The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1885-01-29
A MODERN CRUSOE.
Romantic Yarn That Should Probably DO
Told to the Marines.

Told to the Marines.
A New York contribution to the COL
umns of the Boston Globe relates the
following interesting and romantic
story:
A few days ago man about sixty
years of age, with the appearance of an
old farmer, and very taciturn, register
ed at the Sinclair House, under the
name of Ezra w. Forman, Nomora,
Pleiades group, Pacific Ocean. Con-
'ersation shows him to be a very intel
ligent man. He tells wonderful tale.
de says in substance that in the year
lo47 the ship Ocmulgee of Wareham
was homeward bound with full load,
tryworks overheard. and triahs and
kegs of oil slowed in every top. After
leaving Lahaina, S. l.. October z, with
| 35O barrels of sperm, 3,250 barrels of
whale OIL. and 4l,0O0 pounds bone, she
was never heard from. Forman was
boat-steerer. He claims he is the sole
survivor, and states that the ship was
| wrecked on Nomora, an island in the
Pleiades group, and gives the following
romantic story of the wreck:
"The Ocmulgee went ashore on No
mora in December, 1847, and all hands
We're drowned excepting myself, Mar
tin, the cook, and an Hawaiian sailor
named Waihee. All the oil casks were
! stove, and the ship gradually hove over
| the reef, until finally the survivors
could walk around her at low water.
Through the Hawaiian l was en-
| abied to talk to the chief on the island.
| | laan tl,n hot ,ir,b no IL
of the various articles, and assisted by
natives got everything out of the ship,
including the bone, and then broke up
the ship, saving planks, nails, anchors,
chains and whaling gear.
"We were given houses, lands and
wives, accepted our position and deter
| mined to make the best of it, and except
| that we were exiles from home and
friends, were content and happy. taught
the natives many of the ruder arts. and
they prospered greatly. But the natives
feared to lose US, and when ship came
in sight hurried us away into the inter-
ior until the foreign vessels had passed
| on.
''Later my two companions died and
| was left alone. Surrounded by my
| children and grandchildren, was final
| ly acknowledged to be their ruler, and
my word was their law. l told them l
must 60 to my friends, but had to
swear by their gods that would return.
Finally sandal-wood trader touched
there, embarked in her, was landed in
Sidney, and made my way here after
mucl trouble and time
Such is Forman's story. Now comes
another remarkable tale. He says the
whdebone is in prime condition, and
from the time of its wreck to the pres
ent day native has always been on
| guam over it, and that regularly once
week its position has been shifted to
it from rats and mold. Forman
| says that his two companions left a
| number of children who are now big
and healthy, and that he has twenty
| nine sons and daughters and sixty-nine
grandchildren. Some Philadelphia
merchants have taken stock in For
mans story, have advanced him $1,000
worth of goods, chartered a steamer
and she will soon leave New York for
the Pleiades, to carry out this modern
| Alexander Selkirk and bring back the
bone, estimated to be worth now from
$3.50, 900, to $4,000
The story is romantic one and the
appearance of Forman carries truth
with it; but Nantucket gentleman, to
whom the tale has been submitted, who
is conversant with whaling matters,
doubts it from first to last, and advises
| the merchants, responsible ones, by the
| way, to examine Forman and his story
very carefully before accepting its truth.
The gentleman who has advised on the
matter says there never was ship
Ocmulgee of Wareham in the whaling
business that was lost. The only
whaler of that name was owned in
Holmes Hole, and sailed repeatedly
from that port from 1874 until, in 1865,
she was burned by the Confederate
cruiser Alabama. There are also other
serious discrepancies in Fo:man's state
ment among which is the proportion of
whalebone to the proportion of oil Ia
ken, and although his yarn is ingeni-
ously twisted, yet it is full of flaws and
apt to strand on examination, and the
inference is, unless he can reconstruct
his story with new name for the ship
that is acceptable, he is crank or a
cheat of the worst sort.