HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1962-08-16, Page 7Message in Bottle
Solves Sea Mystery
[ took to the battle out of
sheer sett -salt bravado this day
I found myself alone in a bout
with my mother-in-law, six miles
out at sea, I tools an empty pelf
bottle from the galley, and, while
she talked incessantly, I gravely
scribbled a note, pushed it into
s bottle and flung it overboard
with a flourish.
She paused just long enough to
ask ole what on earth I thought
I was doing,
"When at sea," I growled, gaze
log stolidly ahead, "I always
write to my friends like this,"
There was a ten second silence
while she contemplated this
stunning news,
"But do • they," her eyes were
little glazed, "get delivered?"
"Sure," I lied. "Every single
one,"
"Iviay 1 mai] a bottle, too?"
she asked meekly.
"Certainly," I replied.
And fbr the rest of that 75 -
mile voyage by niy cabin cruiser
I was able to contemplate the
blue horizon in splendid silence
while my normally talkative
mother-in-law scribbled notes to
her friends and mailed them in
bottles.
All sea -going bottle -throwers
are in distinguished company, for
the patron -saint of bottle -throw-
ing was none other than Christi-
pher Columbus.
On his way to the Indies in
1492 he mailed a bottled message
to Isabella I of Spain. It bobbed
on its way for 359 years before
being picked up near Gibraltar
by an American merchant -skip-
per, John Haynes, who delivered
It personally to Isabella II!
One recovered from the id-
eated Lusitania brought to light
new details of that tragic marine
disaster.
"Still on deck," the message
read, "along with a few people,
The last boats have left, We are
oinking fast,
"The orchestra is still playing
bravely, Some .hen near me are
praying with a priest. The end
le near. Maybe this note will , ."
Here the message ended ab-
ruptly.
Bottled messages have often
explained the total disappearance
Of ships. One was the Huronlan,
which in 1902 sailed from Glas-
gow into oblivion.
Four months after the disap-
pearance, a bottle was washed on
$o the coast near Owl's Head,
Nova Scotia, The enclosed mes-
eage said: "Huronian turned tur-
tle in Atlantic Sunday night,
Fourteen of us in boat."
Five years later the discovery
of a second bottle on the beach
of Castlerock, Ireland, left no
doubt as to the ship's tragic end.
"Huronain sinking fast," the
message read. "Top-heavy. One
side under water. Good-bye,
mother and sisters (Signed)
Charles McFall, greaser,"
Investigation showed the
steamer did indeed carry a
greaser by that name, and the
mother and sisters recognized the
handwriting.
It was 151 years before the
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STRAWBERRY PICKING, NEW STYLE - High school girls lie face down to pick strawberries on ❑ platform which
moves mechanically through the rows of berries, The device was Invented by the grower to speed the harvest.
last words written by a Japanese
seaman named Matsuyama were
plucked from the waves,
They told how his ship em-
barked on a search for a treasure
island, only to be overcome by
storms. Cast on an uninhabited
coral reef in mid Pacific, he and
his forty-four companions died
of starvation, writes Paul Brock
in "Tit -Bits,"
One of the strangest and most
dramatic of ocean messages was
delivered by a bottle found on
the Australian coastline near
Fremantle in 1938,
Two boys were playing on a
lonely beach when they saw an
albatross struggling feebly on
the sand.
It had choked itself with a
large fish, but the boys noticed
that round its neck was a metal
strip, roughly made.
On it was written in French:
"Thirty sailors have taken ref-
uge on the Crozet Islands, Help,
for the love of God." The date
was twelve days earlier.
A French gunboat was sent to
investigate. On his return the
commander reported that the
message was genuine,
The islands are normally un-
inhabited, and he found them
deserted but the stores of food
and water always maintained
there for shipwrecked mariners
had gone. In their place he found
another message.
It said that supplies were ex-
hausted and the seamen were
starving. They were going to
try to cross to another island in
the hope of reaching a fresh
store of food. They died in their
desperate attempt.
