The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1884-11-05
rHE PANcs oF STARVATION.
Horrible Suffering Caused BY q Lack oi
Food and Water.
I'M " uNnlhatnn

Horrible Suffering Oaused by n Lack oi
Food and Water.
IN. Y. Tribune.1 eR 81
s'When look back to my brief expert
ence and think Of the poor fellows of thu
Greedy expedition, and the long and weary
months they suffered In the Arctic region
think the mantle Of charity and forget
fulness should be thrown over their ac.
tion," said George w. Brewer. an ex.cox.
swain of the Navy, who had been attached
to the Inflated steamer Tallapoosa. Con.
tinuing, he said: ~ was coxswain OF one
OF the boats of the Tallapoosa, when she
was attached to the Gulf Squadron. One
evening when returning from boat expe-
dition we were caught In terrible squall
and our bvat was capslzed near a small
island. My crew managed to reach the
shore, but our boat drifted away in the
darkness. Welay down in the bushes and
slept that night, and when morning broke
we realized that we were on desolate
island. Weexplored the island, and found
on 1t only underbrush and trees, nothing
In the shape Of food or water. We had
only to hope that we would soon be res.
cued. The gale continued with violence,
and we spent another night In our bed Of
bushes.
"On the following morning we began tc
foel the pangs Of hunger and thirst. AM
finding an old barrel on the beach we broke
1t up aud used the slaves to dig for water,
which we found so prackish that we could
not drink 1t. Then we set upa pole on q
cl Il, with O shirt Of one Of the men fast.
ened on 1t as a signal of distress. Our
sufferings from thirst were indescribabe.
We passed the third night and day on the
island without any change, excepting in
one incident. With companion started
on tour around the island, 1t being oui
practice to take turns to search for pass
ing vessel that we might signal, and goinG
through clump Of woods saw a cormor
ant, bird of carrion considered unfit t
I eat. killed IL with club and we raven
ously tore it in pieces and sucked it's blood
| which, in our condition, we found refresh
| ing. But we did not mention the fact Il
our comrades upon our return to camp
The morning OF the fourth day broke will
excessive heat, and one OF our party wa!
SO delirious that it required two Of US tC
subdue him. Our tongues had so sw ollel
that we could scarcely speak above
whisper. Our lips were also cracked ant
split with the intense heat.
I "In the afternoon one Of the men wit
had been on his tour was observed run
ming toward the camp, and we could jus
distinguish as he came nearer that he wal
crying "A boat, boat Those who wert
able started toward the end OF the island
where our distress signal was flying, an
we st.nguished a boat approaching u
from the distance. AS it approached th
shore we recognized 1t as thelaunch OF tn
Tallapoosa. As the officer came on shore
we begged him to give us water. He CAV
us a couple Of swallows each, which mad
us crave for more, bat II was denied to us
Then fire was made on the beach, and II
few moments n pot OF hot coffee wa
ready. OF this we received only a few
swallows each, and then we were given I
few pieces Of pilot-bread soaked in tn,
coffee. Then we were assisted into tn,
boat and taken to the ship, which vi
reached late at night A few days @
careful feeding and tendcr nursing re
stored us to our former strength. l hav
often thought how thankful l was to Goo
for that rescue. Persons who have nevel
had like experience can form no idea o
the terrible suiferings OF men in that con
dition; and those persons who so harshly
criticise the survivors Of the Greedy expe
dition, II placed amid similar surrounding
would no doubt adopt the same course"