Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1883-06-01
LOST AT SEA.
Wreck of the Pilot Bride and n Graphic
story of Life on Deserted Island In
the Pacific by the Survivors.

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story of Life on a Deserted Island In
the Pacific by the Survivors,.
An interesting story of the sea
comes from Captain Joseph Fuller
of the ship Pilot Bride which was
wrecked on voyage to the Island of
Desolation, about midway between
Cape Town and Australia:
Il left New London" he says, las
master of the Pilot Bride, April 27,
1880. bound on whaling voyage to
the Island Of Desolation, about mid
way between Cape Town and Aus
tralia. There were on board all told
twenty-three men, most of whom
hailed from New London. We reached
the whaling field without mishap.
and met with SO much success that
We were obliged to put in at Cape
Town to transfer our cargo. After
that we returned to the neighborhood
of the island again. All went well
until October 3, 1881, when a violent
snow storm and gale of wind struck
us, handling US roughly. We should
have got out of il all right however,
if in the night of the 4th. in the
midst OF the storm, while trying to
make harbor on the island, we had
not struck on reef and lost control
OF the rudder. We got out our an
chors and, as the storm seemed to be
rapidly abating, remained on board,
hoping to be able to kedge her out.
After a time, during the night, it
cleared of, and as soon as the day
broke we discovered our position to
be in the midst of breakers, some six
miles from the main land. I was de-
termined, however, not to abandon the
ship until it was absolutely necessary,
and # the weather had continued to |
moderate we would in all probability
have succeeded in getting off. The
vessel was humping and dashing bows
under, and l soon came to the con-
clusion that it would not be safe to |
remain in her over night, so I ordered |
out three boats. We threw in a few
things and the entire crew pulled to |
the shore and landed in safety. OF
course, | knew the geography of the
coast OF the island to some extent,
from my long familiarity with the
neighborhOod. 1t is customary for
whalers in that vicinity to put stores
ashore in some of the harbors, in or.s
der to make room for their cargo,
until such time as they need to use
them again. This harbor, on the
shore of which we found ourselves,
is what is laid down in the charts as
Pott Harbor. We arrived there about
6 o'clock, and almost the first thing
we came across was the stores of the
bark Trinity. There was lot of
canvas and some provisions, and we
Immediately began to build tents for
shelter. 1t was very necessary that
we should have them, for it came on
to snow and rain almost Immediately,
and continued to do so for two days,
during which time we could see but a
few yards beyond our doors. The
island is some 300 miles in circumfer-
ence, and rises inland to lofty noun
tains, which reach the regions of eter
nal snow. but there is not tree on it.
A hardy growth of grass, a foot high,
is the only sign of vegetation, and on
this grass an unlimited number of
rabbits live, from which we got many
good meal. The main discomfort
came by reason of our limited stock
of cooking utensils. We had only
one small frying pan, and as we did
not have any other means of cooking
anything this invaluable object was
literally used from morn till night in
supplying us all with food. We
couldn't roast anything very we'll
over the fire, for the reason of the
peculiar way in which we were
obliged 70 build our fire. We had
not enough wood to last to keep up a
fire, and we used the blubber of sea
elephants as fuel. These creatures
were killed in abundance, as we
caught them crawling on the beach.
October 8 until the middle Of Novem-
ber we remained in this place, living
in this way, and doing not much else,
and then l made up my mind that it |
was high time to be taking some steps |
which might lead to our rescue. About |
$50 miles, following the line Of the |
coast, though only forty by land from |
Pott Harbor, in Three Island Harbor,
is a place which is known among
whalers in that vicinity as the Rem. |
devious 1t is on one of the three
islands which give the place its name. |
There was an old house built there,
and in the fourishing days of the
whaling business it used to be
often visited by vessels leaving stores
and taking them away. I determined
to 60 to the place, knowing that if I
loft word there of my position there
would be good chance of somebody
finding it in the course of a few
months. Accordingly I took six men
with me in one of our boats, and we
proceeded to pull this distance of $50
miles along the coast. It was q toll
some and unpleasant journey. The
variable weather often warned us to
land, and sometimes landed us uncere-
moniously without warning. It took
us some fourteen days to make the
trip.
When we got there we wrote
down two accounts of our situ-
alton, and where we were to be found,
and placed them in bottles, ono of
which we placed in the house and the
other we fastened TO pole outside.
After doing this we rowed across to
the main land, drew all the boats up
on the shore and proceeded to walk to
Pott Harbor. across forty miles Of
country. After this exploit we re-
sumed the monotony of our uninter-
estino Life which continued wifhonf