Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1880-12-30
Involuntary CrusOes.


INVOLUNTARY Crusoes have mostly
become so from pure accident, but there
are some instances to the contrary
Seaman jeffrey, of H. M. S. Recruit
venturing to help himself to the Cap.
tain's spruce beer, was punished by be.
ing set on shore on the uninhabited island
of Sombrero. Doubtless Captain Lake
repented the deed, when, on his return
to the same latitude some two months
afterward, the boat sent to bring the
offender on board again returned with
the report that he was nowhere to be
found. At any rate the Captain had
good cause to repent it little later on,
for, upon the matter coming to the
knowledge of the Admiral on the West
Indian Station, Lake was tried by court
martial and dismissed the service. At
home Sir Francis Burdett brought the
case before Parliament, and a search
was instituted for the missing man, re-
sulting in his being brought to England
in October, 1909. He had lived on the
rock of SombrerO for nine days, subsist-
ing upon limpets and birds eggs, when,
luckily for all concerned, he was taken
off by an American schooner, and landed
at Marblehead, Massachusetts.
A Dutch skipper once thought to get
rid of bad bargain in the same way.
Putting into st. Helena, then uninhab-
tied, to bury a dead officer, he left there
a seaman who had been condemned to
death. Disinclined to accept the situa-
ton, the criminal unearthed the coffin,
and, after turning out its occupant,
launched it on the water, and, thanks
to calm falling, succeeded in oVertak-
ing the ship. The Captain, thinking his
pluck deserving of recognition, received
him onldeck, pardoned man.
Captain Barnard, victim of migrate
full mistrust, found companiOnship in
misery more troublesome than comfort
ing. He commanded an American ship
in 1914, and happened to be at New
Island, in the Falklands, when an En-
gish ship was wrecked there; the crew
and passengers, numbering thirty, get
ting safely to land, Captain Barnard
took them all on board, intending to
leave them at a Brazilian port,
and, to obtain sufficient supplies,
went on shore with four of his men on
hunting excursion. While he was so en-
gagged, the English sailors, fearful of be-
ing carried to America as prisoners of
war, cut the cable and made off with
the ship. The astonished skipper took
the matter philosophically. He set his
men to work at once to build a house of
stone, strong enough to withstand the
storms of winter. A small plantation
Of potatoes supplied the party with
fair substitute for bread and by storing
up albatoss eggs, and catching pig
now and then, they contrived to live
tolerably well, all things considered.
His companions, however, soon show
ed symptoms of insubordination, and at |
length, tired of the life they led, depart
ed in the boat. Alone in his glory, the
Captain spent his time preparing clothes
from the skins of seals and collecting
food for the winter, never emitting to
ascend hill once or twice a day on the
chance of deserving ship. After dwell
ing thus in solitude for some months
Barnard was rejoined by the runaways,
who found that they could not get on
without him. The return was not an
unmitigated blessing. One of them
planned his murder, for which the Cap
tam had him conveyed to small island
in Quaker Harbor, and left there, until
three months Of his own society brought
him to express penitence for his pur-
posed crime. After this things went on
until an English whaler took
,he party off, and ended their two years
rial of Crusoeing on New Island.-AU
he Year Round.