The interior journal., 1874-11-27

Hfuiortt maft iht huth't'"- W'''u
was clapped in irons presently, while his
infuriatcd commander, having refreshed
himself, returned TO the deck, which he
paced with unsteady steps, revolving in
his mind what. punishment would be
sufficient for a crime 20 heinous. II
ought 10 be somewhat unusual, startling,
appalling as the act which IL avenged.
Suddenly his eyes caught sight ofa small
island, now turned into a jewel by the
rays Of the sun, which was sinking in the
west, and the inspiration came.
Lieutenant he cried.
"sirg
"Man the gig, and send for that fellow
have had confined"
II was done, and then, 10 the lieuten-
ants horror, his superior officer ordered
him to take the prisoner, land him on
the barren rock, and ioow him. I'll
have no thieves on board my ship" he
said.
The captain was evidently the worse
for drink and his lieutenant hesitated.
"Do you hear me, sirT" thundered the
astonished commander; and discipline
prevailed. Deeply as he loathed the act,
the lieutenant had no option but to obey;
the crew. though they murmured, did
not mutiny, and Robert Jeffrey was put
ashore without food or drink. He had
his knife, and one sailor gave him a
handkerchief, and another long stick
which he had thought TO throw into the
boat as they showed of, for the kerted
man to signal with. BY this time the
sun had sunk, and when the boat re-
turned to the ship it left the poor fellow
behind, alone, in the dark.
He fully believed that the captain only
meant to frightsn him, and bore up
pretty well through the night with that
idea. But when the morning dawned
the Recruit was mere speck in
the distance, which slowly passed away
beyond the horizon. Then the unhappy
man realized that he was castaway.
The Recruit, indeed, had caught favor
ing breeze, which carried her quickly Ia
Barbados, where she joined the squadron
under Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane
Here officers and crew, mingled with
other ships, spoke freely of the affair
which presently reached the admirap'
ears, who sent for the captain, questioned
him, and finding the story true, severely
reprimanded him for his brutality, and
ordered him back to rescue the man.
The island upon which Jeffrey had
been 50 barbarously left was ono Of the
; Ieeward group, desolate rock called
Sombrero, and the Recruit got back to il
Just fortnight after the event. A care
full search was instituted, but all that
was found was a pair Of Trousers, moi
JefTrey's, and tomahawk handle, n,
trace of the missing man being discover
able.
This result being reported ON the ships
return to Barbados, Sir Alexander
Cochrane felt satisfied that the man had
been rescued by some passing vessel, and
let the matter rest for the time. But q
good many formed different opinion
and suspected that Jeffrey had come tc
some violent end; and when the squadon
returned to England the affair was taken
up by people at home, and made 30 much
noise, after two years had elasped, the
captain was brought 70 court-matial,
condemned, and dismissed from the ser
vice. This, hswever, instead Of appeas.
ing the public excitement, only inflamed
it the more by the authentic<letais which
were brought to light in the course ofthe
court-martial. The illegality of the
mans having been pressed at all-the
veniaiity of his ohense, especially consid.
ering the circumstances of thirst caused
by short allowance Of water in 30 hot a
climate, and the ready temptation to ap.
pease it placed directly in his way, com.
bined with the inhuman cruelty Of hi:
abandonment to stir the public indgna
ton. Meetings were held, articles writ
ten, petitions signed, urging the propriety
of endeavoring by all means TO discoveI
what had become of the missing man
and Sir Francis Burdett lost no oppor
tunity Of keeping the question before
the government in the House of Com
mons.
| Illegal pressings, ksel-hauling, fog
gings to death were not so very uncom
mon in the navy at that time as to ac
count for the usually Indifferent public
espousing Robert Jetfrey's cause so warm
ly F; but it did so, and made a representa-
tive man OF him.
The first authentic news came from
George Hassel, mariner, who deposed OF
oath before the Mayor Of Liverpool tina
he had just returned from Beverly, 1
town in Massachusetts, and man wa
fliving there who was nicknamed tn,
Governor of Sombrero, whose real nam,
was jeffrey. Whereupon this Jeffrey
MAS communicated with, and in due tim,
letter in reply purporting to come from
hip was received, giving full account
of'his adventure.
When the Recruit had quite disap
peared, he remained for some time over
whelmed with despair, but after Will,
he grew calm and felt very hungry, 80 h'
explored his island to see If there wa
anything to eat upon il, but could find
nothing except birds, which flew away
as birds win when he tried TO catch
them. At last he discovered an egg but
alas il. was an election egg-a very good
missile, but not edible. Soon, however
the pangs of hunger gave place to the
seycrer sufierings of thirst, which he
tried to appease by swallowing the sea
water, and that, Of course, made natter
worse. But heaven, more merciful than
man, sent him shower of rain, which
lodged i'm the Creyices of the rocks and