Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-02-18

also remarkable one And last, not least, the
| recollection that no lives were lost, gave occa-
sion for thankfulness and wonder. One man,
a marine, who was intoxicated. had a narrow
escape. He fell, or rather walked overheard,
right through the break where the vessel had
| parted. He was picked up with difficulty.
The next day was employed in securing what
ever could he got from the wreck, and digging
| on the island for water None was found that
! was much different in taste from the water of
the ocean. One well only afforded very brackish
water and bitter tasting water, which few could
drink without disagreeable effects, whites Others
had to avoid it wholly, or suffer. Supper con-
sisted of piece of bread and stewed turtle So
they lay down to rest again in discomfort. Some
had obtained mattresses and blankets from the
wreck, but they were all wet. They had got
ashore small stationary boiler, belonging to
the contractors party.
This was put up on Monday, the third day
after landing, as distller, and to the great JOY
Of all hands, il succeeded admirably in prOduc-
| ing fresh water from salt. Fearful of disaster
to this Invaluable dstiller, watch was set over
it, consisting of three Of the ships engineers and
three seamen, who took turns In experimenting
1t while in operation Tents were put up for
shelter, and messes formed, and the camp began
to assume as much the appearance of comfort
as possible under the circumstances. From this
time forward, until the arrival Of the Kilauea,
the same routine was gone through with daily,
Of working on the boats, with a view TO visiting
sea-birds. Every Sunday morning all hands
were mustered, and divine service WAS held. On
the 18th of November, the captains gig, which
had been raised upon, decked, and thoroughly
fitted for the purpose, sailed from the island for
Honolulu for assistance, with a crew of four
men, under the command of the executive officer
of the ship, the lamented Lieutenant Talbot In
our issue Of January 4th, we printed in full the
account of the voyage of 100 miles in that small
boat, which ended so disastrously to four out of
the five who left the island in her. After her de-
parture, the work was vigorously carried on OF
building boat in which to visit Midway to be
forty feet long.
The long continuance of diet of animal food,
all the vegetables served out being one-half
decayed potato per diem for each man-began
to tell upon the health of the people, and
diarrh@a was prevalent Medicines were scarce,
but quiet and few days of abstinence from seal
meat, turtle, &C., served to effect cure. On
the 9Th of December, quarter ratiOns Of beans
were served out. Fresh fish were caught, but
were far from plentiful. December %, the bread
ration was two ounces per man; 2Sth, one ounce
of -four and one of beans on alternate days,
with small piece Of sea-gull, or seal, twice a
day, varied occasionally with turtle, which were
beginning to get scarce. With one of the sparS,
a lookout was set up, surmounted with flag
staff, on which was hoisted the colorS, Union
down. in order to attract the attention of any
passing vessel. December %, % and "a, there
was heavy gale from the westward, with
high tide and heavy surf, which damaged the
boats somewhat. November 2, the captain,
with two boats crews were out picking up drift
wood from the wreck, when westerly gale came
on and they were obliged to spend the night on
a sand spit, in a cold rain. Without shelter,
they adopted the eXpedicnt of digging holes in
the sand and burying themselves in it. They
got safe back to camp the next morning in sad
plight, however
Their anxiety about a supply of fresh water
fDr the rainy had
and a hole was found which afforded a good
supply of palateable water. Life can be SuS-
tanned for an indefinite period on scanty sup
plies of the poorest kinds of food, but water is
an absolute necessity. The sea birds, called
'goneys by seamen, were not very plenty, and
the number taken was limited to eight per
diem. No shooting was allowed, for fear of
frightening the game away from the island, and
the plan was to decapitate them with swords,
which was an easy job, as tn birds were tame.
One swift cut, and the goney made no sign.
Eight birds, the size of a chicken when plucked,
served for ninety-three men. Occasionally an
egg was found, five inches by three in size, and
these were treasured as delicacies, and shared
equally in the mess, each person getting taste.
The laying season had not yet commenced.
| November 18th, there was an excitement in
the camp in the evening. The carpenter, who
had been strolling along the beach, ran in,
| quite out of BREATH and announced that he had
seen the light ola vessel in the offing. The idea
| was plausible one, as the China bound steamer
| would be passing about that date. But after
all hands had turned out to look at the light, it
turned out to be a star just rising, and hidden
now and then by the swell of the sea.
After the sailing of the gig on the 18th of No
vember, the thoughts of the eXiles dwelt upon
the voyage of the boat, and they followed her
| in Imagination over the waste of waters and
specialized upon how long it would be before
help would come. Counting day after day, and
| saying each night to each other-"the gig is so
| many days out to-day"-and working silently
| on the boats, the time wore monotonously away.
| Occasionally, Of an evening, after an unusually
| good supper of tish-the nearest approach they
| had to full meal-animal spirits would rise,
| and songs and storytelling enlivened the hour.
| Ii is not surprising, however, that the songs and
! stories generally ran upon the subject Of good
| eating. Up TO Dec. 18th, they had killed and
eaten seyenty-fve seal and twelve hundred
| "gonies." Christmas day-Merry Christmas
is passed over in the days journal with the SIM
| pie remark, "uniform ration" January comes
on, and the gig has been absent over six weeks
| Many are getting respondent, giving her up for
| lost, while Others simply complain of hunger
and work patiently on the second cutter which
is about finished. But work progresses slowly,
for men cannot work very briskly on empty
stomachs.
AT length, on the afternoon of the Sd of JAN
uary, the carpenter, at work on the large boat
The was encouraged to work by double, j. e..
half rations) raised his head to wipe the per-
spiration from his face, when he saw black
smoke in the ofing! Hardly daring to trust
his eyes, he stopped again to his work, but with
beating heart! Soon looking again to sea-
ward, he felt sure that what he saw was the
| smoke of steamer, and then he shouted. In
| an instant, the camp was in CommOtion. Very
soon, the vessel came in sight, the Klauea, and
the Hawaiian flag at her masthead seemed to
these half-famished, half-clothed mariners, ga
rainbow in the skies"