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The Seaforth News, 1961-11-30, Page 2V • ♦ F I T ' Spotted Salvage Worth Millions Up from South Africa on her maiden voyage, the 0,759 -ton freighter Oregon steamed into the shoaling tide -ripped Atlantic waters south of Nantucket Island early of a gray. December morn- ing almost exactly twenty years ago, With any kind of. luck — despite the wartime blackout im- posed three days earlier, after the attack on Pearl Harbour — the Oregon would be dockside in Boston Harbour before the day was out, discharging the first of 14,076 bales of high- grade wool. Unseen by the 42 officers and men in the Oregon, the battle- ship New Mexico, in company with four screening destroyers, was booming south through the same waters, hastening to join the stricken Pacific Fleet. Like the Oregon, none of the "war- ships was showing a light and, in that first week of the war, none had radar. At 4.42 a.m. the Oregon and the New Mexico collided. The New Mexico, slightly da- maged, detached one destroyer to stand by the Oregon and pro- ceeded toward Norfolk, Va., for repairs. The Oregon, despite a great rip in her starboard side, was taking no water and so sent the destroyer about her busi- ness. The Oregon sailed on to Boston at full speed of 13 knots. Shortly after the destroyer left, however, the wind freshened and heightening waves began wash- ing aboard. The Oregon went to the bot- tom within a matter of hours, with a loss of seventeen lives, Since that dim and near -for- gotten day, the Oregon and her cargo of golden fleece, worth perhaps 53 million at current wool prices, has eluded every effort at recovery. And the job seems tantalizingly easy. T h e depth — under 200 feet — is well within the reach of divers, The wool is tightly compressed and thick with lanolin so that the bales, once freed from the hold, should bob to the surface. But only one man out of the scores who have searched—fish- ermen and salvage experts, div- ers and plain adventurers ever so much as claimed to have seen the Oregon. And he brought up no wool. Understandably then, a report HELPS HERSELF—Debbie Sue Brown, 5, the 1962 U.S. March of Dimes National Poster Child, helps herself to a drink thanks to those who 'helped her through giving to the March of Dimes. She was born with an open spine which hod to be closed by surgery when she was eight. She wears the half -leg braces for corrective purposes. that the Oregon had bean foetid recently set in motion a tidal wave of envy and increduli from Point Judith to Wo e Hole. The man who discovered the wreck; Burton Mason, a 30 - year -old diver'previously known for his efforts to raise the last German submarine sunk in World War II. A breezy, bearded extrovert, from Trumbull, Conn„ Mason paused in his preparations for recovering the wool to tell how an educated guess and an instru- ment often used to find oil led him to the wreck. "I started searching last August," he said, "and made repeated runs with a fathometer over the spot shown on the charts for the wreck, Nothing. "I became convinced that the chart, whidh was marked with bearings that had been taken from the bridge of a sinking ship, was wrong." By this time, in Mason's words, he was "down to 32 cents and a secondhand razor blade." Surrendering his salvage rights to t h e ship's insurers, Mason went to Boston and there per- suaded an adventurous State Street tax attorney, John S, Bottomly, to take up the rights and give Mason a contract to continue the hunt. Thus bankrolled and furnish- ed with an elaborately equipped 76 -foot dragger, the Captain Bill III, Mason got Aero Service Corp. of Philadelphia, an aerial - mapping a n d oil - prospecting firm, to come to his aid with a device known as the magneto- meter, which detects certain un - d e r w a t e r and underground masses by noting changes in the earth's magnetic field. "I don't know why nobody else ever thought of the magnetometer," Mason said. "It's been available ever since World War II." In 45 minutes, guiding the Captain Bill III by radio, a mag- netometer operator in Aero Ser- vice's Beechcraft led Mason straight to the hulk, The spot) Just off Asia Rip and the Phelps Bank fishing grounds, within sight of Nantucket Lightship and Texas Tower No. 3 — and not many miles from where the Ita- lian liner Andrea Doria lies on the bottom. The Atlantic did its best to deny Mason a glimpse of his prize. Wearing free -diving gear, Mason started down the anchor cable. "It was whipping • very hard," he said. "The sea kept pulling my mask off my face and filling it with water. I managed to get down to 85 feet where a tremendous surge pull- ed my helmet and flippers right off and damn near ripped me off the cable." Later, after another futile dive, the Captain Bill III's crew rigged a 1,500 -pound cement block on chain and cable and dropped it. Mason tried again, "The current was mild and the visibility pretty good," he said. "At 9.5 feet I ran into a school of tuna so thick I could see nothing. At about 100 feet I saw the wreck and landed 6 feet from the block." After exploring the immediate area, Mason surfaced and com- pared his underwater observa- tions with a photograph of the Oregon. "1 found I had probably been on the port side of .the fly- ing bridge," he said• "Everything on the bridge matches the pic- tures. As this was written, Mason was intending to return to the scene