The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-06-12
oasVaWay anu aptive-Rep0rtes1 Mas.
sacres I'm the Straits or Magellan.
From the San Francisco GALL

ah ane 'stEaits OF Magellan.
From the San Francisco Call
Ono day in last March the steamer
Princess Louisa left Glasgow, Scotland,
for Valparaiso. South America, having on
board crew Of seven men, all told. She
was an iron vessel, and had been bIiilt or
the Clyde to order, her owners intending to
use her us n tug-boat at Valparaiso. All
went well with her across the Atlantic.
and at last she touched at one Of the
South American ports. Here San
Francisco boy, Joseph Lorritz, came
on board and asked for employment,
stating that the vessel in which he
had come from home had been wrecked
that he had no means Of reaching
his home, and that, in consequence, he
waswilllng to work his way to Valparaiso,
and take his chance Of finding vessel there
to take him to San Francisco. His offer
was accepted. and he shipped on board the
Princess Louisa. The story of the hapless
tug boat and her crew. after Lorritz joined
her, was detailed yesterday by him to q
Call reporter, and we give his account with
out vouching for it, further than to say
that his answers to our croSs-questiOns
were straightforward and consistent. The
Princess Louisa arrived in due time at
Sandy Point, Punta Arenas on the Straits
of Magellan, and here heard of the massacre
by the natives of the captain and part
Of the crew of the British brig Propontis,
a full account Of which was published in
the CdH Of May II. In case some of our
readers may have forgotten the details of
that affair, we will give them in brief. The
British brig Propontis, Captain Barnes,
left Bremen with 4 general cargo for
Iquique, and carried favorable weather till
arrival off the Straits of Magellan (Feb.
28), which the captain resolved to pass
through instead Of going round the Horn.
The colony of Punta Arenas was passed on
the Sd Of April, but on the same night the
ship fell in with contrary winds, accompa-
MED with heavy rain; in consequence of
which the captain next morning brought
to under the shore, at place
about ninety miles from the colony,
and cast anchor. Immediately there
after q number of boats Zone be-
of Indians, came alongside, camoring for
tobacco and biscuit, and after being salts
fed informed Captain Barnes there was
plenty Of wood aud water close at hand.
The captain and three of his crew went
ashore. Next day a boat was sent on shore
with the mate. the steward, Qhe only Eng
lishman of the crew besides the captain,
and the rest of the sailors, Mrs. Barnes be-
ing the only person left on board. They
found the captains body horribly mutt
lated. No traces were discovered of his
companions. The mate and his boats crew
had hardly got Oh board when they were
attacked by the natives in great numbers,
and were forced to set sail and return to
Punta Arenas. This was the story which
the crew of the Princess Louisa heard
when they arrived. 1t not only caused
them some apprehension, but reused in
them n desire for vengeance, and when
they asked the Chilian Consul ut Punta
Arenas for arms, he willingly supplied
them. The Princess Louisa set sail, and
when off Port Gallant, which is cove in
the Straits of Magellan, latitude $50 IN,
longitude 100. they saw two canoes and one
Europcan-built boat filled with natives pull
ing from the shore towards them. The
captain made no doubt that these were the
very same savascs who had fallen in with
the Propontis, and Immediately resolved
to punish them if he could. On the
canoes approaching the vessel, he ran
one of them down, sinking it and
drowning all hands. The boat avoid
ed the bows OF the steamer, and ran
alongside, but i'll attempting TO board, the
natives were one and all killed. In the
meantime the remaining canoe made its eS-
cane and returned to shore. The Princess
Louisa sailed on, but that night ran ashore
and became a wreck. The crew found new
difficulty in getting to land, and busted
themselves all night TN removing provisions
and other stores from the ship to q tent
which they had erected on the beach. Just
before dawn, while the seamcn were coming
ND from the edge of the water, preceded by
Il lantern, which the foremost man carried
in his hand, they were suddenly set upon
by horde of saraocS, aimed with spears,
bows and arrows, rough hatchets, and
fo fi,rh
sailors defended themselves with the cour-
age of desperation, but, of course, without
avail. Two of them were killed on the
spot, and the rest were oycrpowered and
taken prisoners. LorritZ ran for his life,
but rs he was burdcncd with heavy sea
boots and soaked clothing, he stood very
little chance with the agile, unclothcd
savages.
lie was caught, tied hand and foot, and
laid on the ground. His companions were
served in the same way. For three weeks
they all remained in captivity, allowed to
wander about with their captorS during
the day, tied hand and foot at night, and
fed only on what Lorritz called "blubber."
at the end of these three weeks Lorritz
one night contrived to shuttle OIL
his bonds. He crept down to the
beach, got into one of the boats lying there.
and put off into the channel, where next
morning he was fortunate enough to tall
in with the schooner Hutchinson, on board
of which he came to this port three or four
davs ago. The fate of his companions, who
be SAYS We're all Scotchmen, is of course
unknown to him, and he is also unable to
tell any more than the Christian names of
the captain and crew. No doubt, however,
succeeding ships will do their best to re-
cover their unfortunate predecessors from
their savage foes. Lorrtz isabout 1G years
of age, and is now living with his parents,
on Sixteenth street, near Valencia.
A STRANGE DIFFERENTIATION the
Atchison (Kansas) Champion, May 3O:]-|