Periodic speculation as to the fate of the U.S.S. Cyclops, which mysteriously disappeared with all on board during the World War, may easily lead the student of naval history into interesting paths of search for early and equally unaccountable disappearances of U.S. naval vessels.
The first instance to be found in Navy Department records is that of the U.S. sloop of war Saratoga, 16, Captain Young. This little vessel, being chased by H.M.S. Intrepid, 74, in October, 1780, clapped on sail for the Delaware capes, and managed to elude her powerful pursuer; but she was never sighted again, and it is presumed the sloop foundered in a squall, drowning her entire crew.
Then the U.S. frigate Insurgente, 36, Captain Fletcher, sailed in July, 1800, on a cruise, with instructions to keep between longitudes 66° and 68°, and to run as far south as 30° north latitude. After this ship left the Virginia capes, no authentic account was ever received of her or her complement, except for a few private letters sent in by vessels spoken at sea.
This superb frigate, captured from the French by Truxtun in the U.S.S. Constellation, 38, on February 8, 1799, simply vanished from the sight of man.
But the loss of the U.S. ship-sloop Wasp, 22, Captain Blakely, in 1814, furnished food for an unusual amount of speculation at that time, because of the circumstances of her disappearance.
The Wasp, measuring 509 tons and built in Newburyport at a cost of 77,459.60, had been commissioned early in that year, and soon won renown as a speedy and a lucky ship.
Sailing from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in May, Captain Blakely headed for the English Channel, and proceeded to capture prize after prize from England’s merchant fleet. Then, on June 28, she bagged different game in the form of H.M. sloop of war Reindeer, 18, which she took after a spirited action. On September 1, she forced H.M. sloop of war Avon, 18, to surrender, but was unable to take possession of her prize, owing to the appearance of a superior British force comprising the Castilian, 18, and Tartarus, 20, who arrived on the scene in time to save the survivors of the Avon’s crew, before that vessel sank.
The Wasp took her next naval prize on September 21, in latitude 33°-12' N., longitude 14°-56' W., when H.M. dispatch brig Atalanta, 8, found herself under Blakely’s guns. Midshipman Geisinger and a prize crew were sent on board with orders to take the brig into a United States port. The Atalanta reached Savannah on November 4, bringing the last direct word ever received from Blakely.
Various rumors were circulated as to the probable cause of her loss, but nothing that can be deemed authentic was ever ascertained. It will be seen that the ship had run as far south as the Azores, when Mr. Geisinger left her. In fact, she was cruising between those islands and the Straits of Gibraltar, when Captain Blakely wrote the letter sent to America by the prize Atalanta. There was a rumor that an English frigate put into Cadiz about this time, much damaged and with a heavy loss of men. She was said to have reported being in action with a heavy American corvette, the latter disappearing so suddenly in the stormy night, that it was thought she had sunk. This story can be traced to no reliable source.
Another account had the ship wrecked on the coast of Africa, and for a short time it was believed the crew were prisoners among the Arabs. The probability is that the Wasp foundered in a heavy gale or squall, although it is entirely possible that her end came through the accidental explosion of her magazine.
An incident occurred a few years after the last direct intelligence has been received from the ship that suddenly rekindled public interest in the mystery. In a search for the whereabouts of Acting Lieutenant McKnight and Master’s Mate Lyman, officers of the U.S.S. Essex, 32, when that ship was taken by H.M.S. Phoebe, 36, and H.M.S. Cherub, 18, off the South American coast in 1814, new imformation of the Wasp came to light.
According to the report of Captain Hillyar of the Phoebe, these men had been exchanged and had taken passage for England to give testimony in condemnation proceedings against the prize, in a Swedish brig from the port of Rio de Janeiro. The master of that brig, being at last found, proved by his logbook and other papers, that he had spoken the U.S.S. Wasp at sea, and that his two passengers had taken the opportunity to place themselves under their country’s flag.
The following is an extract from the log of the Swedish brig Adonis, on voyage from Rio de Janeiro to Falmouth in the year 1814:
August 23—Left Rio de Janeiro; Stephen Decatur McKnight and James Lyman, passengers for England.
October 9—In latitude 18°-35' N., longitude 30°-10' W., sea account, at 8 o’clock in the morning, discovered a strange sail giving chase to us, and fired several guns; she gaining very fast. At 10:30 o’clock hove to, and was boarded by an officer dressed in an English doctor’s uniform, the vessel also hoisted English colors. The officer examined my papers, likewise the letter- bags, and took from one of them a letter to the victualling-office, London. Finding I had two American officers as passengers, he immediately went back to the sloop of war; he shortly after returned, took the American gentlemen with him, and went a second time aboard the sloop- In about half an hour, he returned again with Messrs. McKnight and Lyman, and they in* formed me that the vessel was the United States sloop of war Wasp, commanded by Captain Blakely, last from France where she had refitted—that Messrs. McKnight and Lyman had determined to leave me and go aboard the Wasp—paid me their passage money in dollars, at 5s 6d, and having taken their luggage on board the Wasp, they made sail to the southward. Shortly after they left, I found that Lieutenant McKnight had left his writing desk behind; and I immediately made sail toward her, making signal for the Wasp to return; they, sighting my signal, stood back, came alongside, and sent their boat for the desk; after which they sent me a logline and other presents, and made all sail in the direction of the line; and I have reason to suppose for the convoy that passed me on the Thursday previous.
This is the last glimpse the world had of the Wasp. It is sixteen days later than that brought to America by the prize, and places the ship about 900 miles farther south, and about 600 miles farther west, than she was when Mr. Geisinger left her. There is little doubt that Captain Blakely intended to run down toward the Spanish Main, and to pass through the West Indies in order to get into a southern port, according to his orders.
There is only one other rumor concerning the Wasp that bears any trace of possibility. It was said that two English frigates chased an American sloop of war off the southern coast about the time the Wasp should have arrived there, and that the three ships were struck by a violent squall in which the sloop of war suddenly disappeared. There would be nothing surprising in a vessel of that size being capsized in a squall, especially when under a press of canvas carried during a chase, but it would seem very extraordinary if no traces were found of her wreckage on the sea or drifted ashore. Such traces were never found, or at least never identified as being a part of the gallant little cruiser.