Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-06-30
THE LOST FLORINDA.
An Extraordinary Romance of
the Sea.

81 last
New Orleans Picayune, June %.
Recent revelations have excited an
intense and growing interest in the fate
Of the fifteen or twenty men who, more
than a quarter Of century ago, char
tered the schooner FIorinda and set
sail for tie golden shores Of California.
For twenty-six years the families of the
adventures have mourned them as lost.
The last news Of the Florinda was re.
ceived late in the year 1849 from Rio
Janeiro. She had put in at that port
some time previous and then proceeded
on her way, leaking badly, it was said.
A vessel touching at Rio Janeiro short
ly afterward, reported having spoken
the Florinda in the Pacific, Just beyond
Cape Horn. From that time forward
nothing more was ever heard Of the
ElOrinda, and it became an accented
theory that she had been cast away
and her crew lost somewhere on the
South Pacific coast. No tidings reach
ed the families Of the Inflated areon-
auts, and tWenty-six years slipped by
without waif or whisper to disturb
the melancholy conviction which had
sealed the record of their lives. Their
children have grown to manhood and
womanhood without the knowledge,
with scarcely the memory Of a fathers
love. The hopes that clusted around
them have long ago been transferred
to that other world in which they were
believed to be.
Such Is the story as 1t has passed cur
rent all this time, with the general
public and with the greater number of
the relatives Of the Florinda company.
AT first, of course, there were doubts
and fears and expectations, more or
less reluctantly resigned for certainty,
but to this conclusion all eventually
came and the loss of the schooner with
all on board has, for fully a quarter of
a century, been regardeda as a fact about
which there could be no sort of ques.
ton. The Unfortunatemen have been as
utterly given up as though their burials
had taken place In presence of the
whole community, and to have told any
Of their families that they were still
alive would have been to ask them to
believe that the dead had risen after
twenty-five years of sepulture and
walked forth once more among the
living.
Within the past few days, however,
precisely this proposition has In effect
been made. The strange and startling
statement has transpired that Harmon
Jones and his fellow vOyagers were not
lost as we have thought, but are now
alive on some nameless and hitherto
unknown island in the lower Pacific.
About a month ago a friend of Mrs.
Harmon Jones read In an English pa
per an account of some British vessel
having been driven out of her course
In a storm and sighted an unknown
island. Much to the surprise of the
crew the island turned out to be inhab-
tied, and still more astonishing, bymen
who spoke the English language. The
rest Of the story, as given In the paper
to, Is that the castaways told
the ships company that they were the
Florinda party who had sailed from
New Orleans In 1919 bound for Cali
fornia, that they had been wrecked on
the island and had dwelt there ever
since, 1t being then more than twenty
five years that they had not seen a hu-
man face or q sign Of the world from |
which they were so utterly eliminated.
The paper gave the names Of several,
all OF whom are known to have been of
FlOrinda's crew, and In many other
ways, according to the version Of Mrs.
Jones friend, the identity Of the party
was established as none but themselves
could have established it. 1t was fur
Their stated that the British vessel Of
fered to take the men on board, but
they declined, saying they had been
lost for a quarter Of a century; that
they knew not IN what situation they
would find the families they had left,
and that they preferred staying and
ending their days there rather than
venture back to such a doubtful and
uncertain future. This paper was
four months old when Mrs. Jones'
friend saw it, one month ago, and the
events narrated were described as
having occurred four months previous
to the issue Of the paper. 1t is just |
nine months then since the island was
discovered by the British vessel, and
at that time all, or nearly all, of the
Florinda party appear to have been
alive.
It need not be said that this news
has aroused the deepest interest. To
the community at large it recalls the
occurrence of the Florinda's
sailing from New Orleans vito its ad-
venturous company. To the families
of the Inflated men It comes like mes
sage from another world and is as
though it were the announcement of a
Within the past few days
the relatives have been living in a state
of constant excitement, and many Of
them, especially the sons of Harmon
Jones, Jno. A. Sidney, and Capt. Ken
mure, the skipper of the Florluda,
have devoted themselves to the task of
following the clue given by the friend
who saw the English paper Extensive
inquiries are now on foot, and the Brit
ish Consul has kindly interested him
self in the affair so far as to agree TO
forward to the War Office in London a
full statement Of the circumstances so
that the name of the vessel which
touched at the castaway's home can be
ascertained and the bearings of the is
land taken from her log. 1t would
greatly facilitate this end, however, if
a copy of the paper giving the original
account were found, and it is still
hoped that some one who sees this pub
LEGATION may have noticed the paper
and be able to tell us where a number
can be had. On that contingency de-
ponds much that will simplify and ex-
pedite the quest, but it IS certain that
in any case the friends of FlOrinda's
crew will never rest again until the
mystery is fathomed to its uttermost
depth.
HOW TRAIN-BOYS GET RICH.