Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-09-25

THE CANNIBALS.
How Capt. Dudley Put a Penknife In
the Cabin Boys Throat


the Cabin Boys Throat.
Capt. Dudley, of the wrecked yacht Mig
nonette, an account ofwhich was published
lately, has freely discussed the terrible
adventures which befell him at sea. After
describing the wreck, which occurred in
latitude q degrees 10 minutes south,
longitude 80 degrees so minutes west,
on July 3, and the manner in
which the crew put off in boat, he says:
"The sea was raging round us, and we
managed to make a sea anchor with the
pinnacle and some boards. The boat was
leaking, but l cut off the bottom of nv
trousers. and drawers and stopped up the
hole. About IL O'Clock a shark came along
side, but we beat him off with the oars.
Our situation was a truly terrible one,
and 1t seems now a miracle how the
dingy kept afloat in such a sea. On the
fourth day we succeeded in catching a
fair sized turtle, which seemed to swim
to the boat and almost turn himself up
for us. We drank his blood out of the
chrOnOmeter box, and afterWard cut up
the whole of the flesh into strips and
hung it round the boat. So ovenoyed
were we at this find that we ate our
second TIN of turnip. Day after day
passed, and on the eleventh day we had
finished the turtle, and had nothing left
except the two fins, but we ate every por-
tion, even the bones.
''The fat of the turtle proved very nu-
tritious, and we got water few times
when there were showers by catching the
rain in our oilskins, though sometimes
when we had a little drop a sea broke
into it and spoiled 1t so that we had to
throw it away. We went on from the
fifteenth to the twentieth day without any
food at all or drink, and by that time
we had begun to look each other
in the face very black. The boy,
who had drank some sea water at night,
had said, we shall all die and | re-
marked, we shall have to draw lots,
boys This was ignored by all, and they
said, 'We had better die together to
which replied, SO let it be, but it is hard
for four to die, when perhaps one might
save the rest A day or two before | sug-
gested we should try and make some kind
of sail, which we did with our shirts
rugged on an oar for mast, and q strand
of the painter for shrouds and stays.
Things now looked as bad as they
could. On either the nineteenth or
twentieth day the boy was lying in the
bottom of the boat, where he had been for
two days, gasping for breath and nearly
dead. AT about O'Clock in the morning
L Salu TO Gne maLe, w nat is TO be d0nef
believe that boy is dying. You have a
wife and five children and have wife
and three children | said that human
flesh had been eaten before. Stephens re-
piled, See what daylight brings FORTH
Brooks took his watch at o'clock. and we
made motions to each other. Brooks said
he could not do it, and Stephens SAID he
could not do it. told Brooks to 90 for |
ward, which he did. then took hold of
the shrouds and had last look round to
see if anything was in sight, but there |
was nothing. / offered up prayer most |
fervently that God above might forgive us
for such an act, and then knelt down by |
the boy and said, Now, Dick, my bow,
your time has Gomez He murmured, |
What, me, sirP put the penknife in his /
throat, and he was dead instantly"
The Captain, who was much upset by |
the recital, further stated how they drank |
the blood of the poor boy and lived upon |
his flesh for the next four days. On the |
twenty-fourth day, when they had almost |
given up all hope, Brooks called out, at |
about O'Clock in the morning, "Sail, ohp' !
In an hour and half the MOntezuma was |
and they were lifted on to the |
deck. The remains of the lad Parker were |
buried by the Captain Of the rescuing YES
sell