Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1878-08-30
CRUSOE WITHOUT LEGS.
Crippled and Cast Away on n D.s.r,
Island-LivinG Three Months on Turtle
Meat and Cocoauufs;

4
kept by his sister, in South Washington
square, New York, reporter found Mr..
Samuel Barnes. After reading letter
of introduction which the reporter pre-
sented, Mr.. Barnes said. eff it wasn't
that Captain 1fenwith (the author OF
the Introductory had been SO kind to
me, would not talk to you. However.
to oblige our mutual friend, the captain,
fire away with your questions. The
reporter lost no time in complying, and
was put IN possession of the following
strange story:
81 sailed from London" said Mr..
Barnes, Sin July. 1872, as second mate
OF the ship Benflea. We were bound
to Bombay by way or the Cape of Good
Hope, and thence with load of coolies
to Demerara. The Benares was an iron
ship, in splendid condition. We had
unaccountably bad weather for three
weeks, which ended in terrible storm.
We were carrying only close-reefed
foresail aud fore staysail when the iron
truss on which the fore yard swings, and
by which it is partially supported,
snapped. The yard still swung by the
sings, and the men were ordered aloft to
secure 1t. l was standing ON the deck
when one of the slings parted and the
yard came crashing down. 1t knocked
me off my feet and smashed both my
legs half way between the ankles and
the knees. Being an emigrant ship we
had an experienced surgeon. He per-
formed q skillful amputation, as you
see. But a fierce fever followed, and
when we spoke On American ship bound
for the Sandwich Islands, three weeks
later, l was put aboard of her to be re-
moved to the hospital in Tahiti. In
March, '73, was all right, and stump
ing about town on two wooden legs.
"The Alexander Scott, California
schooner, was about to sail for home
and l obtained passage on her. The
crew and passengers of the Benares had
made up purse, and that with my pay
amounted to over 300 pounds. A sub
scription was also circulated in the
islands, King Kalakaua heading the list
with fifty dollars. I had altogether
nearly 50, 800. The Alexander Scott ran
| short of water ON account of her tanks
leaking, and we ran for group of unin.
| IUblOCNt 1OletnOlo oUU ulll6b lHulbl,
where the whalers had sunk barrel wells
in the beach. The group is called the
Freshwater Gays. The schooner's cargo
had been badly slowed, and when we
anchored off the islands the captain set
all hands but the crew of the water boat
to work re-stowing it. [ offered to take
charge of the boat, which could very
easily do, and went ashore with it, re-
naming all day on the beach. Two
| days were spent in this way. The morn
ing of the third was threatening, and the
men worked hard to fill the last of the
casks. At noon, while the boats were
alongside the schooner, it came on to
blow all of sudden, and tremendous
the wind was, it was lee shore, and the
schooner had to slip her cable and beat
out to sea. watched her vanish in the
storm mist with feelings that can never
be described. I waited and hoped two,
three, four days, week, and fortnight.
Then knew that l was abandoned. AS
have since learned, the Alexander
Scott was dismasted and waterlogged,
and after drifting nearly 1,500 miles,
the captain and crew were taken off by
whaler and carried into Panama.
However, that is not my story. The
whalers who occasionally visited Fresh
water Gays had built cabin of cOcoanut
logs, and in this fc und shelter. I had
brought flint and steel ashore with
me to light my pipe. Up to the time
my last hope Of rescue by the Scott van
ished I had kept body and soul together
by eating cocoanuts with which the
island was covered, and huge heap of
which the men had collected. Now I
set my wits to work to provide myself
with better fare. 1t was the beginning
of the season when the turtle come
ashore to lay their eggs. Imade num-
Der of attempts to capture them, but my
movements were so slow that they al
ways escaped me. At last ruse sug-
gested itself. I buried myself in the
sand at place whereI they came out in
great numbers, and so captured any
quantity of them. simply turned them
on their backs in the shade.
1t was terribly monotonous living,
though. Nothing but green turtle and
turtle eggs, with such cocoanuts as oc-
casionally fell from the trees. I used to
vary the fare by making turtle stew. I
cleaned the back shell of a three hun
dred pound turtle and made soup-ket-
tie OF it. l would fill it with meat and
water, and then drop red-hot stones in
it until it boiled.
II naturally became very expert in
moving about. I cut my wooden legs
down to about foot in length, which
made navigation much easier, too. But
could not climb, and the fresh, green
cocoanuts on the trees made my mouth
water to madness, until Providence
solved the problem. I found dead
shark on the beach, and cut long strips
from his skin, which, as you know, is
almost as rough as the edge of saw.
By winding these around my stumps, L
| found that could claw my way up such
trees as inclined at any angle as we'll as
telegraph repairer climbs a pole with
his steel grapples. After that I had all
the cocoanuts l wanted.
"But you can't fill your paper with
my yarn, so I'll cut it short. was left
on the island in May, '79. In November,
1874, I was taken off by the whaler John
X, Polk, which put in for water. By
that time I had contrived to make fish
ing tackle out OF turtle gut and bone and
catch fish. had also found a mussel
bed under the lee of the island in reef
of coral rock, SO / was feeding more
comfortably. But you can imagine what
a scare the Folks crew were in when
they saw man without legs and with
beard that touched the ground waddling
toward them and screaming for Joy.
They got bravely over their fright. how
ever, and carried me to Honolulu. There
1 met Captain Trenwith, who was driving
a brisk miscellaneous trade among the
| islanda with q little ataanar Ho HANNA