CAST UP BY THE SEA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9229, 17 June 1893, Page 2 (Supplement)

CAST UP BY THE SEA.

A WRECK RISES UP FROM THE OCEAN. AFTER FIFTY YEARS. The Norwegian barque Elsa Andersen came into port a day or two ago with a strange-looking vessol In tow (gays a Galveston correspondent of the Philadelphia Times). This was a small brig of English build, dismasted and in need of repairs, which hud been sunk more than fifty years ago, judging from its ancient appearance and awkward rigging, so sailors who have looked at it say. On the afternoon of the 17th of February, off the coast of Faroe Islands, where the Elsa Andersen had been blown by a recent gale, there was a violent upheaval of the sea, about two miles distant from the spot where she was riding, that sent several waves sweeping over her which did much damage ancl threatened to submergo her entirely. When the alarm caused by this sudden sea had subsided there was seen, about a mile off, a wreck which had not been seen there before she upheaval of the bottom of the sea, a phenomenon corresponding to an earthquake on land. The wreck excited much interest among the officers and passengers of the Norwegian vessel, and an order was issued to approach ! the strange craft, when it was seen that the remains of her rigging, stumps of masts, and the hull itself were covered by thousands of shell*, causing the wreck to present the appearance of the miniature ships of shellwork to be purchased at any seaside town. The leaks which had sunk tho vessel were stopped by an accumulation of barnacles, and the derelict rode the waves like a duck. A boatload of sailors was despatched to board the wreck, and they found the hold and the under decks watertight, save for a few feet of water, which, covering the cargo, had sunk her. But this cargo and the other contents of the ship were entirely destroyed, most of the former having bean devoured by the denizens of the deep. In what had evidently been th? captain's berth wore found several iron-bound chests, which had resisted, to some extent, tho ravagos of time and the tea, but on being opened the contents were found to bo reduced to a. sort of pulp, with the exception of a leather bag. This had become hardened until ik was necessary to break it open with an axe, when from it poured a quantity of rusty discs, which, being cleaned, proved to be golden guineas of the year 1809 and amounting to the sum of £1005. There wore also several watches of gold and a stomacher of pearls. These, however, are valueless, having been blackened by the action of the water. This wreck was attached to the Elsa Andersen by a cablo and towed to this port, where it is attracting crowds of visitors. On the fourth day after its detachment from the bottom of the sea by the quake the water was all pumped out of the derelict, when it was found to contain three skeletons, two of them of men and the other a womtn't, this last being of a person of gigantic build, ami in life of nearly seven feet in height. About the ;eck of one of the male skeletons was a chain of gold, to which was attached a silver crucifix and evidently a rosary.