DERELICTS AND ICEBERGS 39 



Looking upon this sodden, desolate mass, 

 this drifting corpse of a once-stately and beau- 

 tiful ship, we wonder what tragedy of the 

 sea lies hidden in her storm-wracked skeleton. 

 Perhaps her men were saved by some passing 

 vessel, perhaps they took to the boats and 

 died a slow and miserable death of thirst and 

 starvation upon the vast expanse of ocean; 

 but like as not their fate will never be known ; 

 the derelict will never be identified and some 

 trim revenue cutter will send her to the bot- 

 tom, a mystery of the sea ; one of those "miss- 

 ing ships" which sail forth yearly never to 

 be seen or heard from again. 



Perhaps this forsaken wreck was caused by 

 another derelict, for these water-logged ships 

 are a great menace to navigation and our reve- 

 nue cutters are constantly cruising about, 

 searching for derelicts which they sink with 

 shells or dynamite. Probably a large pro- 

 portion of the ships which never reach port, 

 and which are posted as "missing," are sunk 

 by running into derelicts, for the low-lying 

 hulks are hard to see on a dark or stormy 

 night and a vessel striking one may sink so 