and, he hopes, bring up the first bales of the Oregon's wool, "It's just a mechanical problem now," Mason said. ' From NEWSWEEK ATOMIC AFTERMATH—Nurse Anja Valve of the chemis- try department of Helsinki University measures the blood pressure of Oula Nakkalajarvi, a Laplander from northern Finland undergoing tests for radioactivity. It is feared that the Lapps have been indirectly contaminated by the recent Soviet nuclear explosions, Reindeer, the Lapps' chief' food, feed mainly on lichen which, because of. Its slow growth, preserves radioactivity for possibly as long as 30 years, STAR BRIGHT — Sophia. Loren is on the set again making another film, this one in Lugo, Italy, for Director Vittorio De Sica (left). She is playing a shooting gallery owner. np w*c-�,.,.a�..r�± RON IL..C1r.ir!rS (3101NGERFAIle,14') Other people go shopping, visiting or have a day down- town without incident but whenever I do any of these things I seem to run into the unusual — sometimes pleasant, sometimes not, What happened last Tuesday bordered on the bizarre. I. was having a lot of pain and inflammation in one eye so I went to see my oculist downtown. That appointment naturally took me into a build- ing almost entirely given over to offices for doctors, dentists and so on. I got into a crowded elevator and just before the door closed a man more or less push- ed his way in carrying what ap- peared to be a box of chocolates. Turning to the elevator girl ,he said as he opened the box — "For Dr. Blank — nice box of chocolates, eh?" He gave me an Takes Little Time $ f ewn4Wtee Trim bhe tree with sparkling. "jewels" — children will love this gay Christmas slipper! jif- fy knit — thrifty — ideal gift. Just ribbing added forms cuff. Pattern 843: chart; directions for child's sizes 4 through le included in pattern. Send THIRTY-FIVE CENTS (stamps cannot be accepted, use postal note for safety) for this pattern to Laura Wheeler, Box 1, 123 Eighteenth St., New Tor- onto, Ont. Print plainly PAT- TERN NUMBER, your NAME and ADDRESS, FOR •THE FIRST TIME! Over 200 designs in our new, 1962 Needlecraft Catalogue — biggest everl Pages, pages, pages of fashions, home accessories to knit, crochet, sew, weave, em- broider, quilt, See jumbo -knit hits, cloths. spreads, toys, linens, afghans plus free patterns, Send 25¢, Ontario residents must include to Sales Tax for each CATA- LOG ordered. There is no sales tax on the patterns. inquiring look, knowing very well I, too, had seen the con- tents of the box. Without stop- ping to think it wasno business of mine I said involuntarily — "Looks more like a blood-stain- ed knife to me!" "That's just exactly what it. is. Old Doc Blank carved me up a few months ago so I'm just taking him a reminder!" The effect was probably the result of red paint but what I saw was, to all intents and pur- poses, a blood-stained short - handled knife lying on a bed of red -splattered cotton batting, I wonder if the doctor appreci- ated his patient's peculiar brand of humour. Later that day I was walking past a section of the subway construction job when I noticed a workman standing beside three cylinders of propane gas. Or maybe it wasn't — I don't really know. Anyway the man was fooling around with the nozzle and I heard escaping gas or air, or something. Perhaps he was only testing the nozzle be- fore connecting the pipe, Bei I wasn't taking any chances and got by in a hurry. On the crowded bus coming kerne I witnessed this pleasing little incident. Two girls, about ten and Twelve„ sat near me. They warms nary Nue uniforms so evidently they came from a private aclesol,. One approached en elderly man,. the ether an oldish lady Fairlie said — "Would you' please take my seat?" I just felt wares all over. We hear a lot of criticism about the younger generation Ito) here were two little girls, without anyone to prompt them, gener- ously offering their seats to two • elderly people. I couldn't let that pass without comment. "You are very thoughtful girls," I said to the one nearest to me. She just beam e d, After all everyone, especially a child. likes to be appreciated. My next stop was at a local druggist's to have my prescrip- tion filled. I waited fifteen min- utes. Another woman was also waiting and kept up. a steady conversation with . the druggist about her allergiesand the num- ber of drugs with which ser doctor had treated her. el could just imagine!) Then alae got on to her daughter's troubles and why it was impossible for the daughter's. children to. be born naturally:. She was east describ- ing the second' Caesarean when tlee either druggist came along with my prescription so i was a,lere to snake good my re.; ape. II wander — have some folk completely lost all sense cf mo- deety and reticence? Is it neces- sary to broadcast one's symp- toms and aflegies for all the world to hear? Believe me,' I felt sorry for that young phar- macist. incidentally, while I don't appreciate intimate per- sonal details I do like hospital dramas such as Dr. Kildare, Ben Casty and the Young Doctors. Leear in the weak I visited a home for the eged w h e r e I know several of the residents, I also met others. Delving home I tho•ughf of the difference in their personalities, Mrs. A. I had known for about forty years. She uses a crutch now to get around but mentally she is as alert now as she ever was. Being in need of medical care and not having anyone to look after her she reluctantly decided upon resi- dence in this home for the aged. ISSUE 47 - . 