The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1867-10-19
For the p. C. Advertiser
For the z. C. Advertiser.
Wreck Of the w hnIeship" Canton Packet.
Treatment of tho Crew by
4. -. Con,uI..

The whaleship Canton. Packet, OF New Bedford,
commanded by Capt. Fraser, was driven ashore in a
gale ON the Sd of April last, on the coast of Japan.
Out of the thirty-seven men comprising the crew,
thirty-two reached the shore in safety, and that in a
very destitute condition, unable to save anything,
the vessel being a total wreck. The U. 5. Consul at
Hakoladi, together with the English Marshal visited
the wreck, and took the survivors with them to Ha-
kodadi. At this place the men were put to board in
Il Japanese house, furnished but two meals per day,
those consisting entirely of fish and rice, and their
beds, though the weather was freezing cold, were
simply mats thrown upon the floor with no article Of
covering. One by one, the men had parted with the
articles of clothing they could possible spare and not
go naked, to procure them bread for which they were
suffering. "Reminiscences ON their part were met
with threats by the Consul, that their fare should be
even worse If they dared to complain. When he was
ready TO transfer them TO the Consul at Yokohama,
he gave to each msn an apology for a blanket. Ar
irving at this place they were doomed to receive even
worse treatment. The Consul at Yokohama put them
to board in the lowest, dirtiest rum hole in the town;
they were given for beds old gunny bags filled with
straw and vermin, and these placed ON top Of old
liquor casks in place of a bedstead. The former &C.
cupants of these beds had been the cats, and dogs of
the neighborhood, and they even then made it their
daily lounging place, and the depository Of their filth.
Placing these men in such quarters could have been
from no desire on the part of the Consul to save
expense, for a well-known American lady in pity for
them offered to give them, all the comforts of n clean
comfortable home for the same sum that was being
paid for that great hole. Their application for cloth
ing sufficient to make a change so they might keep
themselves clean and free from vermin was unheeded,
and the only thing they could do YVES to seek the
shelter of the bushes, there wash their clothing, re-
naming naked until it had dried. In fact, so miser-
able wus their personal appearance that American
residents there, prompted by sympathy for their suf-
fering country men, did from their own pockets furnish
the means to clothe them, and 80 far as possible
resented this treatment Of American sailors cast des-
titute upon a foreign shore.
Some of these sailors, now middle age men, have
followed the sea all their lives, and speaking as n few
Of the many who peril 50 much to add TO the wealth
Of our country, ask is such treatment right? Is this
what those men are placed there forr And Is there
any probability that grievances like these viii be in
vestigatei, or will il be thrown aside as the fault
finding Of some dissatisfied sailors? / append my
name 20 this guaranteeing its truth, and if necessary
| will affirm on oath. LUKE KEEGAS, LIST Officer.