The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1878-04-20
SUFFERING At SEA.
Terrible Voyage of the Bark Olus-
tee from Sumatra
A SINGULAR PLAGUE.
Poisonous Green Coffee Supposed to
Have Caused Sickness on Board.

sturdier endurance Is told by sailors VINO escape
wreck or disaster than that which Captain Nicker-
sou, OF the bark Oiustee, told yesterday his arri
val from Padang, in sumalra he made the voyage in
100 days-not long time under other circumstances;
but The three months at were heightened almost
to a lifetime by the horrors OF sickness and peril.
shor.handed at the start, in consequence oil a de-
serticn, sick himself, and stricken by an epioemic
which at time threatened 10 leave the ship with
only the cook alive, the captain was called
hiot powers Of endurance and judgment seldom called
for oven In hts profession.
The tidy little BARK lay at Harbeck's storos in
Brooklyn as u HERALD reporter boarded her yester-
dey learn the particulars OF the voyage She looked
IN trim order, and 1t was hard to realize that she
had just finished a.duous voyage. The
captain himself a why looking Yankee skipper,
about thirty-nve years old, whose skin darkly
bronzed by tho tropical Gun, was pacing tho Dock and
the mate emaciacd aud pale from long illness. sat at
the top OF the steps leading from the main deck 10 the
root OF the cabin Captain Nckcrson greeted his vsi-
tor courtsously, and leading the way Into his little
cabin. told MS story modestiy and graphically II
had pretty hard time OF It," no said, "but
We got through better than seemed possible at
Que time. W. tcit PAdang on December 80 with
cargo oi prern coffee. IL was The ordinary Java
coffee, 50 far as knew perfectly harmless freight;
out attribute the troub. We hat to Of poison
emanatins from the coffee. We were. perhaps, a
couple Of weeks loading up anu started with 600
but supposed then that the trouble was tue
Java lever, as It Is called, which is something
the doctors Ia Padaog and took, as thought for
time, All overdose oi quinne, the doctor having gwen
me seventy grams III twenty iour hours. Ny second
mate had deserted jusi before sailed and there
wcre besides myself, The frat mate sailors the
cook. made ono Of the sailors. Mr.. Lewis, native
OF Waes, second mate, as he was good man who
had SAILED with me be.ore
TROUBLE BEGINNING
We were not larry out oil tue harDor before both my
mates were down SICK, and as some OF tue men had
been complaining Tor some days OIL the same ~ mp
that had had, We were very much ike y float
Ing hospital even then. But the doctors had told
me that We would probably be all right whcn We got
sea / had no apprehensions, but went along with
shortened sail, taxing the TRACE winds anu having
great trouble ~ nrst As the mates were both
SICK ana was on duty pretty much ali this time
night day Tor hItytwo days, the only log have
sort OF ABSTRACT log that kept whenever had
cnancs by this, however, eau give you the ds.es
OF the riLclpal events oi tho voyage
On January l. the ,hird day out, we had northeast
winds and considerable rain, and we're running under
cook was ali right, az be was the only mau board
who was not SICK during the voyage. took large
win considerable difficulty The symptoms every
the same, anu took tho trouble to be
hesdaches, an overflow OF gangrenous bilc on tho
stomach alternate nLs OF vomiting purging clear
blood, with thick black coating over the mouth,
ps, throat and tongue, and cramps in the logs. e..
gave quiuine and pnysc, which seemed ~ every cAse
10 give temporary rei,o, but weakened the men.
