The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-01-14
The Wreck Of the Col
den Hind.
AN ADDITIONAL CHAPTER OF HORRORS.
A Crew Subsist Ten Days on
Human Flesh.
FOrty-eiEht Days i'm Open
Boats.
NARRATIVE OF THE FIRST OFFICER.

NARRATIVE UF IHE flEST UfflU6hs
The New Orleans Times of the 9th instant contains
the narrative OF Mr.. John Savne first officer Of the
American ship Golden Hind, who reached New Or
leans on the 18th from Rio JaneirO. A report Of
this disaster, together with the sufferings OF the
crew, was published in the marine column OF the
HERALD of October "a last; but the present nara
tive Is replete with new and startling Incidents.
We copy from the Times
FIRST OFFICERS NARRATIVE,
The American snip Golden Hind, Captain Benia-
min F. Robbins, left New York on the 18th of Feb
latitude of ST. GATHERINGS we experienced series
OF heavy westerly gales, which continued for
Of nSe last When on the west sSe If pataoonts
and at the Pacific entrance to the Straits OF Magei
Ian, the pintals and gudgeons OF the rudder gave
way and 1t nOated on. Three days were consumed
IN constructing temporary one OF spare sparA
IL lasted about week, but In another heavy gale
mercy Of the winds. On the second day alter this
last disaster the Golden Hind
STRUCK BETWEEN TWO ROCKS, ~ go
one forward and one aft, on the western coast OF
Patagonia. Three boats were hurriediy prepared,
the men put on extra suits Of clothes, laid In
that evening lowered away, In the hurry Of de-
parture nearly all Of our nautical instruments
absolutely necessary. There were three boats
lowered-the first under the command Of Captain
the Of Mr.
Each contained seven men MI Webb, asserting
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
the night she beat to pieces on the rocks.
SEARCH FOR THE MISSING BOAT.
The next morning the last veStige OF the Golden
Hind had disappeared, and search, which con-
tinued two days, was made for the other boat, but
of s SSd BE We aaye ng
her entire crew were drowned. Upon examtna-
ton it was found that we had small box and .
bag of hard bread, the latter soaked with sea
water, about twenty cans OF beef, little tea and
coffee. An allowance Of one cracker to each man,
and one can OF beef to fourteen was at first issued
but this speedily decreased TO half cracker, and
finally we did not taste beef more than once q
week.
few days after we left the wreck the captains
boat was swanped and we lost our compass the
provisions. An attempt was made to reach Sandy
Point, a Chilean convict settlement and the coal
two-thirds the way through the Straits OF Magellan,
but our course could only he determined by the sun
and stars.
1t was then mld-Winter the mountains along the
coast were covered with snow and ice and tho
mercury must have been several degrees below
zero. We pulled close to the land, working all
night in fair weather, and during 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
good supply of matches fire was always to be
good supply of shell fish resembling the muscle, but
we found that this diet brought on constipation,
and the entire party became unwell.
For about twenty days the men held ont adj
mirably, but in the bitter cold q number were
frost-bitten and our legs and feet were terribly
swollen.
On going into camp we constructed tent of the
boats sail and mlzzen royal sail, with the oars.
fire was built In the centre, and the fourteen
men sat around it the night through. We sufrered
terribly from the loss of Steep as no one dared to
remain away from the fire for fear OF freezing to
death, and the tent was too small to hold ali In .
At the end Of the twentieth day the general de-
bility from insufficient food and The extreme pain
in our limbs rendered red the progress SLOW and very
allowance of bread had been reduced to
QUARTER OF CRACKER DAY,
and very often the men did without for q day or
two together to help out the supply. Their conduct
throughout the dreadful ordeal was most courage
GUS. Every man rendered implicit obedience, and,
although the ravages OF hunger rendered each al
most an ANIMAL the general welfare was never lost
Almost the entire month Of July was spent in
pulling In what we believed to be the direction to
Sandy Point. The only human beings we met were
US cordially, and willingly exchanged q duck for q
small quantity Of tobacco, but they had no other
riaes, and one OF the crew shot q duck but the
powder became wet and cur weapons were useless.
dead duck found among the rocks was also Sc
shell nsh, this was the only food we secured.
HUNGER.
became
fearfully tempestuous, and alter several days of
fruitess buneting we went into our last encamp-
ment twas q terribly bleak and desoate spot,
shut out from the sea by high cliffs and filed with
low stunted trees. We found, however, o few
roots, some berries. and strange to say, q little
celery; and, not knowing whether the vegetables
were poisonous or not, each man partook raven
ously OF whatever he could find. The high tides
prevented our securing any shell fish, and the few
secured water in abundance from the streams run
ming down the mountain.
DEATH.
Here the men became seriously Ill. Their legs
were swollen to frightful proportions but few
about with their feet tied up in old cloth and
pieces OF canvas. Some, unable to walk at ali,
crawled about on their HANDS and knees.
At length . man named White, q seaman, be-
came delirious, and shortly afterwards died. The
ground was 80 hardly frozen that it was impos.
distance from the tent and laid it in the bushes.
The next one attacked was young fellow we
G n ne Vs he e
within three hours after he became deliriOus. The
carpenter man nom Liverpool, was the next
victim; then we lost Charley, German seaman,
them died within ten days OF each other, and all
one left us we took his clothes to keep the living
ones warm, but during all these days not one OF US
nov THE BANQUET ON HUMAN FLESH
AZ length the steward, taking one OF the men ont
with him into the brush returned ts with slices Of
devoured. We all OF us knew we sustaining
life on the bodies Of our dead companions, but no
man asked O question. Sometimes we had 10
boiled and sometimes roasted. 1t tasted some-
thing like beef but It makes me shudder now to
think Of 1t.
THE RESCUE.
When we had eaten almost all OF the last body the
sch, oner Eagle, OF Port Stanley, Falkland Islands,
crawled up to the head OF the rocks, and waving
the American flag, with the union down, attracted
their attention. They picked us up and received
us all with as great Kindness as II we had been
their own kindred. We found that we had pulled
about twothirds Of the way through the straits OF
Magellan, and were then within sixty miles OF
Sandy Point.
There, after the third day, the Eagle landed Us
and the Chilean Governor at once provided us with
everything In the way Of food and clothing we re-
CURED. He would have sent us by the steamer
to Valparaiso but before she arrived the United
states soop-of-war 0ssippe put into port and took