The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-05-20
RECLAIMED AT sEA.
story OF a Ship Which Had Been
Given un for lost

Given up for Host
There was a scene Of revrlry and re
ioicing out at certain number on Polk
Street. San Francisco, Cal. the other
night. The place fairly hlazed with gcol
cheer of happy family reunion. The
sailor husband and father, who had long
Ieen given up as lost and dead. had re-
turned. The scene was the home Of
CAPTAIN John Dodge. and all the nleTrI-
ment was caused by the fact that the
lay before the bark kaukaua, John
Dodge master, which left Panama for
this port on Oct. Q, 1885, and not since
been heard from, sailed Is uncOncerned-
IL into the Golden Gate as ii nothing
unusual had happened.
I've been to sea for nearly fifty years,
and. to be candid anu tell YOU the truth,
don't think care about ever going out
beyond the heats again" said Captain
Dodge from the center OF his family To
an invading reporter.
..How did it all happen inquired the
reporter. -,
well, it was this way. We started
al right from Panama on oct. .. Some
old tars warned me about gong out, ard
slid would be sure ttAstrlke C;hm>: hut
wanted to yet home, and We started.
We hadn't been out Il week before the
sails Tapped against the rigging in 4
,ieal calm. There wasn't enough stir in
the air to put out Il candle. The ocean
was as motionless as lead. the sun beat
DOWN mercilessly. Was it hot Well.
| should say so. Matches lying down on
nv table in my cabin would catch fire
hv themselves and burn up, Then it
took to raining. am not stretching it
an inch when say that for three months
there were not fifteen days of sunshine
in all. No, you are wrong. RAIN down
in those parts need not be accompanied
by wind.
There was not Il Ire ath of breeze, eX-
cep, for an hour or, occasionally, and
than it came like puff from heated
furnancc. We Just drifted about on the
ocean like toy. do not know how We
ever cscape,l. We had on board l,ja9
pounds oi powder, and it was simply Il
phenomenal dispensation Of luck that We
we're not blown up. Tie thunder and
lightning was simply horrifymg. |
never experienced such storms, and
when streaks Of forked tightening would
shoot out Of the sky, and play hide"ani.
ro.seek i'm our rigging the way it used to
do, | can't understand why that powder
did not 90 OF. | don't know what ever
did to deserve this kindness.
Ibid you make no Roadway at all
well. as say, we occasionally had
few pulls Of air, but it required 10
DAVIS for us 10 sight the Galapagos Is.
lands. They are only 700 miles from
Panama. Why. for sixty days We laid
off the Cocos Islands, and day in AMI
day ont We never lost sight Of them
lust drifting about within circle ni \
dozen knots, perhaps.
Ibid your provisions hold ont
"Well. no. We began toget down to
pretty close groupings, and ! determined
10 get into the Galapagos Islands for Il
fresh supply. Luckily for us We met 4
whaer which had an overstock Of food,
and we took in good supply. The
captain of the whales warned me about
going to the Galapagos ISLANDS. lie had
lust come from there. and he
said he was glad 70 get away with his
life. The islands are Owned by the gov
crnment Of Ecuador which sends OH
men To gather dyp moss on them. There
is nothing 20 eat on the islands except
what is taken there. The class of mel
who will 20 there are n pretty rough lot
anyhow. and when they are starving for
several months they are great rongher
The whaers said that the wild men 81
the island had killed their superln,end
cnt. seized all the provisions on Il Shll
wing in their port, and would have cap
turcd the wlaler had it not put ont Il
sea lust in time. We concluded aite
learning this tale to give the Gaiapaso
Islands a wide berth. On Feb. a tresl
breeze sprang up and we made the re-
mining 1900 miles in fifty days. yo'
SEQ. Our provisions had almos, giyvrl
out on Friday, when we were 300 mile
from this port. measured up and ioun,
we only had twenty pounds of hard tac'
apd twenty pounds of salt beef de
ciled to divide it into ten ration' for TN
crew of ten next morning, but as the da.
broke we sighted the brig Sci ina. an
she gave us fresh store, which llste
iis. Well, that is all. San franciSct