case of those which lie in sea
lanes and thus are dangerous to nav.
igation. Were the drag to be turned
] to this work alone, and its scope suf
ficiently enlarged, perhaps even the
strange disappearance of the U. 8. s.
Cyclops, the greatest puzzle Of the
World War; might be solved. This is
but speculative; the main problem OF
the wire drag parties of the Coast
Survey is to find, mark and chart the
hidden rocks which stand in supposed
ly clear waters.
The necessity for this was brought
sharply to the attention of the survey
in 1903, when the North Atlantic fleet
held it's maneuvers along the coast o.
Maine. During this period the U. S. 5
Massachusetts, struck rock tr
lFrenchmans Bay and before the ma
lneuvers were over several battleshipi
had been severely damaged in the same
way. Most of the rocks struck did moi
show on the charts prepared by the
Coast and Geodetic Survey, although
they were known to fishermen anc
talso appeared on local charts, such al
Those attributed to Capt. Elredge, q
real.life character mentioned in one o.
Joseph C. Lincoln's stories.
| \
WHEN the lack of reliability of the
w survey charts was realized, rem
edy for the situation was quickly
sought Then 1t was that the wir,
drag came into use. The first one wal
Ia rather crude device. but 1t has beer
developed and improved until the ap
'paratus now employed IL most en-