1961 I asked if she was happy. „Yes," also said; "Because I made up my mind I had to be, I have no reason to complain, We are well fed. and well eared for but it was some time before I could reconcile myself to histltutional care. But my friends don't tor - get me. I get taken out and home for supper. Sometimes I even get invited to an Institute meeting," Well, friends, if we live long enough we, too, shall be old, and whet we are now probably determines cur pattern for the future.. Cheerful andtolerant querulous and complaining — which shall we be? Incidentally at a luncheon the other day I sat next to Edna Jaques, Many of you Will re- member her lovely little poems. Years ago she wrote these lines. "Oh, let me mellow with the years And not grow old and stale!" Believe me, this talented and charming little lady has fulfilled her wish. -She has, indeed, grown "mellow with the years." How About A Game Of Mah Jongg? The exotic lingo of the ancient Chinese game of male jongg ("three barn," "East Wind"), was a common sound in many an American home back in the '20s. Then contract bridge swept the nation, and few people had the patience to cope with mah jongg's inscrutable rules. Only a straggle of diehard women kept on building "hands" of flowers, dragons, and winds with painted tiles. Last month, about twenty of these stalwarts gathered earnest- ly in a tiny New York office to press on with' a series of test games which will end in mid- , January. The ladies—the board of directors of the National Malt Jongg League—are trying to de- cide whether there should be, among other things, a change, in the number of flower tiles, The rulings they hand down will af- fect hundreds of thousands. of American women who have, in the past five years, returned to the favorite game of their mo- thers, "Our membership has tripled in the past five years," Mrs, Her - ma Scheffer, blond league pres- ident, explained. "Just in Illinois, membership has boomed from 2,000 to 15,000. We think the main reason for the new interest in mah jongg is the introduction of big jokers two years ago," she said, "These are like canasta jokers and add an element of chance to the game." The joker tiles are now included in sets. A good' male-jongg set costs about $25. It ibeludes 152 Mee, four racks, dice., chips (the various winning hands have different monetary valises), and carrying case, Even though a_ lot of old sets are being: retrieved Evora American attics tithe league' sells joker decals to bring them: up to' date), the two major Manufac- turers, Cardinal anti! A&L,. Bath say they can't keep) up, wart: orders. "It doesn't take a college eche- cation to learn mah jtmgg,"" Mrs.. Scheffer insisted. "Spine people. play a good game afters ane les- son. Oe course, there are.' some who hare played twenty: tears and they're just awful,. but they don't know it. All mahi, j'ongg players consider themselves, ex- perts." When a young mother• found her six-year-old son busily put- ting a bandage around his thumb, she said, "You poor ehird;. what happened?" "I hit it with a, ham- mer and it hurts." "Bud I didn't hear you cry." "I didn't ere.. It thought you were: out., Modern Rigueffe tic Anne 1t,8hley f5, Is a godmother or godfather supposed to'r emeipher tae child's birthday with a gift each year? .. A. Not neveesarily, A theist - ening prt',•ant is expected, but anything beyond that depetids upon how merle you think of the child, Usually, it's nice for the godparent to remember the child's birthday with a card. Q. If a man who does not have a ear goes out With a girl who tines, i$ lie supposed to pay for the gasoline? A, Ills first suggestion of the evening should be a stop at a service station for sonic gasoline for his girl's ear, Q, Ts it ever proper to leave one's spoon in the coffee cup or in a bowl of any kind during a meal? A. No — the only exception being; When soup is served in a soup plate, the spoon is left in it,' handle extending over the right edge, parallel to the table edge and, if you're served iced tea, with no saucer under the glass, you leave your spoon in the glass, holding it aside with your first and second fingers as you drink, Just Like Baby's i PRIM il. L'1.,) PA:1, i Y110..01 INFANT DOLL WARDROBE 4870 FOR DOLL 10"-20" TALL 14 ill/line, Afc,ntiS Delight a little girl with thin beautiful wardrobe for her new bslly, doll!' Easy -sew pattern in- cl'ud'es. bunting„ snow -suit, over- alll set„ seat,. lent„ dress,. !bile slip and' panties'„ Ilse remnants. Painted Pattern) 4820` For dells, 14 12;, 14,. 16;, 1131. 2'0) Mcites,. Please state size:. Send' FIFTY. CENTS ((stamps clarinet be accepted;. use postal note• for safety)) for this pattern:. Please print .preiixry S;EZ'E;. NAME; A D'D R E S,. STYLE: ' Ni115"••'ri.. Seed. order to• Anne? .Addams,. Box 1. 123 Eighteenth S.t.,. New Toronto, tenet.. FALL'S 1'00: BEST FASHIONS; — separates.. dresses, suits,, en- aemblee, alll sizes;, all! fn, our nes Pattt'ms Estal'og iia, coyer;. Sew' for ycurself„ family. 3'5i.. (Mame, resid'ermts:,most ineltad'o' is Stiles. 'Viz Ilea eerie CATA- LOG ordered! There is no, sales, tan en the. lta.tteirme. CATTY CORNER -- While Julie, 8, reads up on felines, Fluffy, the puss, grabs a catnap ondesk top, Fluffy follows Julie to school every day but shows no inclination toward education, even about cats.