TRAGEDIES OF THE SEA.

NZ Truth, Issue 156, 13 June 1908, Page 7

TRAGEDIES OF THE SEA.

DOOM OF THE FRIGATE ANN.

Fate of the Florida.

Spaniards taught the Use of Explosives.

mil all exhausted, at^d bereft ol strength,' O'erpowered they yieW to cruel fate at length, fThe burying waters close around their head— {They sink, for ever numbered vita the dead.

Those, who hare studied geography and meteorology need not be told of the likely spots on the globe where the wild winds shriek -their ceaseless dirge m the wintry season. In the Southern herhsispnere, for instance, Where the hard blows rush up from the icy Antarctic, we expect to find the Disaster Bays, Treachery Heads, Wreck Buys, etc., to face only the southward, and a glance at the map will not dissapoinit us. By far the wildest part of our coast is that known as the Great Australian Bigtat,' a majestic bay, tibe shores of whiph are as yet comparatively unknown. trrKete THE LAND RECEDES far from the track of vessels running east or west. Few of the big. liners are there which have not experienced a drenching wave and a howling wind as they have plunged alone on their way to Albany m the wittier months; yet, as the seas are generr ally even, and there is plenty of sea room, it is t a safe place enoughOnly ,on odd occasions do sailing vessels head to the westward, unless it be a few wheat ships bound to the. Cape, a»d even they have to hunt for their crews. Comdnc to the eastward, though, the sailers bound alone under a spanking breeze" with the trade wind nearly dead aft, and if the skipper knows Ms position he usually sets below to scribble a press puff for himself- about the quick passage he has' made, from Britain. XJnfortutaaitely,' both for themselves and the crew and passengers' m their charge, dozens of cantatas who voyaged eastward across the Bimbfc never knew enough of navigation to DETERMINE THEIR POSITION accurately, and not till tbeir knell was sounded by the booming crash of lie breakers on Tasmania's western shore, did they realise what it was to' be killed by ignorance, or — what was worse— through sheer carelessness, li may seem harsh to write thus of drowned mariners, yet ' it ; is true. Never was there a ship tfcat sank but through someone's fault, or someone's ignorance, and not necessarily the captain's. But for every Vessel that founders* m the open sea, as the result of unseaworthiness, fifty vessels end their career byi striking reefs and rocky shores wihioh were m position ages before tbe vessel's keel was laid. I There is another bay, not nearly so la v fge as the great Bight, yet whiob has been the graveyard of more ships than any other bay m the globe, and

that is Cardigan Bay, m the It s-ii Channel. In one way its disastrous record is accounted for by the large maritime traffic m those waters, and m another way by tine " HARD NOR'-WESTERLY BLOWS that come sweeping: around the blustering shores of.th« Green Isle, catching • the sailer before she has bad sufficient time to make an offimg>. In these modem days of steam vessels, however. <tfoere is little danger of being blown ashore against one's wall, but m the old times wrecks upon the Cardigan coast were as common after a stiff blow as drunks were at an inwiard port. Oite wild night m 1877 a fleet of 22 vessels , was blown ashore «m the Penarth Roads, m the Bristol Channel, where they had been lying at anchor. And a fine sight indeed they presented to "Old Dan," as he hied him down to view them at daybreak. There they lay, from the full>-rig<ged jclipper ship with her hack .broken, to the brigan-tine with her topsail yards as bare of canvas as a dead gum is as bare of leaves. On the whole, though, the stranded vessels had something to be thankful for. 'It having been low water when they dragged their anchors, and drifted helplessly on the muddy flats, it meant that with the rising tide the staunch vessels among them would float ' AS WELL AS EVER AGAIN. la the latter end of October, 1760. said Captain Seth Houghton, telling the story m after years, I sailed from! Liverpool f6r Cork and the West Indies on board the Ann frigate mounting 14 guns, and manned by 37 men. On the 3rd of November, we fouaid ourselves deeply em-bayed m Carnarvon Bay ; and the wild wind blowing a storm, and full into the bay, all attempt?- ; /o weather either Barry Island oi^u; > {"head were fruitless. Therefore, Trate insulting wHsfo mv officers, I was erf opinion that the most prudent, and indeed the only advisable measure we could take, would be to run ashore on the most favorable sandy beach we could find, m order that as many lives might be saved as possible. Accordingly, we bore away, and passed Carnarvon bar, which probably might 'have been attempted, had we not seen the Pearl, a Liverpool ship ashore there, where all her crew perished. The Ann struck a little after 2 o'clock m the afternoon, about two miles TO LEEWARD OF THE BAR. and a quarter of a mile from the shore. \Some of the people, partly by the boat, and, partly by swimm'iiig, immiediately made for the shore, but I continued' on board tui^ til near 5, to persuade the remainder to attempt their own preservation.