A few bachelors, thinking they
had nothing to lose, have en-
trusted proposals of marriage to
the sea in sealed bottles address-
ed to the first woman to read the
proposal.
Some have been accepted, and
couples in distant lands have
found romance through such
bottled humour.
An organization called the In-
ternational Bottle Club was
formed in 1926 expressly to con-
duct correspondence by bottled
mail.
On more than one occasion
membership of the club proved
useful to men who were prison-
ers of war in Germany during
the 1939-45 War,
One Englishman managed to
mail a bottle in the Rhine and
for two months it bobbed its way
through the closely -guarded Kiel
Canal to Russia,
The British Consul at Lenin-
grad received it and transmitted
the message to the sender's home
in England.
BRIDGE OF ROCK ---- Nature, the master builder, fashioned
on awesome spectacle in spanning this huge gap with the
rrlaterial at hand - a thick layer of rock. The bridge was
formed over the centuries by wind and rain erosion. The
View through the span affords visitors a panoramic view of
Natural Bridge State Park which Is located near Slade, Ky.
TllEL&1N FRONT
Jokz
Two efforts, each designed to
improve the farmer's economic
position, are driving towards a
possible collision in the U.S.
nation's corn fields, One is push-
ing for increased productivity;
the other for reduction of out-
put to remove surpluses.
Will it be possible, by skillful
direction, to harness these ef-
forts so that they will work to-
gether in the farmer's behalf
and for the common welfare?
* *
Experts say the answer is yes,
if farmers can achieve at the
same time both higher produc-
tivity per acre and reduced total
production - or greatly expand-
ed markets. Recognition of the
need to do this and the great
difficulty of doing it lie behind
much proposed controversial
farm legislation such as the cur-
rent farm bill,
•
* 4
Each of these efforts has its
defense. Those working for
greater efficiency in production
argue that a farmer's income
will rise if he can produce two
bushels of corn with the labor,
materials, and land formerly re-
quired to produce one. The ex-
periment stations of the United
States Department of Agricul-
ture and the land grant colleges,
plus the farm supply lieu. stry,
have been working for decades
in this field. Their achievements
are remarkable. They have help-
ed American farmers acquire
technical ability that brings ad-
miring observers to their fields
from all around the world to
study and learn,
* * a
On the other side are those
whose chief concern is the too -
great production of American
farms. They point out the clas-
sical axiom that production in
excess of demand ruins prices.
They have endorsed government
programs to buy up excess pro-
duction, and many of them fa-
vor government - enforced con-
trols to shrink the nation's ag-
ricultural plant This is the kind
of reasoning that led to the soil
bank. It has had much to do
with the administration's cur-
rent farm bill.
There are differences of opin-
ion about controls and how they
should be exerted, but very few
people would favor putting a
check on technological progress.
An exception was the garden
club lady who proposed to this
writer the other day a farm plan
of her own: return to horse-
drawn plows to cut production
costs. "Farriers could raise their
own horses and wouldn't have
to buy tractors or commercial
fertilizer," she said.
* * a
To most people, however. it
seems good sense for the farmer,
like the manufacturer, to make
his opration as efficient as pos-
sible One fertilizer manufactur-
er puts it this way in his adver-
tisement of a new product:
"Every farmer knows that most
of hi; harvest mcnme mu -1 ee
set aside to take care of fixed
farm costs , seed, land, trac-
tors, labor, maintenance, and a
dozen other expenses. (Includ-
ing, not least, fertilizer. which he
does not specifically mention )
Your profit is what's left over.
you must grow more "
+ + +
Naturally the fertilizer com-
panies plead for bigger produc-
tion per acre, writes Dorothea
Hahn Jaffe in the Christian Sci-
ence Monitor. But they are not
the only ones who look with fa-
vor on means to increase yield.
