SOME SEA MYSTERIES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 10908, 12 November 1898, Page 7

SOME SEA MYSTERIES.

THE DANGEROUS DERELICTS OF | THE OCEAN. j Dxe of the oddest dangers to which sailors ire exposed— it is one which enters rery little into the landsman's reckoning of lie perils of the seais that of collision with derelict ships. That this danger is not ■uch a slight one as people generally magine may be gathered from the fact that it the present time there are reported to be 10 ltss than 45 derelict vessels tracking their weird course over the North Atlantic done, more than half of these being in the direct track of Transatlantic liners. The return of Lloyd for the months January, February, and March states the number of abandoned vessels during that time to have been two steamers and 24 sailing vessels! Strange are the histories of many of these abandoned vessels. A cloud of mystery which no inquiry has been able to pierce has enveloped the abandoning of the Mary Celeste. The case of this vessel has been the subject of numerous stories, very many incidents of a fanciful nature having been woven around the actual facts. They are as follow: Into the harbour at Gibraltar there, one day in December, 1873, arrived the British ship Dei Gratia, having in tow the American brigantine Mary Celeste, which she had found derelict in latitude 38.20 N., longitude 17.15 W. 'Ilie extraordinary fact that the brigantine was found perfectly seaworthy, and in excellent condition, caused th; Admiralty to order a special survey of her. There was no sign of her hull having sustained damage, or any trace of her having struck rock or ginund, or been in collision. The minutest examination failed to show that she had passed through rough weather. Her exterior was perfect in every way, and the hull, masts, and yards, were as right as they could be. Within her everything was in the same mysterious good order. The .-Milieu's chests were dry, spirits and plenty of food were on board. In the captain's cabin was a harmonium, the lid of which was up as if someone had lately been playing upon it, and there were sheets of music scattered near, while some sewing, a woman's thimble, and some thread lay upon the table. The log had been duly kept up to November 9, on which day it appeared the vessel passed the Azores, but it recorded not that the ship had been quitted by her crew later than this. Why had the ship been abandoned? Not the slightest light has ever been thrown upon the subject. The captain was well known at Gibraltar, where he was much re-

spa-ted. The only clue to even a suggestion or r. probable answer was the finding of a sword on deck, which looked as if it had been bloodstained and recently wiped, some dents upon the topgallant rail, as if made by the weapon while being fiercely aimed at some antagonist, and some sharp cuts on both sides of the ship's bows. Not a soul who had been oil board the Mary Celeste was every seen again. A French man-of-war steamed into harbour at Tahiti one June morning in 1877, having in tow what looked like a cloud of smoke, from which now and 7 again shot up a tall tongue of flame. It was a derelict the man-of-war had picked up. Built of iron and laden with coal, the Ada Iredale had been abandoned in consequence of her cargo catching fire when 1900 miles west of tho Marquesas. That was on October 15, 1876. She was picked up by the French vessel in June, 1877, and, all efforts to extinguish the coal utterly failing, nothing was left but to let her burn herself out. She took till May, 1878, to perform the task. The long voyages made by ships which have been abandoned are amazing. One of the most remarkable of these was that made by the three-masted schooner M. L. White. She was abandoned, water-logged, on March 13, 1888, when only 80 miles from New York, and in January, 1889, went ashore near the Hebridesa distance, from the place where she commenced her solitary journey, of over 3000 miles. While covering this, she was reported by no less than 45 vessels. Even this remarkable career, however, has probably been beaten | by those of the Ethel M. Davis and the David W. Hunt, both of which ships were abandoned in the same gale in November, 1888. In December, 1889, til'" Ethel M. Davis was sighted 4400 miles from the place of-Jut abandoning, and the Hunt was seen, 517 days after her crew had left her, 4800 miles away from the spot where she had been quitted. Where these vessels got to .-]ftmv:i we. have no record.

That derelicts are a source of great danger to other vessels, and perhaps are not unfrcf[iiently the unknown cause of ships disappearing and never being heard of more, may be gathered from the fact that no less than 38 collisions with derelicts occurred in eight years recently, or an average of very nearly live a year. In one case the steamship Cuban dashed into one, and had a near chance of running herself to the bottom. She cut into the descried vessel 13ft. No other ocean so teems with them as the waters of the North Atlantic. Abandoned, helpless, drifting hither and thither at the mercy of the winds and currents, the derelict may form a huge prize to whoever finds her and tows her into harbour. The Loch Maree is an example of this. She was a steamer bound from Hie United States to Bremen, and had on board a cargo of cotton worth about £ SO.OOO. when, in February of the present year, she was abandoned —fuel and provisions running short the North Atlantic. Tugs were despatched to seek for her by the underwriters who had insured hei, but for three weeks all efforts to discover her were in vain. At length the William Jollifl'e, a tug belonging to the port of Liverpool, went out to try and find her, upon the speculation of reaping a large reward in the shape of salvage. She was successful. and the tug was awarded 33 1-3 per cent, salvage upon the prize, or a sum of about £26,000. At the same time that the tugs were hunting hither and thither in search of this prize, another also lay helpless and awaiting discovery on the huge waste of Atlantic waters, in the shape of the Ganges, a steamer having on board a cargo of cotton valued at over £60,000. As may be imagined, hunting derelicts of this sort is one of the most 'exciting occupations of the sailors. In many cases the salvage award has run from £10,000 to £15,000. _____