MYSTERY OF THE SEA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 155, 26 July 1909, Page 4

MYSTERY OF THE SEA.

LOST WARSHIP CONDOR.

NATURALIST DISCOVERS A CLUE.

London, June 4.

The loss of Hie sloop-of-war Condor, which was attached to the Pacific squadron, is still fresh in the minds of New Zeaiandcrs as one of the saddest naval tragedies of modern times. The Condor wa? one of an unfortunate class. She was a new ship of !)8l) tons, of a type which is not now, happily, built for the navy. The Condor was practically a police Ibunt, 'being of light draught to liable her to go into shallow rivers. Such vessels are practically useless for war, having poor speed, only a few guns, and no armor protection. They were, built because,they were cheap in construction, and could steam at a small outlay; but they were really most costly, owing to the large number of officers and men who were tied to vessels of absolutely no war value. The Condor.was commissioned at Chatham on November 1, 1000, by Commander Clifton Slater, and ordered to the Pacific.

She left Esquimalt on December 3, 1001, in company with 11.M.5. Warspite. She was bound for Honolulu and Tahiti, heavily laden with coal. Her mission was to make a cruise among the pacific Islands, carrying mails to the lonely inhabitants of Piteairn Island, touching at various remote reef islands, on the chance of relieving castaway sea-, men. She first proceeded to gun practice, which continued until the afternoon, «nil then started on her course to Honolulu. Investigations showed that she had at least 13 hours of calm weather, during .which she was lessening [ her distance from the land, and then ' she encountered the storm, in which, apparently, she went down. The vessels parted company, and the Condor was las! «een-laboring heavily and flying signals of distress by Captain Body, of the Bank Line steamer Aymerie, who was then in command of the southbound lumber-ship Springbnnk. lie had till he could do to save his own vessel. The Condor never reached 'Honolulu, and her fate has heretofore remained one of the mysteries of the deep. On the same night" the collier Mattewan was lost. Some people believe that the two vessels collided and sank. The Admiralty sent the ■warships Phaeton and Egcria in I search of the Condor, while the United States Government contributed the revenue cutters Grant and McCullocll.

This week, an English] naturalist,! Bonycastle Dale, 'who has returned to Victoria, British Columbia, reports the discovery, near Barclay Sound, Vancouver Island, of tiro submerged hulk of what he asserts is the sloop-of-war Condor, which has been missing since 1901. He says he has communicated with the British Admiralty, and he declares that the evidence of identity seems incontrovertible.

The wreckage ' lies in comparatively | shallow water, less than two miles oil tlio coast. A few weeks ago a spar, stumped with the Admiralty mark, was visible floating on the surface, apparently attached to a wreck beneath. It was washed ashore almost in the same spot where a ji'bboom spar, marked Condor, together with a lifebuoy similarly stamped, 'were thrown up on the beach some months ago. At extremely low tides, according to half-a-dozen West Coast residents, the hulk is barely submerged. Sir Charles Cameron, the father-in-law of Commander Slater, attributed the vessel's loss to her build. "She had between' her forecastle and poop—both of which stood well above the water—a well at the'waist. In a merchant vessel this would have been a safe enough build, as the (bulwarks round the waist would either have 'been low and slight, or their place would have been taken by rails. In a man-of-war, however, to give shelter in lighting, the bulwarks are breast high and very strong, and if a vessel of the Condor's build shipped a heavy sea a huge 'weight of water would be landed in this .well, without any means of escape, and the swish of this might aggravate her roll to such an extent as to upset her altogether, or, if not sufficient for that, her furnaces might become extinguished. Now, the Condor rolled tremendously. In letters to his wife and myself, Commander Plater constantly referred to her rolling as an excuse for his inability to write more frequently, or as a reason for the substitution of pencil for pen and ink." On one occasion, Sir Claries Cameron added, Commander Slater reported the "lateral level" of the vessel as altering every few seconds some 35 degrees.