after the nrst effect had passed OIL. The
day, January 2, ! had three seamsa ON
duty, but they were weak tncy could hardly
do anything, and GU the I'D the whole WAS still
sick aud We bad some bad winds, but nothing that
seemed dangerous. still thought the trouble WAS
dysenIery AND mad no great apprensnsons. On tue
Attn the sccond officer got little better won't On
deck thinking 70 resume his dulles but soon he
worse anu hai 20 g'vo up anu 90 below. stlli kept
up, Enough almost SICK as tho others On tho 5In
Tie second mato grew worse and was dslirious snd
utterly helpless We did what We could for him. but
II was almost impossible TO help him any. |
had four seAmen dock that day, but
they were all sick and weak. kept up bur had ter
| r
in great measure The ana anxiety rested
On the 9th the sailors little better md
from this until died. The 1rst male, however
got little b. tter though no was stili hepsss,
but We kept wei ciewed up and lost nothing Ut tns
time On the 9th one Of my sailors got little better
aud WAS able 70 do his trick NJ the wheel which
great help
DEATH OF THE SECOND NATE
On the 1Oh about haii-past iour +. NJ, the second
mate was very bad, though he complained OF no paas
except in tho stomach. HIS pulse was very low but
saw no other bad symptoms spoke 10 hiin, and
he he felt very bad. About SIX O'CLOCK ne be-
struggle aud without knowing that he was dying /
had his Sody taken nj oncc 10 the carpenters room
to keep the lact oil his death from the hfst mate
was AFRAID u ne should know OF u u would make MN
worse Alter Mr. Lewis death his neck turned very
decomposng. We kept the body TIL tue
following day, Tue 11th oil January, when haa il
se~,d Ia piece oil canvas aud put bag OF Goals to
his ee Ihen called all hands that well no gn
To turn up on deck, ana alter reading lew appro-
grave took an observation That day, and well US
1 could reckon the Coccs Islands werc about my
miles TO the southeast My calculations NIL lhis
were necessarily somewhat imperfect, as / had 10
rake my sex,ant on dock and then, alter taxing
s,fvaton, run down 10 the cabin whore CHI ronome-
ter was and take the time, allowing Tor me time
thought It TOOK 10 90 from one INSTRUMENT to tho
other Neither OF my mates was able to take tho time
fof me
on The 18th Mr.. Abbott, tho arst mate. was taken
with the same symptoms Mr. Lewis had had, and
told hm that 10 could not live IL MAS very ard on
he lac We IN 4 lnI hul
Tue one thing no wanted 10 live Tor most 10
his poor Old mother, as he hau been away from
Tor ten years. However, he took II very quietly aad
maniuily and bado all hands goodby In manly way.
The steward read tho Bible TO HIM, and ali thought
no would 70 "a a few hours at the most. He ia q
tefrib condition. Hts forehead all black IKE tho
hesh Of accompanying corpse, ana so were both his
weak, anu a little while alter told him 10 must do
he became deirious. l had thought tbat day thai
perhaps the oiiicuity might be IN bc PaaAng water
We mad been drinking, aud AS had tank Aus
traiian water below changed the supply, giving tho
men tho Australian water; but could see I'm
proveincnt from The change.
HANDS LOSING HOPE.
This day the mon seen.cd 10 lose Ihcir courage
trciy. ana were almost frightened 10 e,tn. They
wtre worn cut with sickness. aud were weak IRON
frying 10 work while they were sick. One mate
dead, the other vas dying, and did not expect %
live myself, nor did l6ev think would. / SPOKE 10
tbem cnecrlully aud told them " keep up. ~Lat
10 do u the mato and SHOULD Doth die and they be
left, M they would be, with no navigator board
told them TO work tnen way, as near they could
guess at H. Tor about dizzy miles 10 southwark, and
bring tho line OF the Calcutta crossng, ana
thought their chance Was pretty good OF spcaA ing
some snip tnat would put navigator On board. Dut
coUIdn Keep thor courage up and mad very ntle
hope ict myself ON The night oi the l2th, when
turned in Tor ntte sleep. Ior 1 with
Anxiety and work aud sickness. On tho 10 b the
better; but noticed that xhcn l acck
IN the open AR iet macn better than l dio when
the cabin. So desermined 10 make my ed
on tue TOP oi tho house, aud had tho mate moved
up too. lie was so weak that We had TO put hin
a plank and carry nim up buit a couple oi tcnis
ar
tue Cape OF Good Hope mad 60 buiid the tents my.
sell, Tor the sailors had more than they could do
around The ship, and had to be sailor, navigator,
captain and mate, aud work AT the pumpa alter
ward, as you will hear IN moment
Change yoR raK BETTER.
Well az soon ~ wo sot moved ~ lhe top OF the
house we both better Tho mate rallied imme-
disteiy aud goa new strength all the tne; so told
the the top of the forward house, and
they got into the ircsh air they began to
got stronger, tina we're really worst Of
IL. though We had pretty rough time sfterwarL Wa
pretty wet good deal OF Toe Vino VII 10 woro
deck, AS u raned a good acs, but wa wvrs
better tor the air. l hadnr noticed any