Old Salts Blame Death Of Albatross For The Loss Of The S.S. Kobenhavn.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19036, 3 April 1930, Page 1

Old Salts Blame Death Of Albatross For The Loss Of The S.S. Kobenhavn.

COPENHAGEN, February 5. Superstitious old salts of the Danish capital have penetrated, to their own satisfaction, the heavy fog of mystery that shrouds the fate of the Kobenhavn, the Danish merchant marine training ship that disappeared a year ago after sailing from Buenos Aires for Australia.

The waterfront seers are sure a terrible fate befel her because sbme of the forty-eight cadets aboard captured an albatross before they cleared from the South American port. Fate of Ship Recalls “Ancient Mariner.” They draw a close parallel between this fine modern ship and the tale related in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s i “Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” whose cumbersome craft became “a painted ship upon a painted ocean” because of the murder of “the sweet bird that made the breeze to blow.” No seaman of the old school would dare to harm an albatross. They know from legend, and many aver from personal experiences, that this is the surest way to court disaster for ship and men. Receipt here of photographs mailed from Buneos Aires and showing members of the crew of the Kobenhavn on deck with their capture, spreading out the seventeen-foot wings of the big sea bird, was sufficient to convince all the veteran seafarers of Copenhagen that the mystery never would be explained by mortal minds. Only the storm fiends of the southern waters could tell all, according to the sailors. As Coleridge wrote: "God save thee Ancient Marinter! From the fiends that plague thee thus!— AN hy look’st thou so?"—With my cross T shot the Albatross. And I had done a hellish thing, And it would work ’em woe. Last Message From Ship Sent on December 22. As a matter, of fact science has exhausted its resources in an attempt to find a plausible explanation for the complete disappearance of the largest sailing vessel in the world. The big fivemasted barque was staunch and as completely equipped as modern seafarers could make her. She carried radio The last message came from the ship on the night of December 22, 1928. It contained no word of foreboding. After that came silence. If the Kobenhavn sent out an SOS, no one heard it. Yet up to December 22 she had been in communication with ships and shore. Months ago the owners gave up all hope of seeing their proud ship again.

- Lloyd’s struck her off the maritime ref gisters. The underwriters paid aH in- [ surance claims. The Maritime Court of l Copenhagen declared the case closed and pensions have been paid to the relatives of the crew and the cadets. Only the Danish civil courts have refused to close their records and admit the estates of the missing men to proi bate. They insist upon more convinc- . ing and technical proofs of deaths. But 5 if such proofs are not forthcoming, the . courts will hear the cases again next l July. ; Special Cruisers Sent in Search of Ship. Never in the history of shipping has ' a missing vessel been searched for more • thoroughly than the Kobenhavn. Gov- ■ ernment craft went on special cruises ■ in the South Atlantic. All ships plying those waters kept watch day and night ■ for lifeboats or sinister bits of wrecki age. Some of them went far out of their : courses to explore uninhabited islands ■ for possible traces. ! Only one hopeful clue developed. The - inhabitants of Tristan da Cunha, a ■ mountainous group half way between 1 the Rio Plata and the Cape of Good , Hope, told a strange story of seeing a ■ derelict ship like the Kobenhavn passing the islands at the height of a terrific gale. Dwellers in the islands rarely see a ship more than once a year, but this one attracted unusual attention. They said she seemed deserted, with her rigging in disorder. She was tearing along seemingly without rudder control, like another “Flying Dutchman.” Old Sailors Cling to , Albatross Explanation. But a big Swedish barque has since ; reported that she passed Tristan da - Cunha that da}*. She was a four-master. ? while the Kobenhavn carried five sticks. • No one really knows, however, whether the islanders saw the Swedish ship or ) the missing vessel. t But the old salts have taken this re- ' port as another point in favour of the i Kobenhavn. Tristan da Cunha, they : point out, is one of the chief nesting • places of the albatross. Hence they are sure that the wide-winged bird whose 1 capture brought disaster on the Kobenhavn also brought her “home.”