He and his fellow divers have since dedicated themselves to
identifying the Lang. So far, no positive identification
has been made, but efforts are ongoing to recover some item from
the site that can be associated with the Huntsville. In
this manner, the Popular Dive Guide Series has provided the
impetus to ponder about unidentified wrecks.
Most old wrecks are never identified positively, but have
their identities presumed by dint of a preponderance of
circumstantial evidence. One notable exception is the
Cleopatra (Shipwrecks of Delaware and Maryland: 2002
Edition), lost in 1889 after collision with the Crystal
Wave. I found a brass stencil with the vessel's name cut out
of the metal. But that kind of find is an aberration - one which
I am unlikely to repeat. Sigh . . .
On other occasions, people have brought to my attention
certain facts about a wreck of which I was previously unaware.
Recently, I received a letter from Massachusetts from one Paul
Johnson. He had just read the chapter on the loss of the
Myronus in Shipwrecks of Rhode Island and Connecticut
(2004), and took exception to an unreported fact that he found
personally important.
The schooner Myronus sank in 1907 after a collision
with the passenger steamer Tennessee. The schooner sank
in two minutes, carrying down with her the four crewmembers who
were asleep in their bunks. Only the captain and the mate
escaped; they were on deck at the time of the collision. Captain
Belatty nearly drowned because he did not know how to swim.
According to the documents in my possession, the captain was
drowning "when Joseph Kenny, a clerk of 320 Broadway ,and
Michael J. Coffin, an oiler on the United States battleship
New Jersey, jumped overboard and supported him until the
boat reached them." The boat was a lifeboat from the
Tennessee, on which 350 passengers were taking passage.
Johnson disagreed with the quoted statement because he possessed
documentation that contradicted it. He kindly sent me copies of
documents that he had gathered from a variety of sources:
contemporary newspapers, a Navy magazine, sworn depositions, and
the Treasury Department. The reason for Johnson's interest was
his relation to the rescuer, who was his grandfather. Johnson's
documents contained their own inconsistencies. For example, the
oiler was assigned variously to the USS Virginia and to
the USS New Jersey (which were sister ships). The
spelling of the name of the captain of the Myronus was
given variously as Baratty and as Bellutty. The bane of the
ardent researcher is that he is beholden to original documents
without being able to attest to their veracity.
Despite these nonconformities, official documents concurred
on two important points: the correct spelling of the name of the
oiler was Michael F. Crosson; and Crosson was awarded a medal in
recognition of his gallantry. (To add confusion, one report
boasted that the medal was struck from gold, while another
claimed that it was struck from silver. Joseph Kenny was not
mentioned in any of the supporting documentation.)
The record has now been revised and corrected with regard to
the Myronus.
I welcome copies of all documentation pertaining to
shipwrecks that I have covered in the Popular Dive Guide Series,
and pertaining to shipwrecks that I will cover in future books.
Presently I am writing about shipwrecks off the coast of
Massachusetts. Next I will write about wrecks off the coast of
Maine and New Hampshire. I am also in the process of revising
and updating Shipwrecks of Virginia. The new edition will
cover wrecks that I did not cover in the original edition; it
will also contain a section on unidentified wrecks. I will
delete those Virginia wrecks that are located in the Chesapeake
Bay, and include them in a proposed new book that will cover
Maryland and Virginia wrecks that are located in the Bay. That
should keep me busy for a while.
