The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1882-04-20
mopsus uou,SsoS onrsors.
The Adventures ~ u New London Whaling
Grew on - Desert island


adventures that vie with those Of Robinson
Crusoe. The bark Trinity Jl,GD tons,
Captain John Williams left New London
on June lst 1850, bound for the whaling
grounds Of the southern seas. She had on
board q crew Of sixteen hands, and, after u
passage Of twenty-five days, arrived at the
Cape dc Verde islands. Here she shipped
nineteen Portuguese negroes TO assist in
the whaling and departed the same day
for the cruising grounds.
"Ihe Trinity" says Esmond ION Septem-
Der f. arrived at the uninhabited island of
Desolation, in the South seas. On Septem-
Der 2S we sailed from Desolation island TO-.
wards Heard island, and arrived there Oc-
tober g" IL is the custom of whalers to
call at Heard island to kill sea elephants,
which abound there, and from the BLADDER
of whiclj valuable oil is extracted. Heard s
island is in the South Indian ocean, $50
miles JouthesJ of Hergnelan's island, sit
uated/about south latitude $50 and east
Longitude 73o. 1t is 30 miles long, and
froh theree to ten miles wide, with "a vol
cafic group of mountains in the centre,
about6 900 feet high. 1t is covered nearly
AL over with snow and ice, the glaciers
= reaching quite down to the water. On u
suitable point OF this desolate island the
Trinity landed two white men and two ne
groes, with provisions enough for three
months, and LETT them there to Kill sea ele-
phants and lay in Il stock of oil. The bark
then proceeded round toward the south
east end of the island, where it was pro-
posed to land another party with the same
object. The sea, however, rose too high,
and no boats could be landed. She lay at
anchor here till October JIG, waiting Tor a
chance to reach the shore, but the weather
got worse, till at midnight on this day, a
gfAr hr,ru hnp ~
lay about three quarters of mile from The
shore, having two anchors ont with ridge
of reefs on the southwest, and a heavy
gale blowing from the northeast. She was
gradually being driven on the reefs, when,
at Ia. m, October II, the position was so
perilous, That Captain Williams called a
council in the cabin to know what should
done TO save their lives.
'The verdict soon was" says the second
made, "to slip the cables and run the ship
on shore. The captain thought this was
our only chance, and at $3.50 q. m, we slip
ped them both and made sail. We were
then hard crew to look at, with wide
waste of waters on the starboard bow ice
bound cliffs and breakers on the port bow,
and wide beach astern. The ship
was not safe on any tack, and death had
stared us in the face. AT 1910 she grounded
about fifty yards from the beach, the sea
going clean over her. We could now lower
ed overheard and swan ashore, and hauled
some of tie others to land with ropes. Soon
after the ship swung round sideways to the
surf, which gave us chance to lower a
boat. In this the remainder of the crew
got on shore, all safe and sound, except
seven negroes, who were frostbitten. We
hauled ashore about two months provis.
ions, which were packed in casks. About 8
O'Clock at night all hands put up tilt, we
lit fire, dried our clothes, and laid down,
twenty-nine in all"
From this day, October II, 1880 until the
rescue on January -. 1882, the unfortunate
seamen lived on this uninhabited island,
outer world. Esmond describes the reali-
cation OF their loneliness thus:
Then our troubles appeared in their
proper shape. We saw that there was moth
ing but to Robinson Crusoesit for twelve
months at least, for we knew that 40 ship
would come before then. We knew more
three months afterward than we knew then,
for then we began to see that we should
have to live without any natural food"
About midnight on the first night of their
soiourn on the island, Esmond, happening
to walk down to the shore with two negroes,
saw the ship gave weather roll, and, with
violent lurch, she got clear of the beach
and tloated away, taking with her SIX
months provisions. This was the finishing
blow to the seamen, who now had nothing
Bat the resources of the island and the few
provisions hey bad saved to depend on.
There grew kind of wild cabbage on the
island in plenty, and this, together with
the flesh OF the sea elephants and leopards,
formed their chief sustenance. There were
no auadrupeds on the island itself, but there
was fortunately, plenty OF fresh water.
The party lived in four shanties, which had
been previously built by some whaling crew,
made ofwood, stones and sods. Tie captain,
officers carpenter, etc, lived in one house, the
white sailors in another and the negroes in
a third. Esmond and two negroes lived in
the fourth structure, which wa built on the
southeast side, and used as lookout for
coming ships. These three were always on
duty, and remained at the lookout station
until they were taken on. The weather was |
always cold 1t was below freezing point |
when they landed, and summer brought |
no change of any consequence. Being stu |
ated i'm The antipodes the months of June, |
July and August were the coolest, the
darkest and the dreariest, and at that pc
Rod of the year they only had about three I
hours of daylight in the twenty-four,
though occasionally the moon shone very |
brightly.
During the whole fifteen months strong |
gales blew all the time. The only occupa-
ton of the men, besides sleep, was each day
patrolling the beach in search OF food.
When they had sufficient for immediate
wants they stored up for rainy day. They |,
did not organize in any way either for re-
creation or prayer service, They had no
cards and no games. lheir existence
was one vacant dreariness, relieved &C.
casionally by sitting round the blubber fi-e,
spinning, saiios-like, long yarns. With few
excepiIons they did not suffer hunger, once
they became accustomed TO the only food
they could get. This consisted Of the flesh
of the sea elephants they caught, but for
long time many Of the crew could not get
use 20 Il. There was no fuel on the island,
and they used the Eat, oily blnbber OF the
sea elephants In its place. When they had
sufficient blubber for fuel they extracted
the oil from what they had on hand and
stored il in casks In this way they had
accumulated about 500 barrels, in measure,
of oil, when rescued, and they left it all ON
the island, 10 be at some future day taken
away as a valuable prize by somebody.
They rad blankets with them, and beds
were made from the feathers Of the sea
hens which they caught. Their own
clothes lad 10 last them all the time they
were there, but they made boots, gloves,
mittens, etc, out OF the skins Of the sea
animals they caught. For the last seven
montls they were entirely without tobscco,
and tbs the seamen seem 70 regard ~
lie worst IN Of all. There were no clocks (
or watches among the crew, but Esmond
saws he made n sun dial on the roof 81 bis
shantv. which s1fiiced fairly. A correct
Of the days and months was
kept in the simplest possible manner. A
calender was mlrked out on q large board
and red where II could be easily seen.
As each evening cane round anJther day
was scored of BIZ a man whose duty II was
20 tick Il OF with piece Of chalk. Sunday
was the same az any other day and The
routine Of patrolling the beach for food y
longed z the seventh AZ vel a. 20 the
Other sircays Of the week. No attempt
was made n celebrate Christmas day, the
FOURTH n July, o. other festivals. Tor