MYSTERIES OF THE SEA

Evening Star, Issue 23375, 19 September 1939, Page 10

MYSTERIES OF THE SEA

SHIPS THAT WERE LOST " WITHOUT A TRACE "

The British ship Anglo-Australian has now been finally written aif as missing, and the Lutino bell at Lloyd’s has been struck to mark its presumed loss. In these days of wireless it is a rare thing for a ship to vanish without trace or message, but these tragedies do <ecasionally occur (writes E. H. Townsend in the • Sydney .Morning Herald ’). Early in March, 1958, the Anglo-Aus-tralian cleared from Cardiff, South Wales,‘for Vancouver, British Columbia, by way of the Panama Canal. On March 14 her wireless operator reported that she was off the Azores, and since he made no comment to the contrary presumably all was well. The vessel did not reach the Panama Canal. From that day to this no sign, message, or piece of wreckage has turned up to give a clue to the fate of the AagloAnstralian. Whatever the disaster, it must have fallen suddenly and have been one i,f some magnitude. The Anglo-Australian was a sturdy, well-found vessel of 5,500 tons, not easily sunk in so short a time that the wireless operator would bo unable to tap out an SOS. The weather was not responsible for the disappearance. Another cargo vessel, the Northleigh, left Cardiff shortly after the Anglo-Australian. She, too, was bound for the Panama Canal, and she trailed close in the wake of the steamer that disappeared, and reported calm weather for the crossing. CHEW OF CADETS. Ten years earlier a modern sailing vessel, the Kobenhavn, disappeared without trace. She was a Danish ship, constructed for the special purpose of training hoys who hoped to qualify as officers in the Danish mercantile marine. Carrying 70 boys, the ship stopped at Buenos Aires en route for Melbourne She cleared the South American port on December 12, 1928, but was never seen again. Nor was she ever heard from except for a routine “ All’s well ” flashed from .faV southern latitudes. Not a spar, buoy, lifebelt, or boat was ever recovered to establish her loss, although a steamer was chartered to follow her course and search for wreckage. The Kobenhavn was less than 10 years old, one of the largest squareriggers ever launched and one of the most seaworthy. Her hull construction far exceeded normal requirements. She was fitted with a double bottom, and her masts, spars, and rigging were all set up in extra rugged fashion. She was equipped with an auxiliary engine and a wireless transmitter, both rarities on windjammers. What happened to her? Ten years have failed to provide any answer to that question. One of the deepest mysteries of the sea centres around the disappearance of the Cyclops, an American naval collier. She was a big ship, and at the time of her loss was carrying 280 men and a cargo of manganese ore. She cleared Barbados in March, 1918, and after that she ceased to exist. The American' navy spent months of time and thousands of dollars combing the region for signs of her, but without result. Though it was war time, it is not likely that the Cyclops was torpedoed or sunk in any fashion by enemy ships. Had that been the cause of her disappearance, some information would almost certainly have leaked out by now. Manganese is a tricky cargo, its dead-weight being liable to shift in bad weather. A sudden blow from a hurricane might have caused the Cyclops to heel over and the sliding of the cargo might have prevented her recovery. The drawback to this suggestion is that there are no hurricanes in the West Indies during March. A GRIM GAMBLE. An instance which provides grim food for thought about the fate of such vessels is provided by the extraordinary case of the brig Polly. This vessel might easily have figured in another unsolved mystery of the sea, but she was sighted just before the sea finally claimed her. Nine days out from Boston, the Polly was suddenly overwhelmed by a southeaster. The fury of the storm drove the brig on to her beam ends, and she stayed in that position until she bad shipped so much water that it was obvious she could never make port. Thirty hours later the crew found itself aboard a derelict ship in a painted ocean. A strong sun beat down on them, the masts had gone overboard,and the ship was water-logged. Six quarts of fresh water were found in a cask, and there were several barrels of salt pork and biscuit. All else had been lost or spoiled. ~ , Just as the water gave out the mate succeeded in rigging up a crude still for tlie'condensation of sea water. The men supplemented their food with crabs caught by hooking up kelp. The new -diet did not suit two of them, and they died from blood poisoning. Their bodies were cut up for shark bait, and the survivors caught two large shai’ks! On the third night one man went mad and jumped overboard. Morning found four members of the crew determined to take their chance on a raft. Argument was useless, and they pushed off with a gallon of water and some dried shark meat. They were' never heard of again. There were six men left on the Polly, her skipper, mate, and four able seamen. For two months they prolonged a miserable existence, and then the ship drifted clear of the kelp in which she was caught. The circumstances gave the survivors some hope of rescue, but deprived them of their crabs, now their only source of food. For six days they bad nothing to eat but the leather from the packing in the ship’s pump. This consumed, they.had

nothing left to live on but distilled water, of which there was now plenty. One morning a deputation waited on the skipper asking permission to hold a lottery—tho grimmest gamble over organised. The "prize was to he the body of the loser, apportioned as food among the winners. The captain tried to stop the lottery, but he was overruled. Later, there was" a second lottery. Three months and two days after the disablement of the Polly, the derelict was sighted by another ship, and two survivors, looking more like wild animals than men. were rescued.