Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1882-06-08
rIFTKU moNrus On A DEsoLArR
16LAND.

hrilting story of his experiences By
vreck. and his fifteen months life on a
lesoiate island. The Trinity arrived of
ieard's Island. October 2, 1885, and
anded two white men and two negroes.
nth provisions for three months, and
eft them there to kill elephants and
~ in stock of oil. The bark then
,roceeded round toward the southeast
nd of the island, Whsre it was proposed
o land another party with the Same OBJ
ect. Tho go, however, rose too high,
nd no boats ooald Be landed. She lay
6 0nGhor here until October 18th, wait
nQ fur cha1co 10 reach the shore, bat
he weather got worse till at midnight,
n this day heavy storm burst On her.
The Trinity lay about three- quaxtsfs Of
J mile from the shore, having two an
,hory out, With ridge Of reefs on the
southwest and q heavy gale blowing
rom the northeast. She was gradually
being driven on the rocks and on the 18th
was driven on shore to save the Grew.
All got Oh safely, although seven negroes
we're frostbitten. From that time until
he rescue, on January ID, 1882, tho IN
lived on this uninhabitabie
Island without any communication with
Ihs outer world. About midnight on
The FIRST night Of their sojourn on the
island Esmond. happening to walk down
70 the shore with two negroes. saw the
ship give weather roll, and. with vio-
lent lurch. she got clear of the beach
and fOated away, taking with her six
provisions. This was the I'm
ishing blow TO them, WHO now had moth
ing but the resources of the island and
the few provisions they had saved to de-
pend on. Thsre grew kind of wild
cabbage ON the island in plenty, and
this, together with the fesh of sea -ele-
plants and l0opards, formed their chief
sustanance. There were no quadrupeds
on the island itself. but there was, for
tunately, plenty of fresh water. The
party lived in four shantiss which had
been previously built by some whaling
crew, made Of wood, stones and sod.
Tho weather was always cold. 1t was
below freezing point when they Landed,
and summer brought no change of any
consequence, being situated in the an
tipOdsa. The months of June, July and
August we're the coolest, the darkest and
the dreariest, and at this period Of the
year they only had about three hours in
the twenty-four, though occasionally
the moon shone very brightly. During
the whole fifteen months strong gales
blew all the time. The only Occu-
patton of the men besides sleep
each day was patroiling the beach for
mediate wants they stored mp for rainy
day. They had no cards and no games.
Their experience was one vacant dreari-
ness, relieved occasionally by sitting
round the blubber fire spinning "sailor
like long yarns. With few exceptions
they did not suffer hunger when once
they became accustomed to tine Only
food they could get. This consisted OF
the flesh of the SEE elephants they
caught, but for long time many of the
crew could not get used to it. There
was no fuel on the island. They used
the fat oily blubber Of the sea-elephant
in its place. Whom they had sufiicien,
blubber for fuel they extracted the oil
from what they had on hand and stored
it in casks. In this way they had accu-
mulated about 500 barrels in measure of
oil when rescued, and they left it all on
tho island to be, at some future day
taken away AS valuable prize by some
body. They had blankets with them.
and beds were made from the feathers
of the sea-hens, which they caught.
For the last seven months they were ell
tirely without tobacco, and this the sea-
men seemed to regard as the worst of
all. There were no clocks or watches
among the crew, but Esmond saws he
made sun-dial on the roof of a shanty
winch sufticed. Nearly a correct reck-
oning of the days and months was kept
in tho simplest possible manner. A cal
endar was marked ont on large board
and affixed where it could be easily
seen. As each evening came round an
other day was scoredoff by man whose
duty it was to tick it Of with piece of
chalk. It was melancholy consolation
to watch the weeks as they passed, and
to $50 how long they had been on their
island. Sunday was the same Is any
other day, and the routine of patrolling
The beach for food belonged to the sew.
enth IA well AZ to the other six days Of
The week. No attempt was made 10 Gel
sbrate Christmas day, the Fourth of
July, or other festivals, either religious,
y or by jcllifcation, if such a thing
were possible under such circumstances.
they had no sickness OK
ocptinR in tho case of those who became
There were few copies of
! magazine in the settlement which be-
longed to the Captain, but beyond this
they had no literature save some books
On navigation; aud yet, with all their
apathy, EsmOnd describes them as on
he whole cheerful and always anicnated
BY hops. He adds: '.Such loyal
hearted crew under such circumsta nces
have not been among before. We all
stuck it out very we'll, and never looked
On the dark side" Several events in
the shape Of disasters and otherwise oc-
surred to vary tho monotony of their OK
istenco. In January. 1881, q terrible
misfortune happened to them. Five
men we're sent to spot called Fair
child's Beach in search of elephants
meat. Three only returned at night,
having missed their comrades. A search
was instituted and tho bodies of both
men were found about mile
and half apart near An iceberg. They
had both been frozen to death. One
was the ship carpenter. named George
native Of Scotland. The
other was named Kelley, and he came
from New York. They were both bur
led in one box amid much grief. About
November l, 1881, the penguins began
10 lay, and the eggs which were plenty.
gave them new life. The volcanic
on the island once or twice
emitted flames and smoke, and caused
great alarm, but this soon subsidized. All
Ibis time the party hadn's heard from
The four men left BY the Trinity on the
other sido of the island, from whom
they were separated by an impossible
deld Of Joe; but in December, ISL, these
toor men built boat from the boards
of their shanty, paid their comrades a
visit by sea, and remained some time.
They subsequently returned 10 their
old quarters. Nearly fifteen months
had now elapsed since the wreck of the
Trinity. It was welcome sight when.
On the 18th Of January, 1882, the United
states man-of-war steamer Marion hove
IN sight. The ssameu stood ON rocks
md waved their blankets till at last they
wore seen and signaled TO. On the 18th
he men werd taken ON board in two
Suffers, and the Marion steamed for
Clinton Bay, eighteen miles distant.
where the four men previously spoken
Df were encamped. These, too, were
eakeu ON board. and the whole party
wete clothed In navy costumes to replace
their own tattered garments. The Ma
NON steamed for Cape Of Good Hone.
and, after . passage Of thirty-three DAVIS.
Cape Town. where the American
consul took charge of the shipwrecked
mariners,