Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 January 1913 — DERELICTS OF OCEAN [ARTICLE]

DERELICTS OF OCEAN

Z t , ■f. ' ■ Uses to Which Abandoned Ships Haye Been Put. San Francisco Steamer Stranded Off Guatemala Is Made to Light a Town —U. 8. Warship Served . a* Hotel in Chili. San Francisco.—Suppose you lived tn a blistering bit of a Central American village, with the jungle steaming on one side of you and the sea blazing endlessly on the other, with smelly kerosene lamps for illumination and the luxuries of life fewer than you’d expect to find in an Arizona adobe. And then suppose a tidal wave came along and smashed things up pretty generally, but ended by picking up a fine big steamer' and washing her over the bar into shoal water near the beach, leaving her there high and dry. <The funny thing about this particular story, however, is that it is true, says a writer. It actually happened. It was along about four years ago that the steamer Osiris of thb Kosmos line of San Francisco was lying off Ocos, Guatemala, when an earthquake shook that part of the world and was followed by a tidal wave big enough to pick up .the steamship as if she had been a fishing smack and carry her over the Intervening sand banks to a point near the beach, where it dropped her neatly between two reefs just sufficiently far apart to provide her with a comfortable girdle.

When her crew left her, judging her to be of no further use, a citizen of Ocos, who had some experience of civilized life, rowed out to the uninjured wreck and cast a speculative eye over her contents. Later, he sent to Mexico for the necessary materials, and proceeded to form the Ocos Electric Light and Power company. Ocos took the hook all the way down Its gullet—and then struggled for more. To think of having a real electric lighting plant! It was hardly to be believed. And every citizen of Ocos lorded it over the citizens of the other village seaports along the Guatemalan coast which could not boast such munificent luxury. Then, behold, as joy and pride were at their height, what should happenbut a brief communication to the Ocos Electric Light and Power company

from the Kosmos line of San Francisco, stating that salvage operations would shortly be begun with an idea of getting the undamaged hull of the Osiris Into deep water, so that she might resume her peregrinations along the Pacific coast Can you Imagine the grief in Ocos? Can you conceive the misery of the mayor, who saw his streets deprived of theirglowing decorations and emblems of progress? It has been almost too great a burden of disappointment for Ocos to bear. They have seen their source of illumination cut off, the salvage crew at work on the lighting plant’s regeneration, presently they will even be obliged tq~ witnesp its actual departure. Although the story of the Osiris ■stands alone for tragic interest, there onlrecord of ships carried ashoretand for purposes

foreign to the builders' intentions. Perhaps the most noted case is that of the United States steam sloop-of-war Wateree, which was washed ashore by a tidal wave at Arica, Chilly under circumstances almost identical to those attending the wrecking of the Osiris. It was soon seen ’that it was impossible to get the Wateree off; It would have cost far more than the vessel was worth. So she was abandoned by the crew and add for old junk. But instead of breaking her up the Chilian, who bought her had imagination enough to see what a splendid chance he had to make really big money out of her as a curiosity. So he fitted the Wateree up as a hotel, case and restaurant, leaving her hull just aa it was, however, and his quaint establishment soon became a recognized pilgrimage for all pleasure seekers in ■ the vicinity.