The fate of the Archduke John of Austria, who some
twelve years ago flung up his position to face the world as captain
of a merchantman, has always been something of a mystery. A Dutch engineer in the service of the United States has, however, now forwarded to the Hewes Wiener Tagebtatt an account which appears to clear it up as far as possible. While engaged at Ensenada, on the Argentine coast, in July, 1890, in supplying sand for ballast, he sold some to "John Orth," then in command of the Santa Margarita,' who took him into his cabin, and pointing to a picture of the Emperor of Austria, spoke of him as his uncle. John Orth sailed away with the ballast on board for the Straits of Magellan, and there his ship was lost in a storm, for, says the Dutch engineer shrewdly enough, "he owed me 220, which he promised to send from Valparaiso, but never sent it, which, had he been alive, he would have done." The story is a curious illustration among many of the intolerable ennui which often falls upon the cadets of reigning houses, and is the main cause of the irregularity of their lives. The only thing one does not see is why the Archduke could not have entered the Austrian Naval Service and found occupation there, as so many Archdukes have found it in the Army. Perhaps, however, the rank itself weighted and bored him, as it has weighted and bored two or three English Peers.
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