New Britain herald., 1926-04-09

was published, and many relatives oi tho lost crew probably believel 1t until the navy was forced to inform them other" wise.
 Another of these cruel false clues came in the form of telegram to the mother of young South Carolina fireman, who was a member of the Cyclops' crew. Inc message. dated New York, said that her son was safe in this country again ana that the missing vessel was being held in a German port. Naturally, the navy investigated the telegram, although it was palpably hoax.
 But time has proved the absurdity ot connecting the Germans with the fate of the Cyclops. We know now that there were no enemy submarines 80 far oyer m this side of the Atlantic and. besides, the Germans have failed to r,aim credit for the lost vessel. As they have been extremely candid In telling us what happened to large number of other ships which they destroyed in ways that would never have been understood had they not chosen to explain them, the navy has long since exonerated them from any blame for the Cyclops.
 In fact, it is very doubtful if the navy ever had any faith in the U-boat theory. It. is much more probable that even as carlv as a few weeks after the disaster thev strongly suspected that the Cy- clons had come into conflict merely with natural laws and had gone down like a shot.
 A BRIEF investigation conducted by n Lieutenant James M. Hays, who was navigating officer of the navy col Her Cyclops until few days before she sailed, when, by stroke of good for tune, he was transferred to her sister ship, the Orion, convinced him that the Cyclops was what he called "an engi- neering disaster" The ship was loaded, he pointed out, with nearly 15,000 tons of manganese ore. There were only two stationary cranes to load the ore with, and they were 300 feet apart. So 7b00 tons of the ore were loaded forward in the collier and the other 7500 tons aft
 There is no mystery in my mind as to the fate of the Cyclops and her crew." Lieutenant Hays declared, "I believe that perhaps on a calm and sunny day, when the sailors off watch were dozing, or perhaps at midnight, when all were asleep except the men on watch, the great ship, without warning, parted amidships, splitting her aerials (shs sent no wireless call) and sank from sight"
 "I have often stood on the forecastls of the Orion," explained the lieutenant, Hooking aft, and watched her deck give in calm sea, The cause of this is that the twin-screw colliers 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. Ofttimes during that vibration I have looked up at the bridge and watched the foremast bend like a car. riage whip.
 Tt was this very thing that aston. ished the seamen in Rio. Even from a distance, they could see the Cyclops' deck give under the strain"
 Very little attention, apparently, was paid to Lieutenant Hays report at the time it was made. There was still too much interest in the submarine theory. the dreadful possibility that German U-boats might be cruising somewhere about the West Indies. But now it will probably be taken out of the department files and reread carefully. For, in the light of what recently happened to the Orion, the young officer appears to have been something of prophet.
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