LIKE SEA PHANTOM

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 254, 17 January 1928, Page 9

LIKE SEA PHANTOM

SUNKEN VESSEL RISES FAMOUS RACING SCHOONER HALIFAX. Jan. 11. “The weirdest sight I have even witnessed at sea,” is how Captain Myhre, master of the fishing schoner Venosta, describes the sudden appearance, followed immediately by the disappearance forever of a famous derelict, the international racing schooner Columbia. Three years ago the Americans built the Columbia, and with this vessel the Gloucester fishermen challenged the Canadian cod fishers in the international races, which take place each year. After these competitions the Columbia was entered in the regular trade, but foundered last August in a hurricane, the crew of 20 being lost. On New Year's night the Venosta. was trawling 120 miles oft the Nova Scotia shore. The gear which was dragging for fish with powerful tackle was hoisted away until the Columbia herself broke through the surface of the sea before the astonished eyes of the Venosta’s crew. With masts erect and deck and sides gleaming and polished as if the ship had been launched yesterday, the derelict stood out clear as Captain Myhre turned the searchlights from stem to stern of the famous racer. The derelict hung a full minute as the Venosta’s crew stared aghast. Suddenly the steel cables parted under the strain of the heaving sea and again the Columbia sank to her watery grave to join her dead crew.