The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1873-01-16

and at seven O'Clock that evening lowered
away. In the hurry of departure nearly all OF
our nautical instruments were left on board,
and, In fact, many articles absolutely neces.
sary. There were three boats lowered, the
frat under the command of Captain Robbins,
third In charge of Mr.. Webb, the second mate
Each contained seven men. Mr.. Webb assert.
ing that he knew the situation better than we
did, parted company almost Immediately, and
1t being then quite dark. we lay under the lee
of the land until morning. The sea at the
time We left the ship was breaking over her
toreyard, and during the night she beat to
pieces on the rocks.
SEARCH FOR THE MISSING BOAT.
The next morning the last vestlge of the
Golden Hind had disappeared, and search,
which continued two Days, was made fer the
other boat, but no trace OF her could be seen.
We have long ere this concluded that che was
swamped, and that her entire crew were
drowned. Upon examination 1t was found
that we had small box and bag of hard
bread. the latter soaked with sea water, ahout
twenty cans Of beet, q little tea and coffee.
An allowance of one cracker to each man and
one can of beet to fourteen was at hrst Issued,
but this speedily decreased to half cracker,
and finally we did not taste meat more than
once week.
WITHOUT A COMPASS.
A few days after we left the wreck the cap
tain's boat was swanped, and we lost our
compass, the only instrument we had, and
quantity ofprovisions. An attempt was made
10 reach Sandy Point, Chllian convict settle
ment, and the coaing station of the Pacific
mail steamers. about two-thirds the way
through The Straits of Magellan, but our
course could only be determined by the sun
and stars.
THE DREARY ASPECT.
It was then mid.winter, the mountains
along the coast were covered with snow and
Ice, and the mercury must have been several
degrees below zero. We pulled close TO lana,
working all night in fair weather. aud during
a heavy blow landing and going into camp.
There was plenty of scrub trees along the
coast, and as we were provided with two
1etchets and good supply of matches, q fire
9as always 10 be procured. During these
7lslts we secured quite good snpply of shell.
fish, resembling the muscle, but we found
that this diet brought on constipation, and the
entire party became unwell.
ILLNESS.
For about twenty days the men held out ad-
mrably, but In the bitter cold number were
frost6ittpn, and our legs and feet were terrl-
bly, swollen. On going into camp we con-
sLrucled tent of the boats sail and mizzen-
the centre. and the fourteen men Sat around
IL the night through. We suffered terribly
from loss of sleep, as no one dared to remain
away from the fire for fear OF freezing 10
death, and the tent was too small to hold all
In reclining position. At the end of the
twentieth day the general debility from insll-
fcent food and the extreme pain IN our llmos
rendered the progress slow, ana very oleen
we camped for several days at time. The
oIIo-o mo ~ hrood had hpan rpducpd tO
A QUARTER OF CRACKER DAY,
and very often the men did without for day
or TWO together to help out the supply. Their
conduct throughout the dreadful ordeal was
most courageous. Every men rendered I'm.
pllcit obedience, and although the raVages OF
hnnaor randorod oaoh olmoot on eniuai, tnc
general welfare was never lost Slght oi. AL.
most the entire month OF July was spent ln
pulling ln what We believed to be the direc.
lion OF Sandy Point. Tue only human beings
we met were an Indian and two equsws 10
his canoe. They treated us cordially, and
willingly exchanged duck for small quan
| tity of tobacco, but they bad no other provls'
| ions. We had secured from the ship two
rifles, and one of the crew shot duck, oul
| the powder became wet, and our rifles were
useless A dead duck, found among thu
rocks. was also secured and eaten, but will
the exception of the shell dsh, this was tht
| only food we secured.
HUNGER.
In the latter part of July the weather becam
fearfully tempestuous, and after several days o
| fruitless buffeling, we went into our last en-
| campment. It was terribly bleak and desolatt
s,jot, shut out from the soa by high cliffs, ant
| filled with low stunted trees. We found, how
ever, few roots, some berries, and, strange K
say, little celery, and, not knowing Whethe
| the vegetables were poisonous or not, eact
man partook ravenously OF whatever he coult
| find. The high tides prevented our securing
any shell fab and the few seals we saw wert
too timid to capture, but we secured water IL
abundance from the streams running down thu
mountain.
Hero the men became seriously i'll. Thel
legs were swollen to frighttul proportions, bu
| few could wear their boots, and majority wan
deret. about with their feet tied up IN old clott
and pieces of canvas. Some, unable to wall
at ali, crawled about on their hands and knees
| At length man named White, o seaman, be
came delirious and shortly afterward died
The ground was 30 hardly frozen that 1t wal
Impossible to dig grave. SO we carried tn
BODY short distance from the tent and laid il
| in the bushes. The next one attacked was
Young fellow we called Dan-sailors. you know
never give their full oanes except on thu
| articles be died within three hours atte
| he became delirlous. The carpenter, q mar
| from Liverpool, was the next victim; then VI
| lost Charley q German seaman, and tnall,
another sailor called Frank. all Of them dlet
within ten days OF each other, and all were lalI
side by side out in the bushes. AS each on'
| left us, We took his clothes to keep the living
| ones warm. but during I'll these days not on'
/ Of us had q mouthflu OF food.
| TIE BANQUET ON HUMAN FLESH.
At length the steward, taking one ofthe mel
| ont with him into the brush, returned viii
slices Of meat, which we're roasted over tn
| fire, and eagerly devoured. We all OF Us kne'
| we we're sustaining life on the bodies OF on
dead companions, but no man asked ques
ton. Sometimes we had it boiled and some
times roasted. 1t tasted something like beei
but it makes me shudder now to think Of il
| THE RESCUE.
When we had eaten almost all Of the las
body the schooner Eagle, OF Port Stanley
Falkland Islands, out seal fishing. hove IN eigh'
One of our men crawled up to the head OF %
rocks, and, waving the American nag, Win ~ tn
union down, attracted their attention. Inc
nIcked us up and received us all with as grea
Kindness as if we had been their own Klnoreo
We found that we had pulled about two-third
of the way through the straits OF Magellan
and were then within sixty miles OF Sand
Point. There, after the third day, the Eael
landed us, and the Chlban Governor at ono
provided us with everything IN the way Q
food and clothing We required. he Woul
have sent us by the steamer to valparaiso, pu
befure she arrived the United States sloop-oi
var Ossipee put into port and took Us o
board. Captain Robbins, myself, the stewaf
lzts 0E AVIAN ~ p