The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1867-05-11
Commercial Advertiser.
Life e:, an Ocean shoal.

month"; ON French Frglte SholI. After our PAPER
hlI gone to press Saturday Lst the United States
steamer LaekauaHqa, Captain Reynolds, which
hai sailel the 18th to rescue the sIripwrecEed
which remained Oh the shoal, returned 70 port
having been absent zine days, and having fully sue
ceele1 in her erraud Of mercy. She brought the
first officer, Mr.. Hall, and tweny-six Others all in
good health. having happily been preserved from
famine and thirst
IN account Of the life Of these castaway mariners
On barren shoaI, far out sei, with TO natural
from which obtain water to allay the thirst
excited by a tropical sun, md with but a scant sup
ply Of water and provisions obtained from the wreck
may not prove uuinteresting
Whcn the captain anil his bSat's-crew Of seven
men embarked on their peri!ous voyage Of four hun
drc,I anil Ifty miles Honolulu over a tcmpestuous
ocean, the stock provisions left the shoa for tie
subsistence of the remaining tenty-seven souls con-
sisted Of about hundred AMI forty gallons Of
water Of which bracksh, AMI bread enough
last weeks, ii used moderately. The bread,
however had got saturated with salt water, and
Of pulp This constituted all the provisions
slvel from the wreck, exclusive Of that which the
Captain took in his boat As he disappeared in the
shades cf night the afternoon of the 16th various
were the emotions Of those vino were left behind
WouII they ever see him again, and would not his
boat be upset sEampe,l in the heavy tradc-vind
sea that rolle,i between them and Honolulu ANY
accident to the Captain might conign them lingcr
for a few weeks miserable existence, evidently
perish in this out-of-the way place. scarcely ever
visited Ly vessels, and indeed studously avoided by
shipping account OF the known dangerous chirac-
ter Of navigation in It's neigiborhood-
Out Of the whole number Of ON the shOal but
five Americans tOrn-the chief officer and four
otherA- The remainder were Portuguese and Hawai-
the adoption Of Of proper economy in the
of the provisions anil the maintenance Of dsci-
pine But they proved themselves equal to the task,
for Yankees always really to meet any emergency.
First all hands put n regular allowance 10
each man Of handful of the soaked bread-which
was reduced To a pulp-twicc day, with two half
pnts og Some pieces Of white twiIIed cotton,
such Is useI for Loit--lils, had been saved from
the wreck, and with these a was imPrOyise,l /
TO shieII them from the hot
Here they olerably comfortable, for the climate
i 20 mild that thick el1thnS night be dis
pose with Here it may be mentioned, that when the
ship commenced breaking Up, the American portion /
Of the crew were enIeavorin, under the direction Of
the officers something Of value for the benefit
and preservation Of all, while the Portuguese, with
characteristics regard for their individual interests,
were busy securing each his kit of clothes, that
while they and most of the Hawaiians landed with .
outfits, the Americans haI nothing but what they |
stood in
Fortunately the shoal which they were east, /
abounds with se.l-brls, of the kind known among
seamen as $ SIoIly-Inocks-'' We unable to say
what name they are known by among OrnithoOgists,
but presume tht the peculiar cry which they make at
times originally fIruisisI sailors with for
cIIling them =. MOIly-mocks,'' "a by which they .
are known from Cape Horn the Arctic Ocean, for /
they are be in all latitue- They visit these
low islands and shoals for the purpose of incubation
laying their eggs III countless numbers on the san1
Although they essentially sea-birls and subsist
entirely fish, get their eggs when fresh, quite
palatable those of a shanghae Il Dominique
The men Of the Hood, used to 90 out every morning
AMI collect several buckets full of them, and found
them excellent eating, either boieI roasted The
Young birls too before they fege, quite ftt
AMI tender AMI when skinned and hung up for a few
hours eat very well The lagoon also abounds in
turtle anil fish, the former of which were easily
caught and a good deal Of diversion WAS had among
the sailors in getting astrde of big fellow, and sciz
ing him by the hppcrs, amusing themselves with his
Intellectual attempts to dive There was plenty Of
fish, too, in the LAGOON but they had fish-hOOks,
hut managed to make two out of piece Of
wire. They had cooking utensil, copper kettle
saveI from the wreck, AMI in this they did all their
cooking. Their firewood from the spaTs Of the
South Seamaa, still lying the Shoa- So it would
there 10 danger Of starvation, 50 long as
the turtle and the birds Iaste,L
But the subject of the supply of for drinking
purposes, was the one which most engaged their
thoughts Should help fail TO come, before many
days their already scanty stock would, with the
stretest economy. be entirely exhausted, and them
ike the case of Coleriige's Ancient Mariner
there would be
swater, water, everywhere,
And nota a drop % drink
But Yankee intelligence and energy here came /
into play The second day after the Captain left.
they set to work to make apparatus to dist fresh
water out Of salt To do this, they had a deck pot,
two gun barrels and short piece Of lead pipe. Fit
ting wooden cover to the deck pot the bent end Of
a gun barrel was inserted in the top and joined to
the other gun barrel was lei through a esk Of cold
water rs n condenser and the lead pipe, connected
with the gun barrel, carried the precious drops
of now fresh water Il bucket. The still was per-
feet success, and day, they got, by measure
raeut in a two and half gallon bucket, less than
thirty-eight gallons of perfectly sweet fresh water
Here was 4 perennial spring What relief it must
have been those men, especially the more ignorant
and ucre,IulOus of them, when the inst few drops Of
the pelrly fuiI trckIeI into the bucket, to hear the
officers pronounce it to be fresh water The cooper,
Mr. Vincent. and young Yankee seaman named
J. NJ Bayey, the artizans who planned and
executed the still BtyIey in Farragut's flag
ship, the Hartford, during the late war, anil there
during the blockade at Mobile, saw the process
Of distling fresh water from salt, one Of the .
sand islands used by the fleet, and this mode he sue
cessfully assisted in repeating at French Frigate
Shoals.
Thus, by perseverance and skill (the only tools .
4 .f,s- -Iar-