However, as they seemed obstlnatelv determined m their resolution of staying on board, I then took leave of them, and leaped off the weather forcchains with mv cork jacket. Just afterwards a sea struck me ajga-inst the spritsail yard, with such violence that I was stunned, and I continued for some time the sport of the waves, betwixt the bow of the Ann and her spritsail yard, before I had sufficient strength to clear myself of the latter. At last I managed to do so, and swam directly for shore. But the bruises I received on nuitting the ship, two of my ribs bein-e? broken, soon rendered me insensible and incapable of helping myself, and if it had not been FOR- THE CORK JACKET. 1 would certainly have perished. While the jacket buoyed me up, the sea and wind drove me ashore, where people were ready to saVe irie. Next day I found, on inquiry, thai 19 of the crew were saved, and that 18 were drowned. And among, the latter were several of the best swimmers m the ship, some of whom had vainly boasted that water could not drown them. But m such a mountainous sea, human strength is but a poor' resource ; for next to fortune, I attribute mv almost miraculous preservation to • the jacket, of the utility of which I am so well convinced, that I have recommended it m th;e strongest terms to all. my acquaintances, as an apparatus that no one should go to sea without. The weight of my jacket altogether was about 3Hk ♦ • ■*■ When the American battleship Maine was blown up wiiile lying at anchor in -Havana some years ago, it caused great excitement, which ended only when Cuba was taken from, Sapin, after the Amferican Admiral, Sampson, had smashed ths Spanish fleet. Dynamiting the sleep-, ing sailors was looked upon by the Americans as an act 'which Spaniards alone could be guilty of. And y«t history, sad to- say. tells us that the Spaniards first learnt the trick from Englishmen, who, a few centuries a#o, believed that such a feat was THE HEIGHT OF HEROISM. When so many of the vessels which formed the Spanish Armada, intended for the conquest of England, perished, on the north and west coasts of Scotland, one of the worsted fleet, the Florida, appeared to be more fortunate than any of her consorts. She found her way to the Bay of Tobermory, m the Sound of Mull, one of the finest harbors m the. world. Scotland being than a neutral country under James the Sixth, the Spaniards considered themselves, perfectly secure, and remained loitg m that station, repairing the damans 1 they had sustained, and refreshing the crew and troops. The Florida was no doubt, an object of great interest and curiosity to the residents of Tobermory, ami *11 the principal families m tie neighboring country and islands were .received on board as visitors, where, tradition says, they were hospitably and SPLENDIDLY ENTERTAINED. Elizabeth , the ■ ever-watchful and well-informed Queen of England, had news of the Florida through her aro'lrassa'dor at the Scotch court. It Was. ascertained . that tJie ship was extremely valtiaMe. She had on board a large sum of money intended for the pay of the army, and, contained, besides, a great quarotity .. of costly stores. The law of nations should have protected the Florida fronn injury. But Elizabeth resolved on her destruction and it was accompanied by one of tin© most atrocious acts, perhaps, ever recorded of any civilised rov.vernment. The English ambassador soon found an instrument suited to .his purpose, and his name was Smollett. This fellow Smollett was an ancestor of the writer of that name, who himself alludes to .this circumstance m one of his novels, apparently unconscious of the inference which followed. This agent of the English Government spoke the Gaelic language, and wore THE HIGHLAND DRESS. He went to. Mull as a dealer m cattle, and easily found his way on board the Florida, where he formed an intimacy, and, along with other strangers, had frequent opportunities of seeing every part of the ship. Smollett at length found a convenient time for his diabolical object, and placed some combustible sub*stance where it was likely to produce the desired effect. This done, he immediately got ashore, and made the best of his way southward. It is stated that Smollett had travelled some five or six miles when he heard the explosion of the Florida; and the spot where he stood is still pointed out for ..'the execration of mankind. Nearly all .on board the Florida perished when she was blown up. Together with the crew and troops, many of the first men m the country were destroyed by this perfidious and bloody act. which reflects ETERNAL DISGRACE jon the planners, and infamy on the ; perpetrator. Tradition states that i the poop was blown to a distance, with six men, but falling into the water, their lives were spared. Some Spanish mares and horses had been landed to' pasture, and these remained m the island of Mull. The breed of horses m Mull became famous m after years, probably from this cause, inasmucft as the crossing alone would be sufficient to improve the breed. The English ambassador at Madrid procured information of the precise amount of the treasure, which had been on board the Florida, and a ship of war was sent by the Government to Tobermory m the beginning of. the eighteenth century with divers, for the purpose of recovering the specie. All Spanish ships, whether m fact or fiction, were supposed to have their lower hold filled^ witiiBULLION OR GOLD-DUST. The wreck was soon found, and many articles raised, but no money was acknowledged. The salving warship, however, never returned to England. v and was eventually given up as lost- It was strongly suspected, all the same, that she, had taken refuge m France, for evident reasons. In the year 1787, a celebrated diver named Spa! ding made an attempt to recover this treasure, but he failed entirely, as might have been expected. The remains of the unlucky Florida h^rt sunk Into the iroud, and totally disappeared.