THE NATIONAL, GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



237 



Photograph from Charles J. Glidden 

 PEARIv-FlSHING BOAT AT THURSDAY ISLAND, AUSTRALIA 



A man of medium size sustains a pressure of 30,000 pounds at sea-level. How much 

 more he can endure is shown by the fact that a diver can safely go down 204 feet, which 

 adds 180,000 pounds to the pressure his body must bear. 



But the classic story of the wanderings 

 of a derelict is that of the Fannie B. 

 Wolston. Abandoned October 15, 1891, 

 off Cape Hatteras, she traveled north- 

 ward in the Gulf Stream. When off Nor- 

 folk, Va., she changed her course and 

 headed across the broad Atlantic toward 

 the shores of Africa. On June 13, 1892, 

 she was sighted half-way across. Then 

 she headed southward for more than 300 

 miles ; then shifted her course to the 

 northeast for another 200 miles, retraced 

 her track for several hundred miles, 

 turned again and went in the opposite di- 

 rection, like a shuttle in the loom instead 

 of a ship upon the sea. 



Then she took another tack and headed 

 west for nearly 400 miles ; then shaped 

 her course north for 300 miles, and then 

 headed east again for 700 miles ; so that 

 in January she was almost in the same 

 latitude and longitude that she had been 

 in the previous June. In the following 



May she was a thousand miles away from 

 where she had been in January, on the 

 border of Cancer and midway between 

 Florida and Africa. 



Again she headed toward America for 

 600 miles, and repeated her shuttle-in- 

 the-loom stunt. Then followed many 

 long months of erratic zigzags, and she 

 was sighted for the last time 250 miles 

 off Savannah, Ga. She had remained 

 afloat and had outgeneraled the waves for 

 two years and a half, during which time 

 she had sailed more than 7,000 aimless 

 miles. 



SHIPS OF MYSTERY 



Verrill, in his splendid book, "The 

 Ocean and Its Mysteries," tells us that 

 upon two occasions ships have been found 

 adrift sailing aimlessly about, under full 

 sail, in perfect condition, but without a 

 soul on board. When boarded, every- 

 thing was found undisturbed and in 



