SEA MYSTERY SOLVED

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8608, 19 December 1913, Page 10

SEA MYSTERY SOLVED

MISSING SHIP FOUND AFTER TWENTY-FIVE YEARS. A CREW OF SKELETONS. According to information received in London the Glasgow sailing ship Marlborough, missing since 1890, has been found in. a cave off Capo Horn. Near by, says the report, wore twenty skeletons. The report has a pathetic interest for the North of Scotland, as three members of tho crow belonged to Peterhead. These were Alexander Samuel, chief officer; James Gavin, ship’s carpenter; and W. Oowie, sailmaker. Relatives of these men, interviewed by a “Daily Chroniqlo” representative, vividly recalled the mysterious disappearance of the Marlborough, which carried a crew of 35. They stated, that the ship left New Zealand in January, 1890, for London with a full cargo of frozen meat and a largo quantity ,of wool. The vessel also carried a number of passengers, including at least one lady, who was on her way to Glasgow. Captain Hird, an Englishman, was in command.. After the Marlborough was posted as overdue a report was circulated in this country that the crew of a passing vessel saw British seamen signalling in desperation off one' of the islands near Capo Horn, but stormy weather prevented any communication being established with thp island. Later a Government cruiser made a thoro'ugh search' for the vessel, hut no trace of it could be. found. One of Mr Oowie’s relatives, an experienced seaman, believes that the Marlborough foundered in a gale off the Cape "and that the men probably lived for about a year on food from the ship. After that they would bo faced by starvation and death.

The vessel, a two-deck sailing one, was owned by Messrs Leslie; and 00., Glasgow, and was built in 1878,