Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1883-04-10

40 degrees east, or aoOub nhu"aJ Dos"@S
Cane Town. the southern African port, and
Australia. He reached the whaling grounds
without mishsp and met with 30 much
success that he was obliged to put IN at
Cape Town to transfer his cargo. After
that he returned to the neighborhood OF
the island again. The rest OF the story Is
better told in the language OF Captain Full
Ter, as he related it.
Run on ~ Reef.
''All went we'll" he said, until October
8, 1851, when violent snew storm and gale
of wind lasting three days struck US, hand.
ling ms rather roughly. We should have
got out of 1t all right. however, II on the
night of the 4th, in the midst OF the storm,
while irving TO make harbor on the island,
we had not struck on reef and lost con-
.rol of the rudder We got out our anchors,
and as the storm seemed TO be rapidly aoatng
remained on board, hoping to be aole 10
kedge her out after time. During the
night ii cleared of, and as soon as the oay
broke we discovered our position to be IN
the midst of the breakers some six miles
from the mainland. The vessel was bump
ing and dashing bows under.
and | soon came 10 the conclusion that IL
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
or 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 haroors
in order to make room for their cargo until
such time as they need to use them again.
This harbor on the shore OF when we
found ourselves. was what is laid down IN
the chart as Potts Harbor. We arrived
there about six O'Clock and almost the first
thing we came across were some stores OF
the bark Trinity, which was wrecked there
Loss Of the Ship.
There was lot of old canvas and some
provisions, and we Immediately began TO
build tents for shelter. 1t was very neces-
sary that we should have them for it came
on to snow and rain almost Immediately,
and continued TO do so for two days DUR
lug which time We could not see but few
yards beyond our door. When 1t finally
did clear of, and we turned olr gaze sea-
ward, our worst fears were realized. Ibere
was no trace of the vessel TO be seen.
Immediately sent a detachment OF our
men along shore to see if they could lind
| any traces of her, and they soon returned
with the information that pieces OF the
| beach. A barrel or so OF flour was
| everything in the shape of provisions
| that we could tird. There were, however.
| some twelve or fifteen hundred pounds OF
| bread which the Trinity crew had left, and
! this together with what we were able to
| catch and kill, was sufficient to keep rs in
| food for some time. The island is some
! three hundred miles in circumference and
! rises inland To lofty mountains which reach
the region of eternal snow, but there is not
| a tree on it, A hardy growth OF grass foot
| high is the only sign Of vegetation, and in
| this grass an unlimited number of rabbits
| live from which We got many good meal.
| The main discomfOrts 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 oi cooking
ANYTHING this invaluable object was kept
| in use literally from morning to night in
supp wing all hands with food.
BIubber as Fuel.
| We could not roast everything very well
over the fire. for the reason OF the peculiar
way in which we were obliged TO build our
| fire. We had not enough wood TO last to
| keep up fire and we used the blubber of
! sea elephants as fuel. These creatures
| we're killed in abundance as we caught
them crawling on the beach. We built a
| fire of wood and placed this blUbber above
| on cross sticks. The heat caused the oil to
| drop down continually, thus keeping up
| the blaze 1t was a nice Contrivance for a
| fire, but il impaired an exceedingly uu-
| pleasant smoky and oily flavor to the food
and we were obliged 10 be very careful
| We also found growing about species OF
| wild cabbage, which we cooked aud
| ate frequently. From October ; until
the middle Of November we remained at
this place, living in this way and doing
not much else, and then made up my
mind that il was high time TO be taking
some steps which might lead to our rescue.
| About one hundred and fifty miles, follow
| ing the line of the coast, though only forty
| by land following Potts harbor, is Three
! Islands Harbor. 1t is place which is
known among whalers in that vicinity as
| the Rendezvous" 1t is one of the three
islands which give the place its name.
| There was an old house built there, and in
the tlourishing days OF the whaling bust
ness used to be often visited by whaling
vessels leaving stores and taking them
away. | determined to 60 TO this place,
kno wing that if left word there OF my pO.
| sition there would be good chance of
somebody finding it in the course of a few
months.
| A Perilous Undertaking.
Accordingly | took six men with me in
! one of our own boats, and we proceeded to
! pull this distance of $50 miles along the
! coast. IL was toilsome and unpleasant
! Journey. The variable weather often warn.
! ed US to land, and sometimes landed us un.
| tremendously without much warning. 1t
! took us some fourteen days to make the
| trip. When We got there We wrote down
two accounts OF our situation and where We
| were to be found and placed them in bot
ties. one OF which We placed in the
house and the other We fastened to
the pole outside. After doing this
We rowed across 10 the mainland, drew
all the boats up on the shore and proceeded
! to walk 10 Potts Har6or across forty miles
| OF country. After this exploit We resumed
the monotony of our uninteresting life,
| which continued without anything worthy
of mention until March 6, 1882 Our
| stock OF provisions at that time had run so
! low that concluded not 10 remain there
| longer Fortunately We had deposited in
Sorton's Harbor. a place some fcrty miles
| further down the cost, quantity of stores,
in order to make room for our cargo, some
! months before, and 20 this point We now
! proceeded.
more Harsiships-
Here We built new houses aad continued
| TO live for q long period. We got food
enough to eat, such as I described before.
Our chief trouble was to find clothes; our
garments, though shabby, held together,
but our shoes after while gave our. We
tried 10 supply their places by boots made
out Of sea elephants hide, but the trouble
with that was they soaked water too fast
Finally we were reduced 10 shoes the bot
toms Of which we're made OF plank and the
uppers Of canvas. The men now began to
be diSCon tented and wanted to have their
own wsy. One night six of the dissatis.
fed stole our best boat and pulled some 10
miles of and were gone q month. TkeS
60, out OF bread and came back, proving
around the camp one night We caRsaI
them and the next morning took them,
over 10 an island mile or 50 off shore. aud
there left them with eae-third OF Our pro-
visions.
Lucky Find-
The principal incident which happened
at this place and the one calculated To make
the strongest impression on msh was the,
finding OF smslky iron pot. For months
We contriyed to live there. Tue men IA 1
oon1 health Sn1 that ~.s tha rnnst n.