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THE CYCLOPS MYSTERY COLLIER MAY BE IX PORT OF MISSING MEN. Many Theories Suggested to Account for the Disappearance of the Cyclops. Washington, June 1.?What became of the missing collier Cyclops? Is she a prize in some German port, the victim of treachery? Does she lie disabled in some unfrequented cove of the tropical seas, driven there and helpless by accident? Or has she made her last voyage and with more than 300 souls turn-! up in the Port of Missing Men to join seventeen other ships of the American Navy which have disappeared just as mysteriously since .1781? ; Sailing from Barbados in the West! Indies March 4 with a complement of 295 men the great 19,000-ton naval collier has not since been sighted oi reported. By order of the Navy Department all available navy craft in! Southern waters have been making a | dragnet search for the vessel, but daily the conviction among officials grows stronger that the great modern mystery of the sea will remain unsolved. But the search for the ship still is maintained with unabated intensity. Cruisers and destroyers have retraced her route. Every island among the scores that dot that portion of the sea is being carefully scrutinized for any clue. But the unremitting anxiety of the searchers has failed to disclose any trace of a ship apparently plucked in a day . from the busy lanes of the South American trade routes. Many Theories. To account for the disappearance of the Cyclops there have been sug??? ? n :ki? gtJStcu liitiuv iucuucs an puasiuic, none entirely plausible. Was she blown into fragments by a heavy charge of explosives placed in her hold before she left port? This explanation is hardly acceptable because wreckage would have covered the sea for many miles around. Was she torpedoed and sunk "without a trace" by a German submarine that had crossed the Atlantic to prey on comparatively unprotected shipping? That theory is discounted because in such a case at least a few s. o. s. calls could have been sent out before the Cyclops went under. Moreover floating wreckage certainly would have been found. Was she attacked and captured by a marauding enemy raider that had slipped into the Atlantic after eluding the British fleet? Even if attacked, it is claimed, the collier's wireless would have put her in communication with other naval vessels or merchant shipping. Enemy Agents? Did enemy agents, carefully "planted" among the ship's personnel, seize control of the Cyclops ija the night and dismantle the radio to make wireless communication with the outside world impossible? This explanation has but little support because it is claimed that a small enemy force hardly could be expected tn reduce tn nrisnners a force of nearly 300 men, many of them naval reservists. . ' Again, if taken by an enemy force abroad where is the Cyclops now? Every bay, every inlet capable of admitting a vessel of her draft, has been carefully searched. She had not enough coal in her bunkers to make the trans-Atlantic trip to some German port. Morover, one engine was out of commission, cutting down her speed to ten knots an hour. Even if additional coal had been procured she hardly could have slipped past the British patrols into some German port. Her limping gait would have made her an easy victim for the fast Allied destroyers or cruisers. Did the crew succumb to the effects of a poisonous gas given off by her cargo of manganese? Hardly, it is thought because all shipping men used to cargoes of that character take precaution to eliminate the danger. Perhaps Foundered. Did the big vessel of 19,000 tons displacement, constructed with a ?; TrrltVifti n Hincr tho llPAvifiSt V1CVV U1 n kuovmuuauq VMV . weather, founder in a severe tropical storm. This theory sounds unreasonable to many who believe the ship capable of riding safely out of any storm she might encounter, yet in view of all the known circumstances the explanation is accepted by most naval officials as the most probable account for the disappearance. The Cyclops although of deep draft and broad beam carried a remarkably high and heavy superstructure. Eight great steel derricks towered over her hull, and there was other heavy framework placed above decks to give her a maximum of efficiency in loading or discharging coal. In case of a heavy list to port or starboard, perhaps to the extent of forty-five degrees, the Cyclops, burdened with her heavy derricks, was perhaps unable to swing back into equilibrium, crashed over to one side, and quickly settled. The heavy cargo of manganese might have shifted and hindered the vessel from righting after a severe list. Stormy Weather. | Moreover, vessels which returned L.to Atlantic ports about the time the Cyclops was due, reported that unusually stormy weather had been encountered in Southern waters. Caught in the trough of a heavy sea, the Cyclops might have capsized and gone uown quicKi*, magging uu\wi beneath her hull all deck equipment which otherwise might have floated on the surface as an indication of her fate. The theory that the Cyclops suddenly went down in a storm is about the only theory that adequately would explain her failure to wireless in case of danger. The fact that no radio calls ever came from the vessel is one phase that characterizes the disappearance of the ship as one of the most mysterious in modern sea annals. Leaving the West Indian harbor on March 4 the Cyclops was expected to touch at an Atlantic port on March 13. When attention was called to the fact that she was a few* days I imn IF YOU WISH we will house your auto and I take care of it for a small monthly rental. 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Every effort was made to find her, but on April 14 the department gave permission to publish the facts, which long had been withheld. Daniels Still Hopeful. Secretary Daniels still clings to , the hope that mystery will be cleared, but there are not many in the department who share his views. The call of blue water always has stirred and will stir the blood of men. But just as much as in romance, the seven seas abound in tragedy. The ocean has taken its annual heavy toll of human life from the time of the modern ocean liner and floating steel fortress, back to the days of the ancient Phoenecians who braved the wild seas of the Mediterranean in their frail craft and picked their way even to the far-off England to barter for Cornwall tin. The loss of merchant shipping ever has been great?particularly in these days of the ruthless undersea rover ?but fortunately the United States navy has carried America's flag over the world's waters for nearly a cen"CHEROKEE PLASTER" = NONE BETTER FOR STORES = RESIDENCES AND PUBLIC BU1LD10GS L. B. FOWLER V BAMBERG, S. C. - FORD PARTS ilCKLE % Bamberg, S. C. os. Marble & Granite Co. " iSIGNERS i INUFACTURERS V SECTORS a Everything for the Cemetery Y Y d best equipped monumental mills in 4% the Carolinas X Y t Y vood, S. C. Raleigh. N. C. ? f orators Serve Setter srs are urged to call by me. In a community ?rs cannot possibly reall subscribers; when elay your service and mown to the operators >n the switchboard diThe directory is your J and should be con:all. ind help the operator iLEPHONE COMPANY WW tury and a half without particularly severe losses, due to the elements. 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