MYSTERIES OF THE SEA

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4809, 12 July 1939, Page 7

MYSTERIES OF THE SEA

FATE OF ANGLO AUSTRALIAN. MANY THEORIES ADVANCED. DISAPPEARANCE OF SHIPS. Once again a group of those who depend on the sea for their livelihood have set out and with their ship, a 5500-ton steamer, have disappeared from the world of men and the face of the ocean—completely and unaccountably, writes Tom White from San Francisco to the New York Times. This much is certain; disaster must have come in a flash, even before Sparks could pound out a wireless call for help. No trace of the vessel has ever been found —not even a ringbuoy. It was early in March, 1938, when the British steamer Anglo-Australian cleared from Cardiff, Wales, bound for Vancouver, 8.C., by way of the Panama Canal. On March 14 she was reported off the Azores, presumably all well; after that the tenuous thread that bound her to the workaday world simply snapped and she was no more. In the words of Sir John Latta, chairman of the board of Lawther and Latta, owners of the missing ship, "It seems the vessel vanished right into thin air We are terribly perplexed absolutely baffled,"

And now that the Angol-Austra-lian's name has been struck off the register of shipping, now that the bell from the old bullion frigate Lutine has sounded on the floor of Lloyd's to mark the passing of the steamer, the findings of a court of inquiry are that "she must have broken in two from deck to" keel and sank in mid-Atlantic" This theory arises from the report that most of the freighters' dead-weight was concentrated amidships. But the British Board of Trade is particular about such matters, and so is the skipper. Now, as always, the element of weather is still unpredictable, not so much as to the approach of a "blow," but as to how hard it will strike and for how long, and what devilish quirks it will take. However, the weather presumably had nothing at all to do with the disappearance of the little ' British freighter, as the steamer Northleigh, also out of Cardiff, and likewise Panama bound, trailed closely in the wake of the Anglo-Australian and reported calm weather for the entire crossing.

When a vessel goes missing and the news becomes generally known, all kinds of theories are advanced, and in this respect the British freighter's disappearance brought forth an avalanche of guesses. They ranged from the ship having run afoul of one of those seagoing whirling dervishes known as waterspouts, through the possibility of capture by one of the warring Spanish factions, down to impaling herself on an uncharted submarine mountain peak.

Disappearance of the Kobenhavm Ten years ago the sea developed anr other msyterious disappearance, that of the Danish ship Kobenhavn, one that called for the chartering of a special rescue steamer. Carrying seventy boys who hoped to qualify as officers in the Danish merchant marine, she stopped at Buenos Aires, en. route. to Melbourne, on a world cruise. The vessel cleared Buenos Aires on December 12, 1928, and never was seen again, nor was she heard from again, except for a routine "all's well," flashed from far southern latitudes. The big windjammer vanished completely. Not a single clue —spar, ring-buoy, lifebelt, small boat—was recovered to establish her loss. The Kobenhavn was a post-war-built vessel, one of the largest square riggers ever launched and one of the most seaworthy. Her hull construction far exceeded normal requirements. She had a double bottom. Her masts, spars, and rigging were built and set up in extra rugged fashion. She was equipped with auxiliary power, something seldom found on sailing ships, and wireless, another rarity on wind-driven craft. One of the deepest mysteries of the set ever to befall an American vessel was the swift and completely baffling fate that overtook the United States Navy collier Cyclops. It happened in March, 1918. The big ship carried 280 men, homeward-bound from South America. She was laden with manganese ore, a vital wartime need. Since clearing Barbados, twenty-one years ago, the Cyclops has simply ceased to exist. No part of her has ever been found The navy spent months carefully combing the region, but not the slightest clue was turned up. Though it was wartime, it was hardly likely the Cyclops was torpedoed. She carried a tricky cargo. Manganese ore is deadweight material that shift easily and may capsize a vessel when suddenly heeled by a hurricane-force blow. But hurricanes don't sweep the West Indies region in March.

In pre-wireless days, mystery shrouded the loss of the Portland in 1898, the Megneta in 1885, the Inchclutha and Cherubini in 1883, the Pacific in 1856, the City of Glasgow in 1854, the President in 1841. Each carried from a dozen to two hundred passengers and a crew of from twenty to fifty.