The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1876-06-29
THE NEW CRUsOEs.

Extraordinary Adventures end Suffer-
ings Of the P:ssengers and CrsW o. the
[From the London Telegraph
Seldom has even the quiet and lonely
sea furnished tale more remarkable,
as regards human suffering and human
endurance, than that of the emigrant
ship Strathmore. The vessel-a fine,
new clipper, in the Australian trade
sailed from London for New Zealand
on the 18th of April, 1875, carrying a
general cargo and 88 souls, including
passengers and complement. As months
rolled on, and no scraps OF tidings came
to hand respecting the handsome ship,
apprehension deepened into certainty.
She was given up at Lloyd's for lost,
entered in the fatal catalogue of the
craft 'snot since heard Of" and tears
were shed by the friends of the ships
company and passengers, as for those
never to be seen or heard of more.
Meanwhile, the Strathmore, doomed to
different end than that imagined, car
ried her perilous cargo safely round the
Cape and out into the great Southern
Ocean, and had gone on prosperously
enough, in spite of an insubordinate
and drunken crew, until she reached the
neighborhood of the Crozet Islands.
This is a solitary group, comprising the
Marion Rocks and the 'sTwelve Apos-
tles," midway between Prince Edwards
Island and Kerguelen's Land, and about
% degrees southwest of St. Paul's,
where the Meg@ra was wrecked. The
Captain, deceived by foggy weather,
thought himself to the southwark of
these islets; but on the night of the last
day of June the vessel suddenly ran at
full speed upon submerged rocks, and
in an instant terrible confusion took
the place of whatever order and sea-
manship had before prevailed. The first
intimation of danger conveyed to the
passengers was the frightful crash and
grinding of the ship, followed by the
voice Of the captain crying that all was
lost, and that each must shift for him.
SELF Were not this man dead, the ac-
counts which we receive of his behavior
would call for the severest comments !;
but he was among the first to perish,
overturned, apparently, by the heavy
sea, in the boat which he and his chief
officer fastened to launch. The after
part of the vessel was soon covered with
water, but the bows were jammed upon
the reef, and when morning broke a
certain portion of the crew and passen-
gers managed to get the other boats
afloat, and to rearch the island upon the
outlying ridge of which they were
stranded. Many of the remaining peo-
pie had already been drowned in trying
to escape or were washed into the sea,
including a whole family named Good
ridge of ten individuals. Those left on
board chung to the upper rigging of the
breaking ship, some of them for as
long as 10 hours, before the boats came
back from the shore, and took them from
their desperate position. It must be
remembered that July at the Crczets
would be the depth of winter, and Inc
bitter cold experienced during that pro-
longed exposure killed at least one of
the sufferers. Eventually the task of
rescue was completed to the extent of
landing upon the island as many as 49,,
all told, 80 passengers, officers and
crew having persisted. Shortly after
the last man had been taken from the
wreck she heeled over into deep water,
went down, leaving no vestige behind !;
and all the stores which these unhappy
people saved from her consisted of few
casks of liquor, some cases of preserves
in tins, and barrel of gunpowder.
The island upon which our country
men were thus cast is one of a group
the most desolate in the world. No hui
man being inhahits that solitary archi-
pelago, which, dashed by tempests and
a rolling ocean, is never visited except
by an adventurous whaler. An explor-
alton of the place where they found
themselves showed that it was gaunt
and naked rock mile long, with a
shore line of five to six miles in extent,
without trees or shelter Of any kind, and
exposed to the full fury of the winter
blasts and surf. The boats were all
swamped, 80 that there was no chance
of crossing to any of the larger islands
which were visible; and on this misera-
BILE speck of naked reef they must stay
and try to exist. Happily there was
found q spring of pure water which
never failed them, and thus one great
necessity of life was secured. OF food
there was only single source, and that
was in the immense quantity Of sea-
birds which frequented the spot. In.
Vulnerable albatrosses, frigate birds,
gulls, and the like were found resident
on the isle; their eggs were scattered
on all sides, and their young afforded
an easy prey, being SO entirely unusued
to man that they and the parent birds
could be captured with the hand or
knocked over with a stick. The survi-
vors hoisted the mast of the life-boat
on an eminence, with a blanket for q