THE 13TH SHIP

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 238, 2 July 1919, Page 2

THE 13TH SHIP

(Bv "JackstalfV in tho "Daily Mail") Tlie "tttirteenth skip" remains among the mysteries ol the war. I havei never heard auyotte try to explain it. Men the. most matter-01-iact« people appear Patent to state facts as they w known and leave it at that. ■ When tho Norwegian convoy that was attacked by all enemy raadiiig,foice, m November, Wl/, iett port it consisted or twelve ships. Later a thirteenth-ship was added-or added itself. No one actu!iuy saw it join; no one, in the end, saw U JuTbeforo the fight . Fox of tho Mary Hose,- counted and ro-., • ported thirteen ships whn;e there should nave been only twelve. Xlurteen there were at the-beginning of the only twelve when it elided. lhe stianger vanished as mysteriously a 6 she appealed At least that is what eye-witnesses,.. will bo within everyone's rccollec- ... tion that the raid resulted disastrously :. for us. Among our losses was the -Mury ltose tho vessel that first sigh tod., nud reported the thirteenth ship. ... Can anyone suggest an explanation of lhe occurrence? i have no theory to put forward. But here is 11 somewhat similar war-happening within my own personal CX «jTio C emUng in-the Bay of .Biscay , four . of us wero standing on the bridge of a small warship watching tho other vessels of the squadron. , . "Look; there are threo trawlore over there iidw," said one of my companions, pointing to starboard. "Impossible," declared the skipper through tho chart-house window. Alt ■ ships nro in station i\nd thero are only two there. You can t see straight. "But thero are three!' persisted the first speakor, and we . others corrJoor- ■ ated him, the signalman adding, ' I can't mako her out, sir; she doesnt seeiu to belong to our crowd." . Out from tho chart-house came the skipper and joined tho litllo group who* were watching tho strangor. • Whoever she might bo or wherever she might have come from, the one undoubted fact was that there she lay, rolling steadily .along between the "double-ender and tne tubby old trawler that had been our familiar companions during many days. ' While we were speculating as to tho stranger's identity our "snottie" gasped out an astonished "Why! she's gone. And gone she hod! We looked caiofuUy to seo whether she had llccomohidden behind one of her companions. But no; tho stranger disappeared as corny as Blie came, and we. could not understand how. Most of us attached little importance to the occiirrcnco. Tlw skipper took a different view of it. , , . "It wasn't a ship at nil, he. declared gravely, "but 'a wnrttiiid (hat before tho year is out tho sea will claim ono of We laughed at his prophecy. Yet it is a fact that before the year was out the - ffa had claimed the man who first " od tho mysterious ship!, ■' . ' Is thero any explanation? ~ . -°