Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-01-23
wreck Of the Golden Hind.

slant contains the narrative of Mr.. ohm
| Saville, first officer of the American
ship Golden Hind, who reached New
! Orleans on the 18th from Rio Janeiro. A
partial report of this disaster, together
with the sufferings of the crew, was pub
! lished in the marine column of the Globe
of October 25th, but the present nara
tive is replete with new and startling in
cidents:
The American ship Golden Hind,
Capt. Benjamin F. Robbins, left New
/ York on the 18th of February, on voy-
| age to San Francisco. When in the lat
| itude of st. Catherine we experienced a
series of heavy westerly gales, which
| continued for nearly a month with great
| violence. On the 18th of June last,
when on the west side of Patagonia and
at the Pacific entrance to the Straits Of
Magellan, the pintails and gudgeOns Of
the rudder gave way and it t1Oated OIL.
/ Three days were consumed in construct
/ ing a temporary one of spare spars. 1t
lasted about a week, but in another
| heavy gale this was also carried away,
! and we drifted at the mercy Of the
winds. On the second day after this
| last disaster, the Golden Hind struck be-
tween two rocks, one forward and one
aft, on the western coast of Patagonia
Three boats were hurriedly prepared,
the men put on extra suits Of clothes,
laid in a small quantity of provisions,
and at seven o'clock that evening low
cred away. In the hurry Of departure
nearly all of our nautical instruments
were left on board, and, in fact, many
articles absolutely necessary. There
were three boats lOWered-the first under
the command of Capt. Robbins, the sec
ond commanded by myself, and the third
in charge of Mr.. Webb, the second mate.
Each contained seven men. Mr.. Webb,
asserting that he knew the situation bet
ter than we did, parted company almost
Immediately, and it being then quite
dark we lay under the lee of the land
until morning. The sea at the time VIC
left the ship was breaking over her fore
yard, and during the night she beat tC
pieces on the rocks.
The next morning the last yestige OF
the Golden Hind had disappeared, and q
search, which continued two days, was
made for the 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 drowned.
Upon examination it was found that VIC
had q small box and a bag of hard bread,
the latter soaked with sea water. about
twenty cans Of beef, little tea and cOf-
! fee An allowance of one cracker to
each man, and one can Of beef to four
teen was at first issued, but this speedily
decreased to half a cracker, and finally
we did not taste beef more than once a
/ week. A few days after we left the
I wreck the captains boat was swamped.
and we lost our compass, the only instru-
ment we had, and a quantity Of the pro-
I visions. An attempt was made to reach
Sandy Point, q Chilean convict settle
ment, and the cOaling station of the Pa
/ cifiC Mail steamers, about twO-thirds the
way through the Straits of Magellan, but
cur course could not he determined by
the sun and 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. Wepulled close to the land.
I working all night in fair weather, and,
. during a heavy blow, landing and going
into camp. There were plenty of scrub
/ trees along the coast, and as we were
provided with two hatchets and a good
supply of matches, a fire was always to
( he procured During these visits we Sc
! bling the muscle, but we found that this
| diet brought on constipation. and the en-
! tire party became unwen.
/ For about twenty days the men held
cut admirably. but in the bitter cold a
number were frost bitten, and oar legs
and feet were terribly swollen. On
/ going into camp we constructed a tent
of the boat s sail ana a mizzen royal sail
| with the oars 4 fire was built in the
/ centre and the fourteen men sat around
/ it the night through. We suffered terri
/ bly, from the loss of sleep, as no one
| dared to remain away from the fire for
/ fear of freezing to death, and the tent
was too small to hold all in a reclining
position. At the end of the twentieth
day the general debility from insufficient
| food and the extreme pain in our limbs
! rendered the progress slow, and very
| often we CamDed for days at q time.
| The allowance of bread Lad been reduc-
ed to a quarter of = cracker q day. and
very often the men did without for a
day or 1.-TWO together to help out their
| supply. Their conduct throughout the
| trying ordeal was most courageous.
Every man rendered implicit obedience,
| and, although the ravages of hunger rem
dered each almost an animal, the general
welfare was never lost sight of Almost
the entire month of July was spent in
pulling in what we believed to be the
direction of Sandy Point. The only hui
man beings 70 met were an Indian and
two sqUaWs in a CjtUoe The, +roo+o1
us cordially, and willingly exCna.a 49, -
duck for a small quantity of tobacco.
but they had no other provisions. We
| had secured from the ship two rifles, and
one of the crew shot a duck, but the
powder bacame wet and the weapons
were useless. a dead duck found among
the rocks was also secured and eaten,
but, with the exception of the shell fish,
this was the only food we secured.
In the latter part of July, the weather
became fearfully tempestuous, and after
several days of fruitless buffeting, we
went into our last encampment. It was
terribly bleak and desolate spot. shut
out from the sea by high cliffs, and filled
with low stunted trees We found. how
ever, a few roots, some berries, and.
strange to say, little celery; and, not
knowing whether the vegetables were
poisonous or not, each man partook ra
venously OF whatever he could find. The
| high tides prevented our securing any
shell fish, and the few seals we saw were
too timid to capture but we secured
water in abundance from the streams
running down the mountain. Here the
men became seriously i'll. Their lecs
were swollen to frightful proportions.
but few could wear their boots. and
majority wandered about with their feet
tied up in oil cloth and pieces Of can
vass. Some, unable to walk at all, crawl
ed about on their hands and knees. At
I
became delirious, and shortly afterwards
died. The ground was so hardly frozen
that it was impossible to dig a grave, so
we carried the body a short distance
from tie tent and laid it in the bushes.
The next one attacked was a young fell
low we called Dan-sailors, you know,
never give their full names except on the
articles-and he died within three hours
after he became delirious. The carpen-
ter, a man from Liverpool, was the next
victim then we lost Charley, a German