In the current kale. of The Na-
tion's Aerirulture, publication of
the American Farm Bureau Fed-
eration, an article on a new
method of growing corn is intro-
duced with this statement:
"If you grow corn you are on
the threshold of your greatest
year. A new era is here in corn
farming which will lift the yield
potential of your corn ground
just as surely es hybrid corn did
in the early '40's and nitrogen
fertilizer in the early '50's, Good
corn farmers who are now regu-
larly growing 100 bushel crops
will soon be aiming at 140 or
even 150 bushels per acre."
+ e
In view of the long period
American corn land has been in
use, this is impressive. In 1866,
when the land was fresh to the
plow, the national average corn
yield was only 24.3 bushels. In
1960 it was b3 bushels, and the
trend is up. Good farmers with
good land- now frequently double
the national average.
k
* +
The new method outlined in
The Nation's Agriculture article
is one which calls for a three -
pronged approach to planting
and cultivating. A hybrid seed
has been developed which pro-
duces a type of corn that can
be planted more thickly and
which responds to the use of
greater amounts of fertilizer.
The three steps recommended
are these: 1. "Use higher per-
formance hybrids; 2. Increase
your planting rate; 3. Apply ad-
ditional fertilizer." But it is nec-
essary to do all three at the same
time, this article points out, for
each depends upon the others
for its success.
With these increases forecast,
what is the next step for agricul-
ture?? While for the present
some form of output control
seems necessary, in the long rue.,
many farmers are saying, some
way will have to be found to
make this country's w•onderfut
increasing productivity serve hu-
manity's needs.
Porpoises Are
Fr:enslly Creatures
Even though porpoises as a
group do not seek wholesale
physical contact with human be-
ings, there is no denying the fact
that they are very much interest-
ed in their land -dwelling friends.
These animals are famous for
their tendency to swim toward
almost any boat or vessel that is
near them, They will also come
close to swimmers and divers, as
we have seen. In this respect the
dolphin is unique in that it ap-
pears to be what might be called
"man -oriented" Instead of run-
ning at the sight of a person -
like the timid creatures of the
woods -it seems to seek proxim-
ity with human beings. Its atti-
tude is ever more friendly, per -
hap., than thst of the domesti-
cated dcg cr horse. I have seen a
porpoise swim hack and forth
inside an encic urs, keeeing pace
with a strolling person who
walked back and forth on the
dock beside it.
When captured or kept out of
the water, porpoises remain per-
fectly quiet and do not thrash
or struggle like fishes or shark.,
They are commonly carried from
place to place on a hospital
streteher or litter. When hand ed
in this manner they co-operate
full:• and seem to be aware of
what is going on. , •
Porpoises are certainly engag-
ing and delightful animals. Sail-
ors have tong regarded their pre-
sence about a ship as a good
omen. Not only are they fasci-
neting+ tai watch in .lotion, but
their st eamlinell forms are also
attractive in repose, Even the
mouth has a curvature which is
often interpreted as a "built-in"
smile, although the animal has
no power of movement to pro-
duce a change in its contour.
Without doubt, the porpoise's
most common form of play is the
familiar frolicking and leaping
about the bows of moving boats
or vessels, Woodcock (1948) was
the first to note that in the
course of this activity, a porpoise
sometimes gets a free ride by
"coasting down" the bow -wave.
Riding the bow -wave of a ship
at sea is a trick practiced only
by dolphins or porpoises, al-
though in theory it might also be
done by other animals such as
seals, manatees, walruses, or even
fishes, - From "Porpoises and
Sonar," by Winthrop N, Kellogg.
Travelling West
In Ancient Style
For nine long months the Gillis
family of Virginia trekked across
the nation in a creaking, home -
male Conestoga wagon. Beset by
blizzards and sandstorms, crack-
ling cold and withering heat, the
3,500 -mile journey was not an
easy one, At one point, a pet
rooster's leg froze and had to b9
amputated.
But, finally, the wagon lum-
bered OY@r the jest sagsbrush-
covered mountain and there,
spread out In all its glittering
reality, was the family's goal -
the neon -striped, gaudily impos-
sible complex that is Los An-
geles, circa 1962.
