Posted inMaritime & Naval History Mysteries & Unexplained

The Sea Serpent

Illustration of a sea serpent from an old manuscript with writing in Greek and Latin

A letter has been received at the Merchants’ Exchange, from Capt. Wales, (son of T. B. Wales, Esq.) of barque Wave, at Malaga, from Boston, dated Sept. 5, in which he states that on the 5th of August, about 6 P. M., Cape Cod, bearing E. by S. 30 miles, he discovered a huge sea monster crossing the bow, about a half a mile distant to the northwest. It at first appeared like the surf breaking over a rock or reef, but it soon arose in a perpendicular position, 30 or 40 feet above the surface, remaining for about 10 seconds, and then following horizontally, the body disappeared, leaving a wake in the water, and rising again in the same position at nearly regular intervals for the space of half an hour, when it disappeared entirely.

Posted inMaritime & Naval History Ship Histories

New Floating City

Imperator, Largest of Ocean Craft, Soon to Be Launched.

Ship Will Be 900 Feet Long Monster of the Seas, With 50,000 Ton Capacity, to Have Many Luxurious Features.

SS Imperator

Berlin.—Records for size in the ocean steamship world are not held long nowadays. We find a new “Goliath of the Ocean” of German construction. The new ship now building for the Hamburg-American line is to be called Imperator, and will be launched on the Elbe, Mr. Kerns tells us, in a few months—”such a vessel,” he says, “as hitherto man’s eye has not beheld,” ‘ The Imperator will have a gross tonnage of 50,000, outdoing the Olympic and Titantic (45,324 and 45,000). The length of the Imperator over all will be about 900 feet. Says Mr. Kern, according to Land und Meer:

“It would be impossible for a man at the bow of the Imperator to recognize with the naked eye another standing in the stern. If we think of the Imperator set up on end beside the cathedral of Cologne, the heavens reaching lower would come only to the second funnel of the steamship. To get a still better idea of the size of the vessel, it may be compared with one of the largest warehouses in the world the new store of Tietz on the Alexanderplatz in Berlin, which, although forty houses were demolished to make room for it, could be placed entirely inside of the Imperator. The steamship, when complete and fully laden, will displace 50,000 tons. The following figures show how much larger she is than the vessels which once held the world’s record for size:

Posted inMaritime & Naval History Ship Histories World War 1

Cassin, in Fight, Fought Off Boat

Submarine Bettered in Battle With American Vessel

Damage to USS CASSIN, torpedoed on 15 October 1917, by German submarine U-61. Photographed while under repair in England.
Damage to USS CASSIN, torpedoed on 15 October 1917, by German submarine U-61. Photographed while under repair in England.

Washington, Oct. 23.—Coolness and quick maneuvering by Commander Walter H. Vernon saved the American destroyer Cassin from possible destruction in an encounter with a German submarine in the war zone on October 16, the Navy department was advised yesterday by Vice-Admiral Sims in his full report of the fight. Meagre details of the incident were received last week, but the destroyer’s name was withheld until yesterday.

Before she had an opportunity to fire a shot, the destroyer was hit on the stern by a torpedo, which killed Gunner’s Mate Osmond Kelly Ingram, slightly wounded five others of the crew, and put one engine out of commission.

The Cassin had been searching half an hour for a submarine first sighted five miles away when Commander Vernon suddenly saw a torpedo 400 yards distant and making for the ship at great speed. He ordered full speed ahead and the wheel hard over. The patrol boat was just clear of the torpedo’s path when the projectile broached on the surface, turned sharply, and hit its objective.

Posted inMaritime & Naval History

How Our Naval Gunners Break Records

Their Marvellous Accuracy Only Attained by Constant Practice With Most Ingenious Mechanical Aids.

Champion gun crew of the USS Alabama

Almost simultaneously with the publication of a statement by a British general that the practice of English naval gunners was so bad that he offered to take girls out of school who could do as well. The United State battleship Indiana sailed into this port with the boast that her gunners had broken the world record. With an eight-inch gun of the Indiana a seaman named Treanor had hit a bull’s-eye four times consecutively. The mark was four feet square and at a distance of 1600 yards. The four shots were made in the record breaking time of two minutes and sixteen seconds. Had the target practice occurred in Fifth avenue, the cannon might have stood at Forty-second street and the target could have been represented by an umbrella near the Flatiron Building.

Many attaches who are stationed in this country have been instructed to learn the secret of American marksmanship and to report to their home governments; and to the attaches has been accorded every opportunity to carry out their mission. But they have learned no secret. They found no new mechanism, no novel combination of levers and wheels which were not already known to the naval experts of Europe. As one expressed it: