The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1882-04-26

BosroS. April, John Esmond
second officer of the lost whaler
Trinity, arrived in this city TO day
with the crew of the vessel which
was wrecked in the South Atlantic
Ocean, $50 miles from the African
coast, on the 18th of October, 1880.
The island on which the bark strand
ed in heavy storm is thirty miles
long and Is from three TO ten miles
wide, with volcanic group of noun
tains in the centre about 5000 feet
high. 1t is covered with snow and
ice, the glaciers reaching quite down
TO the coasts edge.
Esmond describes the realization
of tI.eir loneliness as something ap-
palling. sour troubles he says,
appeared in proper shape when we
saw that there was nothing but a
life like Robson Crusoe's for twelve
months at least. We knew no ship
would come before then. and three
months afterward we began to see
that we would have to subsist with
out any natural food.
About midnight on the first night
of their soiourn on the island Is
mond, happening to walk down to
the shore with two negroes, saw the
ship 90 to pieces with six months
provisions in her hold This was
the finishing blow to the seamen,
who now had nothing but the resour-
ces of the island and the few proyis-
ions they had saved to depend on.
There grew kind of wild cabbage
on the island in plenty. and this, to-
gether with the flesh of the sea ell
ephants and leopards, formed their
chief sustenance. There were no
quadrupeds, butthere was, fortunate
ly, plenty of fresh water. The party
lived in four shanties, which had
been previously built by some whal-
ing crew, made of wood, stones and
sod.
HOW THE SiIP-WRECKED CREW LIVED
The captain and officers lived in
one house, the white sailors in anoth-
er, and nineteen negroes in a third.
Esmond and two neGr"''s lived IN a
fourth structure, which was built on
the southeast side and used as look
out for ships. These thr,e were al
ways on duty, and remained at the
lookout station till they were taken
off. The weather was always cold.
Being situated in the Antipodes
the coldest and dreariest weather
continued the year round and there
were but three hours daylightin the
twenty-four, though occasionally
the moon shone very bright at
night. During the whole fifteen
months strong gales blew all the
time. The only occupation was pa
trolling the beach in search of food:
With few exceptions the crew did
not suffer from hunger, but became
accustomed to the only food they
could get, which consisted of the
flesh OF the sea elephant. There was
no iuel on the island, aud they used
the fat, oily blubber of sea elephants
in its place. When they had sutii-
cient blubber for fuel they extracted
the oil from what they had on hand
and stored it in casks. In this way
they had accumulated about 500 bar
rels, in measure, of oil when rescued,
and they left it all on the island.
They had blankets, and their beds
were made from the feathers of sea
hens.
A calendar was marked out on a
large board and affixed where il
could be easily seen. As each even
ing came round another day was
scored off by a man whose duty il
was to tick it oil with species of
chalk. In January 1881 a terrible
misfortune happened to them. Five
men had been sent to u sDot called
Fairchild's Beach in search of ele-
phant meat. Three only returned
at night, as they had missed their
comrades. A search was instituted
and the bodies of both men were
found about mile and a half apart
near an iceberg. They had both
been frozen to death. One was the
ships carpenter, named Geo. Wat
son, native of Scotland. The 9TH
er was Kelly, and he came from
New York. The volcanic noun
tain on the island once or twice
emitted flames and smoke, and caus-
ed great alarm, but this soon sub
sided. Nearly fifteen months had
now elapsed since the wreck of the
Trinity. On the 18th of January,
1882, the United States man-of-man
Marion" hove in sight. The sea-
men stood on rocks and waved their
blankets till at last they were seen
and signalled to. On the 18th of
last January the men were taken on
board and landed at Cape Town.