236 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph by Capt. W. E. Dunlap, from W. C. Moore 



A SCHOOL OF PORPOISES PLAYING AROUND A SHIP 



Every foot of the ocean-bed traversed by the cables of the world has been surveyed. 

 Sometimes examination of a cable reveals the fact that its coating of gutta percha has been 

 melted by contact with submarine fire. Hundreds of deep-sea creatures attach themselves 

 to these cords of communication, and thus live and die within a fraction of an inch of the 

 electric impulses which tell the news of the world. 



direction of its drift, and usually get it so 

 well located that the Coast Guard cutters 

 may run it down and sink it. 



The information contained on the Hy- 

 drographic Office derelict map is trans- 

 ferred from time to time to the pilot 

 charts, so that navigators may know 

 where to be on the lookout for the semi- 

 submerged hulks into which ships so 

 often run in foggy weather. 



WANDERERS ON THE PACE OE THE DEEP 



In peace times there is no other menace 

 to navigation as dangerous as the dere- 

 lict, unless it be the submerged iceberg, 

 such as sank the Titanic. Refusing to 

 stay in one location, yielding to no law of 

 navigation, hiding most of her hulk be- 

 neath the waves, the lonely, desolate, 

 moss-covered, weed-grown derelict, with 

 deck or keel all but awash, comes out of 

 the night or through the fog as an assas- 



sin out of a lonely alley, and woe to the 

 sailor who has not detected her approach. 



Drifting hither and yon, now forced 

 on by the wind of a stormy sea, now 

 caught in a current and driven along, 

 these rudderless, purposeless wanderers 

 cover many a weary mile, with only 

 screaming sea-birds to break the monot- 

 ony of the roaring gale or the soft surge 

 of a placid sea. Sighted frequently for 

 weeks together, now and again they dis- 

 appear, often reappearing suddenly hun- 

 dreds of miles away. As many as a thou- 

 sand have been reported in a single year 

 in the North Atlantic. The majority of 

 them frequent the Gulf Stream. 



Examining the records of the Hydro- 

 graphic Office, one finds that in six years 

 25 derelicts were reported as having 

 drifted at least a thousand miles each ; 1 1 

 have 2,000 miles apiece to their credit, 

 while three sailed 5,000 rudderless miles. 



