The Portland daily press., 1870-07-15
A Romance of the Sea.


ed the fact that SIX man, survivors of the
crew of %, ofship Mercurius,were taken from
desert rock in the South Atlantc, where
they had been for fifty days, and brought to
Liverpool. The Mercurius was on her return
voyage from San Francisco to England, and
was wrecked on Rocas Reef, Off the coast
Brazil, on the 25th Of March. The story
these men reminds one of Phillip Quarles and
Robinson Crusoe, of Juan Fernandez, the
the Swiss Family Robinson, and the ingen-
ious hero of Mr. Reodes.and Mr.. Bourcieaults
novel.
Looking to the sea, the tops OF the fore and
mainmast OF the Mercurius were lust visible
out of the water; looking over the islands
which were to be their home, some fifteen
acres oil barren rock, interspersed with patch
es OF sand, and connected by narrow 18TH
mus with another rock equally barren, of the
same size, met their gaze. One cocoanut tree
formed the only sign OF vegetation. 1t was
the sole survivor OF those which were planted
the some years ago by order of Her Hajesty's
Consul at Pernambuco, in order that the reef
might be seen more readily by vessels on the
Brazil or Cape Horn route, in the direct track
ofwhich it lies; but there had been wrecks
here previously, and with the aid of articles
men contrived to bend circumstances to their
will. They found two iron tanlls deposited in
convenient positions and filed with water. as
well as considerable quantity Of broken
timber, out of which they built themselves a
log hut. They found, too, that pearl of price
broken knife, hammer,a two-ounce weight
and large copper bolt, and with these clumsy
tools they made two boats out Of the planking
strewed about the rocks, fastening them with
nails which they extracted IRON the broken
timber OF other wrecks. 1t does not appear
that the poor fellows had any thought of es-
Gaping in these boats, but they were enabled
to make fishing excursions and to sail with
signals flying in search of passing ships in the
early morning and in evening, when the suns
tierceness was subdued. They had no
clothes, and except in their hut no shade,
| and the tropical heat was terrible. The
| majority of the men saved were in their
berths, when the Mercurius struck, and swan
10 the rock in their shirts; and it was not m-
| til one OF their number made hat out OF the
fibre of the solitary cocoa. tree, sewing it to-
gether with a needle make out oi piece of
brass found on the island, that any protection
for the head was 10 seen among them. TO
add TO their misery, the reef swarmed with
venomous ants, which bit the strangers un-
mercifully, and with an effect which can only
be realized by those who have suffered from
the lnsect-lite of tropical climes. The COM
mlsSarlat question was settled in a way which
VIII make every schoolboy's mouth water W ho
reads OF it. They went out in their boat and
caught fish and turtle, and they had an abun-
dance of birds eggs and shell-fsh. They
manufactured bird traps and caught young
birds, cooking them by fire which was never
suffered to go out by night or day. They had
OF course, no matches, and no means of pro-
curing u light other than the tme-honored
one we have all read OF in Cooper's novels
that OF rubbing two bits of wood together till
they ignite. There was no fuel belonging TO
the island, and the broken debris of former
wrecks supplied the only material for the all
important fire. Three times during their So
JOurn on the rock was this fire suffered by
some accident to go out: and three times was
the experiment i'll friction anXiously and sue
cesstully tried. So the time wore on until tif-
ty-one weary days had been spent on the reef,
days in which every man scanned the hori-
zon, and in which the strong cheered the
taint-hearted, and all spoke hope in turn. 1t
is easy to picture the existence these men led.
The first gratitude of escape; the anxious
search Tor fellow-survivOrs; the mournful con-
clusion that the rest of their shipmates were
| no more the stern necessity which babe them
work, invent. contrive; the development day
| by day of some fresh ingenuity, some little
| suspected quality in each, and the gradual ac-
| cumulation of rehefs, and even comtorts-can
all be traced.
They were prudent men-tausht by calam-
| ity to prepare for a rainy day; for, when ies-
cued, they had two hundred eggs in store, and
are described as being i'll good condition.
Their rescue was not effected until the 18th
of May, when the commander OF the iron
clipper bark Silver Craig, Captain Cohn, was
approaching Pernambuco, and dscerned a
lump on the well-known Rocas Rect, which
he made out to be a hut, Drawing nearer he
discerned signal of distress, composed of
seamsn's striped shirt, futtering half mast
high, and he then hove-to within two mites
from the island, and waited until six nearly
naked men put off in their rude boats and
came on board. They were kindly and hos
pitably received, and had a passage given
them to Liverpool, where they are now telling
their strange story, and exhibiting to their
friends cocca-ibre hats, which were until re-
Gently their only articles of attire, and which
they now keep as mementoes of the perils
they have escaped. In simple force, in ro-
nance, in strangeness, in fertility of resouce
and in adventure the real experience OF these
six sailors on a desolate island is worthy of
Deloe, and makes most fictitious histories OF
shipwreck seem tame and feeble by compar-