Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1866-08-23
MODERN CRUSOES.
Wrecked on the Auckland
Lila mis-

were diScOveredin 1906 by Captain Bristow
of the whaling snip Ocean" The entire
group consists of one large island ant. sever
al small isletS. 1t was visited in 1910 by
Captain Wilkes. OF the American exploring
expedition. and also by Captains D'Crville
AMI Ross. in the several polar expeditions
sent out by the English and French govern
mentS Some wears afterwards the eXclu
sive use OF the group was granted to
MeSsrS. Enderby, who proposed establish
ing thereat an establishment for the prose
cutiOn of southern whale fishing. This pro
iect was at last abandoned through the oh
lrrtionable nature of the climate; and the
spot is now only occasionally visited by
vessels upon whaling or sealing voyages.
The islands, however. have recently been
rendered notorious a. The scene of a ship
wreck, the history ofthe incidents follow
inc which is scarcely less interesting than
the celebrated novel of Def0e itself
The entire narrative. given by the cap
tain of the wrecked vessel, reads like 70
nance Ii space allowed we might quote
largely from the DIARY" which Captain
Musgrave kept as long as his writing ma
terials lasted Within three hundred miles
of a population devoted to mOney-@ettin.
and in a sea often frequented by vessels
from Europe and America, there were, only
few months ago. and. from what will ap-
pear in the sequel, there may be still, many
of our countrymen cut off from the world
and leading lives such as not a few readers
of Defoe's story have thought TO be unnat-
ural even two centuries ago.
BY the DIARY above mentioned it ap-
pears that the Inflated Grafton (the name
of the vessel alluded toy sailed from Sydney
on a sealing voyage early in November 1853
ill-luck in hunting. until the Auckland is
lands. the scene ofthe crews Imprisonment
for nearly two years, were made on the Both
of December in the same year. On New
Years Day. 1861. the captain ran his vessel
for shelter into a harbOr ofthe island called
'Sarah's Bosom and, in consequence of in
sufficient ground-tackle. three DAYS after
wards the vessel was driven upon the
shore a total wreck. Happily all hands
four men. exclusive of the captain-were
safely landed; but. aS the voyage undcrta-
ken was expected to be short one. what
provisions were on board at the time were
barely sufficient to- last over a couple of
months, even with the most rigid economy.
The ship, as may he supposed, remained no
longer tenable and the only resource was to
get up "A shelter against the elements with
all convenient despatch. AT first rude
tent seems to have been extempOrized out
of the ships sails; but afterwards hut
with door and window, thatched with grass.
divided into two compartments and rough
" furnished, came TO be erected Even
this could hardly have been achieved with
ont great difficulty. The stock OF tools on
hand is described as miserably small. con-
siSting only of hammer, an axe, an
adZe. and a gimlet. The trees Oftbe island,
too, were dwarfed and stunted, especially
Ill suited to building purposes. Neverthe
less. indomitable perseverance succeeded so
far in making the party tOlerahly comforta-
bic that the mosquitoes. the blOw-ilieS, the
OCCASIONAL visits of intrusive seals-pOssi-
bly, coming to look at their old enemys
discomfiture-and Captain MuSgraves uu-
pleasant thoughts relative to his bereaved
family at home, seem to have been the prin-
cipal troubles. The seals. although intru-
sive. were probably the salvation OF the en-
tire community. Their flesh supplied food:
their skins were made into boots and cloth
inr. whilst the very journal itself was, for
the most part, written with seals blood.
Hunting these down. too, seems
TO have been the most exciting event in
their monotonous history An attack of a
huge male upon one of the men. and the
rescue oftlIe poor fellow by his conn a1ions
in captivity. is described with much spirit
and graphic power. Indeed. such an oppO-
nent was by no means TO be despised. The
teeth of one seal measured three inches i'm
length. and five and three-guarters in cir
conference at the base. y bite from Jaws
so furnished would have certainly resulted
in broken limb: and the clubs of the
hunters seem to have been often seized by
the enraged animals. In battles with their
own kind, two males are said to fight like
bulldogs tearing each other silently for
hours together; and one huge monster, seen
directly after combat, had wounds in his
flesh many inches in length, yet seemed to
I've taking things with great cOOlneeS, and
to be bearing his '.bleeding hOnOrs" with
all the stoicism of an Indian brave. The
tenacitv of life too, in these animals is in
stanced as remarkable, and is worth motto
ing What seems the most singular Is. that
this tenacity appeared to increase or di-
fninish as the animal happened to be near or
distant from his native element. Thus Cap
tain Musgrave assures us that whilst a very
slight blow with club would but seal
horse du combat suppOsing the fight occurred
some distance inland. yet the same animals.
if attacked near the sea, and receiving manp
wounds apparently fatal. were secured with
difficulty-nay. often escaped altogether.
Another strange freak of the seals would
the interior of the island. In nearly all
the exploring expeditions of the captain
did he meet with seal tracks, and upon one
occasion he saw a large seal upon the
mountain, at an altitude of nearly a thou
sand feet above the sea level.
No diseases seem to have made their APP
pearance among the party, which was
great blessing. since they were totally UNI
provided with indictments. The captain,
however, complained of bOils breaking out
upon every part of his body. The good
health they enioyed on the whole is ac-
counted for by the amount of exercise
they took of necessity. Hunting, building,
exploring, and at last ship building, occu
pied nearly the whole of their time, Sun
days excepted, which were always kept re-
ligiously. With all this, however, some
few amusements appear to have been re-
sorted to. Like RObinsoe CrrIsOe, they
trapped parrots and learned them to speak.
Once they caught, and completely tanned,
wild cat In one portion of the journal
Captain Musgrave writes despondingly of
his men, as likely to grow down-hearted;
but afterwards he regains all his former au-
thority by initiating a series of Scripture
readings and teachings. 80 much, he
saws. 'for moral influence"
Besides sealfish, they had as food wild
geons, fish, berries, and the root of plant
described as being a tolerable substitute for
the potato. The latter is spoken Of as hav-
ing sweetish taste, so much so that sugar
was made from it, and by fermentation also
kind of beer; the latter, however, gave
those who drank of it severe bowel COM
plants, so that its use had to be diseontin-
ued.