The DeSmet leader. (DeSmet, Kingsbury Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-08-14
BECALMED AT SEA.
STORY or A SHIP WHICH HAD BEEN
GIVEN uPFoR LOST.
Committee OH invitation.

An Ocean as Motionless as I.sad--A Cargo
Of GunpOwder Exposed To the Light
ming OF u Tropical storm-Short OF
Provisions-Safe,
There was scene Of revelry and ejoic-
ing out at q certain number Oh Polk street,
San Francis o, Cal. the other night The
place fairly blazed with good cheer Of q
happy family reunited The sailor husband
ana father, who had long been given up az
10 t and dead, had returned. The scene
was the hons OF Captain John Dodge, and
all tho merriment was caused by the fact
that the day before the bark Kuakaua, John
Dodge master, which left Panama for this
port on October ., 1885, and not since been
heard from, sailed as unconcerned!y into
! the Golden Gate rs though nothing unusual
had happened.
live been to sea for nearly 30 years, AMI
to be candid and tell you the truth, don't
think care about ever going out bey yond
the heads again" said Captain Dodge, fro II
the eater of his family cir>le, 10 an invad-
ing reporter.
"How did it all happenl" inquired tho re
porter.
"As IDLE AS A PAINTED SHIP"
well, 1t was this way. We started al
right from Panama on Oct s. Some old
tars warned me about going out, and said
would he sure to STRIFE caln,s; but / wanted
to get home, AMI We started, We hadn
been out week before the sails flappee
against the rigging in a dead calm There
wasn't enough stir in the air to put out ,
candle The ocean was as motionless o,
lea 4, the sun beat down mercilessly. Wa
1t hot: Well, ] should say SO. Mat, hes ly
ing down on my table In my cabin woulc
cat fire by them selves and burn up. Ther
1t took to raining. l am not stretching il
ali in when say that for three months
there were not fifteen days Of sunshine in
al. No, you are wrong. Rain down In
those parts need not DO accompanied by
wind
There was not breath Of breeze, except
for an hour or SO, occasionally, and then II
came ike IA put from heated furnace We
"a toy. I uu not know how We
ever escaped. We had Oh board
as car 20 j!2 pounds Of powder, and it WIS
simply phenomenal dispensation of luck
that We were not blown up The thunder
and lightning was simply horrifyins
never experienced such storms, and when
streaks OF iorked lightning would shoot on,
Of the sky and play hide and go-seek In our
rigging the way il used TO do, l can't un'
derstand Why that powder did not 60 Off.
don't k..ow what ever did to deserve this
! Kindness
"Did you make no hcadvay at all"
RUNNING SHORT OF PROVISIONS
well, as say, we occasionally had q
few pulls Of air, but it required lis days
for us to sight the Galapagos Islands They
are only 100 miles from Panama Why
Tor siAty days We laid oil the Cocos Islands
and day in and day out We never lost sigh,
of them-just drifting about within a cir
Gle of dozen knots, perhaps"
"Did your provisions hold out!"
well, no. We began to ct down Il
pretty close groupings, and determined tt
get to the Galapagos Islands for afresh sup
ply. Luckily for us we meta wialer whic.
had al overstock Of food, and We took in {
good store. The captain of the whaler warne,
me about going to the Galapagos Islands HI
had Just come from there, and he said b
was glad TO get away with Lis life. Th
islands are owned by the government o
Ecqador, which sends out men to gathe
dye moss ON them There Is nothing TO GA
on tho is ands except what is taken there
The class Of men who will go there are
pretty rough lot anyhow, and when the.
are starved for several months they get
great deal roughe The whalers said tina
the wild men on the islands had killed thei
superintendent, seized all the provisions o
shi., lying in their port, AMI would hav
captured the whaler had it not put out
sea Just in time. We concluded af;er learn
ing this tale to give the Galapagos islands
wide lerth On Feb / fresh br, eze sprsn
, up and we made the remaining $500 mile
in fifty days you see. Our provisions ha
almost given out on Friday, when We wer
5OD miles from this port / measured II
and found we only had twenty pounds G
| hard tack and twenty POUNDS of salt bee
| decided to divide it into ten rations for H.
crew of ten next morning, hut as the da
broke we sighted the brig Selma, ami st
: gave us a fresh store, which lasted US Vol
that is all san Francisco Call