HISTORY OF SHIPWRECKS
DESTROYING DERELICTS ON
THE OCEAN 1897
The Hydrography
Department of the United States Navy for the Port of Philadelphia
is awaiting the arrival
of it's commander , Lieutenant William E. Gill , is under the
advice of James L.
McGoldrick, a civilian hydrographer, is the branch of the
Navy
in charge of clearing
derelicts from the ocean steamers channels. Here are some
interesting
stories of their
endeavors.
The schooner Fannie E.
Wolston, wrecked October 15, 1891, in latitude 36.13,
longitude 74, when last
seen , October 21, 194, was in latitude 39.10, longitude 61.55,
six hundred miles
distant from the place of abandonment, and will again turn up in
the Atlantic , a barnacle covered derelict . Last seen the
Wolston was less crew, less captain,
less sails and had
traveled near 8000 miles of the watery waste between the old world
and
new world. The history
of the Wolston is interesting. When abandoned she drifted into the
tract of trans Atlantic
steamers and after an erratic course fell into the current of
the southern rim of Sargasso Sea and doubled back passing within
a few miles of the point where she was abandoned. She has been
reported 34 times by passing vessels in the past three years.
Once in mid ocean the
Wolston met a fellow derelict , the Wyer G. Sargent which was
abandoned March 31, 1891, latitude 34.53, longitude 74.10 , also
on an aimless trip
across the Atlantic. Five
days after Wolston's abandonment they were 2000 mile apart.
In April and May 1892 the
two hulks were in mid ocean only 50 miles apart and drifting
toward each other. The
Navy thinks the Sergeant has gone to the bottom.
The three masted
schooner, W. L. Wright, lumber laden, abandoned during the
1888 blizzard 80 miles
southeast of Absecon Light went ashore the 23 January on Lewes
Island , Herbrides, off the Scotland coast. She has sailed
north by northeast 32 miles a day or more that 5000 miles in 10
months and 10 days and reported 45 times.
The derelict career of
the Itialian barque, Vincenzo Perrotta, also lumber laden,
abandoned September 17,
1887, is another interesting one. In 536 days she drifted 2950
miles, falling into equatorial currents, finally going ashore on
Waking Island, Bahamas.
She was spoken 27 times.
Her sails were set moving at 6 knots and answered no hails.
November 28, 1888 the
schooner Ethel M. Davis was abandoned and the next day
day the schooner David
W. Hunt was turned adrift. A year later the Hunt was picked up
off Maderia and towed to
port In 347 days she traveled 4800 miles . The Davis, in 370
days covered 44000 miles.
The James B. Drury, abandoned 29 January 1889 , latitude 35,
longitude 75, went
across the Atlantic, tuned back, float 367 days, traveled 1700
miles.
One of the longest voyages
is that of a lumber laden schooner left Charleston to a
northern port, was thought
to have foundered during a storm and gone to the bottom, went
ashore 16 yeas later on
Greenland.
June 22, 1892, ship
Fred B. Taylor, in ballast from Nova Scotia to New York
Was run into by a North
German Lloyd Line steamer at latitude 40.18 longitude 68.33
and cut her in half , the
stern and prow drifted apart.. august 7, 1895, the stern of the
Taylor,
after drifting 350 miles
went ashore at Well's Beach on the Bay of Fundyy. The bow last
heard of in latitude 37.37 , longitude 74.10, was afloat 93 days
and drifted 340 miles.
Some derelicts made very
short voyages, February 24, 1892, four masted schooner,
Agnes Manning with a
cargo of of 1577 tons of coal was abandoned. The crew of negroes
had suffered hardship and
were taken off by a passing ship because of frostbite. The
big schooner drifted into the trans Atlantic steamship lanes
and reported everyday. Heavy laden she was a menace and measures
were taken to overhaul her. Fortunately and ocean tug made fast
to her and March 10 she was towed to the port of New York by the
British Exeter City.
The schooner , The
Twentyone Friends, collided with The John H May, , March 24
1885, latitude 36.45,
longitude 72.42 , drifted for 8 months and 10 days 3525 miles,
last
reported off Cape
Finisterre, the northern point of Spain. She was loaded with
yellow pine
lumber and her hull was in
excellent condition. An inquiry was made but none of the Cape
Fnisterre fishermen along
the Bay of Biscay admitted to seeing a wreck , nor was she
reported as going ashore.
One of the investigators said later that many of the fishermen of
the
Bay of Biscay had built
new houses of Michigan yellow pine lumber that year.
Another one of the
greatest derelicts that ever went adrift in the Atlantic was a
lumber
raft which left Port
Joggins , Nova Scotia , 8 December 1888, for New York under
tow and after 10 days out broke adrift. It was 556 feet long
65 feet wide, 38 foot depth, and had a draw of 19-1/2 feet.
With its cargo of 27,000 logs it's weight was 11000 tons. The
news that the barge was
adrift caused great concern in New York and December 21, 1888
the Nave ship Enterprise
set sail to find the derelict with the tug B. W. Moris, and a
cutter ,
the Grant. They found
the raft broken up and the logs afloat in Sargasso Bay.
Sometimes a derelict will
tell a story of crime. A brig, the O. B. Stillman, headed
south with lumber and
abandoned off Cape Hatteras , all hands saved. A passing ship, lay
to, sent a crew aboard and found she had been set afire in several
deck spots but the ocean had
put the fire out before
much damage occurred. Off the Island of Bermuda a British Man of
War made fast and towed her to port and found to have been
scuttled for insurance .
Another remarkable case
was the schooner Minnie & Gussie, reported missing in
1891, when a passing ship
picked up a broken mast with a name carved on it, and traced the
data to Brooklyn, New York, identified and found off the coast of
Cape Henlopen. She was
blown up and rendered
harmless to navigation.
Smetime the wrecks and
derelicts are so battered by waves and rocks they are
impossible to identify.
The Joseph Souther was identified by the Captain of the Navy
steamer Despatch, Lt.
Crowles. In 1889 he located a derelict , bottom up, 35 mile
off
the Virginia Capesm and
tried to blow it up but could not due to her cargo of lumber.
There
was no name on the hull
but after the explosion of a torpedo a piece of debris
floated
to surface and had the
ships numbers upon it which made the identification.
The Hydrographic Office
is a branch of of the Navigation Bureau of the Navy,
collects and publishes
bulletins of menaces to navigation.
Abstract: The
Philadelphia Inquirer, Sunday , 16 May 1897.
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