The Last Wagon West left
Providence Forge, Va., in Sep-
tember of 1981 after 41 -year-old
Leon Gillis sold his sporting -
goods store because he and his
wife, Iyone, decided their six
children should "see America
the way it should be seen."
And see it they did, said Gillis
last month in Burbank, Calif.
"We averaged 20 miles a day if
we kept moving, but mostly we
just moseyed along, stopping any
time we pleased. We've been
taken through museums, indus-
trial plants, universities, missile
installations clear across the
country. It has been a real educa-
tion for the kids - one they
could never get in books."
In addition to Ma and Pa, clan
Gillis includes four daughters -
Lee Ann, 18, Carol, 15, and Bar-
bara, 14, and Janet, 10 - and
two sons, Alan, 16, and George, 7.
The prairie schooner was haul-
ed by two of three horses that
were rotated during the trip,
while Man rode shotgun on the
spare.
All the Giilises are in exuber-
antly good health - including a
puppy that was born en route
and Oscar, the now one -legged
rooster. "Ile was our alarm
clock," said Gillis, "Couldn't
leave him behind."
At Burbank, the family paused
laet month to make guest appear-
ances on various television pro-
grams; and will be heading north
to EL Sobrante, Calif., to visit
relatives while Gillis writes a
book of their experiences.
Americans, said Gillis, are "all
just folks- great and warm and
friendly. But they travel too fast
to see very much. At 60 miles
an hour, all you see le the white
linen
rDAYscIIoot
IESSON
By Rev. R. Barclay Warren,
S.A., B.D.
Ezekiel Pleads for Repentance
Ezekiel 2:1-7; 18:1-32
Memory Scripture: Rep en t,
and turn yourselves from all
your transgressions; 80 iniquity
shall not be your ruin. Ezekiel
18;30
The first Jewish captives were
taken to Babylon in 606 B.C. •
Three more deportations took
place within the next twenty-
five years, Ezekiel was deport-
ed with the second group, 10.000
captives in 597, Living with a
group of his countrymen slaves,
we find him by the river Chebar.
This is thought to be the large
ship canal branching off from
the Ephrates above Babylon
through Napper to the Tlgres.
To these he spoke on at teest
four major themes: (1) He
preached against the national
sins which brought Israel to
ruin, (2) He encouraged the
faith of the exiles leading them
to believe that they should some
day return. (3) He warned that
those who oppress them will
some day be judged, (4) Final-
ly, he looks into the broad ta-
ture to welcome the dawn of the
Messianic Age.
Like Jeremiah before him,
Ezekiel was warned in advance
that his task was not easy. The
rebellious people who had been
deported to foreign soil had not
changed in their basic nature.
They were still impudent and
stiff -hearted, Ezekiel is to dis-
regard their bitter words and
scornful looks, His responsibili-
ty is to be cod's spolcesniin
Whether or not they heed his
message, they will at lost knew
that "there has bees a prophet
among them."
,The exiles were doubtless say-
ing, ,'g*e are having to suffer
for the sins Of dtlr fathers." Eze-
kiel points out that while the es.-
lamity of the Jews may be re-
lated to their fathers' actions,
their present and future condi-
tion rests in their own hands.
We are responsible as individu-
als. "The soul that sinneth, it
shall die." If the wicked repent
and turn from their wickedness,
God will forgive and they shall
live. It is equally true that if
the righteous turn from nis
righteousness, and commits in-
iquity, all his righteousness shall
not be mentioned. In his sins
shall he die. We need to remem-
ber this today.
Ezekiel calls the people to re-
pentance. Sinful man can be
forgiven. This is the message
for all ages. If we would have
God's favor here and hereafter,
we must turn from our sins and
believe in the Lord Jesus C'e•st.
Q. What ran 1 do about some
of my expensive crystal goblets
that have become chipped at the
edges?
A There's nothing you can do
at home. They can, however, re-
ceive good first aid treatment
from a good glazier. Ask your
favorite store where this can be
done.
ISSUE 31 - 1962
CROSSWORD
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11. flaying :,r1 maidens
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19. Tiresome 40. Commen-
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