Delaware Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1843-1874, 1873-01-27
A HORROR AT SEA
CREW SrDsIsTs Ten DAYS ON HUMAN
FLESH.

| FLESH.
| The New Orleans Times OF the 9TH instant
contains the narrative of Mr.. John Saville, first
ofii oer Of the American ship Golden Hind, who
reaches, New Orleans on the seventh. nom Rio
| Janiero.
A report OF this disaster, together with the
suiferings Of the crew, was published In the
I marine column ofthe Herald Of October Path
| asst; but the present narrative Is replete with
new and startling incidents. We copy from the
| Times.
| The American Ship Golden Hind, Captain
Benjamin +. Robbins, left New York oil the
| 18th Of February on voyage to San Francisco.
| When in the latitude of st Catharines we ex :
| perisnced a series Of heavy westerly gales,
which continued for nearly month with
| great violence. On the 18th Of June last,
when OH the west side OF Patagonia, and at
| the Pacific entrance to the Straits Of Magellan,
| the pintals and gudgeons Of the rudder gave
way, and It hoaled off.
Three days We're consumed IN constructing a
| temporary one OF spare spars. 1t lasted abon.
| a week, but Ia another heavy gale this was al
| so carried away, and we drifted at the mercy
the winds. On the second day after this
last disaster the Golden Hind struck between
| the rocks, one forward and one aft, on the
| western coast Of Patagonia. Three bo ITS were
| hiirridly prepared, the men put on extra suits
of clothes, laid in small quantity Of provisions
In the hurry OF departure nearly all OF our nau-
1 tical instruments were left on board, and, In
| fact, many articles absolutely necessary
| There were three boats lowered-The first un-
der the command of captain Robbins, the sec
| ond commanded by myself, and the third in
charge Of Mr.. Webb the second mate. Each
| contained seven men. MIR. Webb, asserting
| that he knew the situation better than we did,
parted company almost Immediately, and it
| being then quite dark We lay under the lac Of
| the land until morning. The sea at the time
we left the ship was breaking over her fore
| yard, and during The night she beat TO pieces
| on the rocks.
The next morning the last vestige Of the
Golden Hind had disappeared and search
which continued two days, was made for tho
other boat, but no trace of her could be seen.-
We have long ere this concluded that she was
swamped; and that her entire crew were drown
| ed.
Upon examination it was found that We
had Il small box and small bag of hard bread,
| the latter soaked with sea water, about twenty
cans of beef, a little tea aud coffee. An allow
! ance of one crackerto each man, aud one eau
of beef to fourteen was at first Issued, but this
| speedily decreased to half cracker to each
man and finally we did not taste beef more
than once week.
( A few days after we left the wreck the Cap
tain's boat was swamped, and We lost our COM
pass, the only instrument we had, and a quan-
/ tity Of the provisions. An attempt was made
TO reach Sandy Point Chilean convict settle
ment, and the coaling station Of the Pacific
| Mail steamers, about two-thrds the way through
the Straits Of Magellan, but our direction
| could only be determined by the sun and the
| stars.
| 1t 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 the land,
working all night In good weather and dur
ing heavy blow. landing aud going intor Our
| tents.
| There weie plenty uf scrub trees along the
coast and as We were provided with two hatch
| cts and good supply Of matches, fire was al
ways to be procured. During these visits we
secured quite good supply OF shell-fsh resen-
bling the muscle, but we found that this diet
brought on constipation, and the entire party
| became uuwell
For about twenty days the men held o ut
admirably, but In the bitter cold number were
frcst-bitten, and out legs and feet were terribly
| SWOLLEN.
On going Into camp We Constructed u tent Of
the boats sail and nizlen royal sail, with the
oars. 4 fire was built in the centre, aud the
fourteen men sat around IL the whole night
through;
We suffered terribly fIcm the loss Of sleep
as no one dared TO remain from the fire for
fear of freezing 10 death, and the tent was
too small for 10 hold the crew, in declining
position.
RI AT the end Of the twentieth day the genera
debility from Insufficient food and tue extreme
pain IN our limbs rendered he progress slow
and very often We camped for several days Al
tune.
Tha allowance OF bread had been reduced Il
u quarter a day, and very often the men dit
without anything for u day. Their conduc
Throughout; he dreadful ordeal was most eour
ageuus.
Every man rendered Implicit obedience and
although the ravages OF hunger rendered sacl
almost an animal the general welfare wa
never lost sight OF.
Almost the entire month Of July was spent
in pulling in what We believed to be the dlrec
ton to Sandy Point. The only human cling
| We met were an Indian and two sqIiaws In
! canoe. They treated us cordially, and willing
. ly exchanged a duck for small quantity o
:, tobacco, but they had no other provisions W
u had secured from the ship two rifles, and on
!, of the crew shot duck, but the powder be
" | came wet and ON weapons wer'. useless.
II dead duck found among the rocks was also SC
:, :, cured and eaten, but with the exception c
. | the slrll-tish, this was the only food we 81
| cured
q In the latter part OF July the weather bt
= carnc icarfully tempestuous, aud after seyers
"a DAYS Of iruiiiess butieting We went into ou
: last emcanpment, 1t was a terribly bleak an
desvlate spot, shut out flom the sea by hig
"a buils, and well filled with low, stuntel tees =
l. We found, however, u few roots, soiae berrie
: and, strange to say, a little celery; and, NJ
ia knowing whether the vegetables were poison
is Gus or not, each man paltook ray"nously
h Whatever he could find. The high tides prt
u vented our securing any sheli-h,h, aud the fs
Il seals Wa saw were to timid to capture but "
% secured water In abundance from the stream
l. | running down the mountain.
!. Herellhe meu became seriously III. The
e legs were swollen 10 fiighful proportions, b'
4. few could wear their boots, aud u majori
ID wandered about with their feet lied up in o
a cloth and pieces Of canvas. Some, unable
Is walk at all, crawled about Ola their hands al
o knees.
If At length a man named White, seama
became delirious, aud shortly afterwards die
The ground was so hardly frozen that it W
impossible to dig grave, so We carried y
bodys short distance from the tent and laid
In the bushes.
ST. The next one attacked was young felix
'al we called Dan-sailors, you know, never q
ed their full names except OH the arlicles-a
" he died within three hours after he became {
US liriOus.
nd The ca,penter, man from Liverpool, v
is the next victim; then we lost Charley, g
sc man seaman, and finally another seaman cal
us Frank. All Of them died within ten days
N, each other, and all of them were laid side
eu side in the bushes. As each one left us
'ie took his clothes 10 keep the living ones wal
o, bat daring all these days not one of us Ina
~ ~ mouihfn of food.
irt At length the steward taxing one of the n
IL out with him into the brush, returned "
~ three slices Of meat which were roasted over
as fire aud eagerly devotred. We all OF us XII
lie we were sustaining If. on the bodies OF
an dead companions, but 10 man asked a ql
va. tion. Sometimes we had 1t boiled and sol
,et | times wa had il roasted. II tasted soneth
,ne like beef, hut IL makes me shudder now
,od think Of ii.