Page 91 of 165
The Danish training ship, Kobenhoven, sailed from Montevideo on December 14, 1928, with fifty cadets and sailors aboard...and disappeared. She was a beautiful sight, full-rigged and radiant of strength and dependability—l saw her and photographed her in the harbor of Funchal, Madeira, in November, 1927, when | was aboard the S.S. Windsor Qastle, en route from Southampton to Capetown, What happened? May | suggest that there seems to be a tendency for selectivity toward sailing vessels? And don't overlook the fact that this strong ship disappeared in the era of wireless and radio. As in the cases of so many airplanes, where radio operators are constantly on duty, this ship not only disappeared with trace, but met a fate so instantaneous that it was impossible to radio for help or to announce impending disaster. Don't know about Kobenhoven, May have sighted Home-ship in the Water, Making ready for ascent & so Many Highly trained eyes could not be per- mitted tell What they had seen, So! they are on the Greak Ark, Now? Yet feel that Kobenhoven is still being Held, Intact. Windjammer Sailors are Hard fighters & Prove good sport to the L-Ms Later when pacified, they are good company, Make good Space Sailors. Deep Space is Not for every Man, only a few types can take it for Very Long. Most of these type Men are Sailors, used to Long Long Voyages. On October 3, 1902, the German bark, Freya, cleared from Manzanillo, on the west coast of Mexico (a tropical pesthole, if ever | saw one), for Punta Arenas (see Nature, April 25, 1907). On October 20, she was found at sea, partly dismasted, lying on her side—nobody aboard. The anchor was still hanging from her bow, not fully shipped, a good indication that calamity had struck very soon after she left port. The date on the wall calendar, in the Captain's cabin was October 4. Weather reports showed that there had been only light winds, but upon July 5 there had been an earthquake in Mexico. It does not seem that this quake could have created a tidal wave sufficient to capsize and damage this vessel, without doing some noteworthy damage along the nearby shores. Note that she was dismasted— not the type of damage to expect from a tidal wave. Several weeks after the disappearance of the crew of the Freya, another strange sea occurrence was reported. According to the log of the S.S. Fort Salisbury, the second officer, Mr. A. H. Raymer, had, October 28, 1902, in Latitude 50° 31', Longitude 4° 42' W, (which is a few hundred miles off the coast of French Equatorial Africa, in the South Atlantic), been called by the lookout, at 3:05 AM, who reported that there was a huge, dark object, bearing lights, in the sea ahead. Two lights were seen, and the steamer passed a bulk of an estimated length of 500 — 600 feet, which seemed to be slowly sinking. A mechanism of some sort, the observers thought, was making a commotion in the water. Phosphorescence was mentioned, but seems weak to account for two definite lights. The Captain was interviewed, and said: "| can only say that Mr. Raymer is very earnest on the subject, and has, together with the lookout and helmsman, seen something in the water, of a huge nature, as specified." HOME-SHIP in process of taking on enough ballast to get to The Atlantic "Chain: cities Now comes a tale in which there seems to be little chance of error or hoax. This is the sort of thing that can be certified, and it happened in the open, among a group of hard-headed people noted for clear thinking and straight-forward speech. Note how typical it is, as to details. About seven AM, on a bright sunny morning in 1850, the people living in the vicinity of Easton's Beach, near Newport, R.I., rubbed their eyes in disbelief. They saw a large sailing vessel heading hard-in 91