SECRETS OF THE SEA.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 11602, 17 August 1899, Page 1

SECRETS OF THE SEA.

VESSELS THAT NEVER RETURNED.

It seems passing strange, considering 1 the enormous amount of ocean traffic carried on nowadays, that it should be possible for a vessel to put out to sea in fit condition, only to vanish from the face of the water 3 and leave no indication oE its fate, says the London Mail. True there are hundreds of nnidpntifird derelicts floating about tho seas, and some of them may be the ves=e!s which have so mysteriously disappeared. It is appalling to think of such mysteries as the fates of these vessels, which, setting sail, with hundreds of passengers to whom the voyage perhaps promises happines?, wealth and all the joys of life, ne^e; reach their destination and are never beard of again. Take the case of the Burvie Castle as a striking example. She vanished not in mid-ocean, but between the ports of London and Plymouth. Into the latter port she should have put.oa her way to Auslral'a. But she reer reached Plymouth, and not a living soul knows how and where she vanished. It is most extraordinary that sbe should have bpen lost so near to land without so much as a spar being washed ashora to tell of her fearful fate. Equally mysterious is the fate of the Atalanta. This famous training vessel was stationed off Bermuda with more than 250 souls aboard. Early in 1880 she set sail for a short cruise and fiom that day to this she has neter been heard of. A very considerable percentage of the vessels which disappeared for ever ia this mysterious manner were runningbetween England and America at the time. It might be thought tbat the terrific seas of tho vast Atlantic were responsible, but it has been proved that; many vessels were lost when the ocean was almost at a dead calm. A large sailing sbip left New Orleans some years ago for London. Thrice she was spoken and reported all well, and she was facing exquisite weather and a smooth sea at tbe third time. Yet it is known she was lost with all hands within twenty-fonr Loirs, and to thfs day no trace of her has been discovered , In the early part of 1892 a five- masted barque, tho Maria, a newly constructed vessel, and at that time tbe third largest in the mercantile marine, sail in beautiful weather from one of the biggest ports in Cochin- China for Hamburg, with every promise of a fair voyage. But she never reached Germany. She vanished shortly alter being spoken off the west coast of Africa, and nothing ba3 been found, since to indicate the fata that befel her. Another vessel running between England and America which met an end of a kind none but those who shared it ever knew, was the first-class steamerPresident, She sailed from New York for a journey to Liverpool in the spring of 1841, baring on board a fall crew of experienced hands and officers and a distinguished company of passengers. She left New York in flue weather, in splendid condition, and with no reason for fearing anything she was likclj to meet. But she was never spoken and never heard of again, and, although fifty-eight years have passed no one yet knows to what dire calamity her end was due.