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In the following year the Pass of Balmaha, carrying a cargo of cotton valued at a million dollars, joined the fleet of mystery ships.
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In 1917 the great Navy Collier Cyclops, with a complement of 300 officers and men, disappeared in the mists and the darkness of the ever restless sea and another strange mystery was added to the long and ever increasing list of unsolved tragedies.
THE MONTE TABER
On September 14th, 1896, the Italian Bark Monte Taber struck on Peaked Hill Bars during a furious northeast gale. The disaster was attended by loss of five men, whose deaths were attended by circumstances of mysterious and almost romantic interest. It was learned that there had been three suicides on board the vessel, and the fate of the other members of the crew could not be definitely determined; they disappeared in the storm and in the breaking up of the doomed craft.
THE MONTE TABER—AFTER THE STORM HAS DONE ITS WORK
The bark hailed from Genoa, and carried a crew of twelve men, including the officers and two boys. She had a cargo of salt from Trapan, Island of Sicily, for Boston.
The craft had been struck by a hurricane on September 9th, and when off Cape Cod on the night of the 13th, in endeavoring to make Provincetown Harbor, struck the dreaded Peaked Hill Bars. She was discovered by patrolman Silvey, of the Peaked Hill Station. The night was dark as ink and the sea was running high, and smashing over the bars with terrific force, and the bark soon gave evidence of speedy destruction.