The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-03-18
THE cRozEr ISLANDS WRECK.
How an Albatross Travelled Thousands
ofMiies With the News.
From the Ne,c York: Sun

|
From the Ne,c York Sun.
Early this year the Sun printed a very
extraordinary and romantic story of the
NEAR successfully employed by some ship
wrecked sailors to inform the world of their
perilous plight on little island almost with
in sight Of Antarctic ice The story came
from official sourc S in France, and was to
the effect that the French government had
been informed by the British Ambassador
in Paris that word had been received from
the Governor of West Australia that on
! Sept p last a dead albatross had been
found on the beach at Freemantle, around
whose neck was fastened a small piece of
metal, on which had been scratched in
| French
| Thirteen shipwrecked men took refuge upon
| the Crozet Islands Aug 1, 1887.
The story excited some incredulity. The
| Crozet Islands are hundreds of miles south
| of Madagascar. far out of the ordinary
track of ships Whalers are about the only
vessels that visit this vast southern waste of
waters. 1t was indeed wonderful series
| of fortunate events if castaways on these
far-off islands had found winged meS-
senger which, uncons ciOusly exerting in their
behalf his far-famed powers of endurance
on the wing, had carried their tidings over
| thousands of miles of sea with few oppor
/ y
| dropped dead, probably of exhaustion, on
| the shores of a civilized land.
Considering the source from which the
| information was derived, the French gov
eminent promptly decided that there could
| be no doubt that this alabatrOss, with its
important message, had been found at Free
mantle, which IS one of the larger towns in
| Southwestern Australia. The French Min
lister of Marine at once sent orders to thecom-
mander of the naval division Of the Indian
| Ocean to dispatch the transport MeuTthe ms
as soon as possible to the Crozets to search
| for the castaways. The strange story was
published in the Paris newspapers,
and the next day communication came
| from the commercial house of Bordes &
Son of Bordeaux saying they had reason to
| fear that the thirteen sailors on the Crozets
were the crew of their three-master Tamaris,
| which had sailed many months before for
New Caledonia, in the Pacific. Sine was
| some time overdue. Her owners had ex-
pected her to take course not far from the
! CroZet Islands, and her crew numbered
thirteen persons This information gave
additional interest and probability to the
story The British government decided to
take part also in the search, and her
Majestv's ship ITALIA, which was about to
| leave England for Australia, was ordered to
| go out of her course to call at the Crozet
| Islands.
| 1t is now possible to give the sequel of
this romance of the sea. The French trans
port Meurthe, returning from her search
| early this year, reached the bay of Diego
Suarez in north Madagascar, ON Jan. G.
On that day her commander wrote report
| of his voyage. He said that the first of the
| four CroZet islands at which he touched was
| the little island of Cochous. He found no
human beings there, but plenty of evidence
that the island had recently been occupied.
| Traces of receut camp fires, and biscuit
boxes and other debris, comparatively fresh
! in appearance, were scattered around. A
heap of stones had been piled up to attract
| attention, and in this heap was sheet of
paper on which this communication had
been written in French with lead pencil:
The iron ship Tamaris Of Bordeaux, with
| thirteen men in the crew, went ashore on the
island of COchous during a heavy fog. Some
time after she got clear and fioated off, but
| three hours later she flied aud sank. The crew
escaped in two small boats to the island, taking
with them 100 kilogrammes of biscuit. The
crew have lived on CochOus Island nine months,
and their food being exhausted, they are about
| to set out for Possession Island
| Sept 30, 1887.
Possession Island, which is also one of the
Crozet group, is eighty miles from Cochous.
| The Meurthe at once went to that island,
but found no trace Whatever of the snip
wrecked men. Then she went to East
| Island, another island of the group where
| she found some American whalers that had
been there for some weeks. They had
neither seen nor heard anything of the cast
aways. All the other Islands in those
waters were visited without result 1t is
| firmly believed that the unfortunate men
were lost in the perilous passage by small
| boats to Pc, session Island, though there is a
bare chance that they were picked up by
| some American whaler.
OF course the $50 pounds of biscuit with
! which the men reached COchous Island was
only small part of the provisios they re-
quired during their nine months sojourn
| there At least one other crew has been
| shipwrecked on the Crozets, and it subsisteG
| until rescue on penguin flesh and eggs and
| fish In this way doubtless the men of the
| Tamaris eked out their food resources, and
! it is not probable they would have starved
had their patience held out little longer
until relief came. They probably thought
that at Possession Island the chances would
| be better that some whaler would discover
them. They knew there was not
| one chance i'll many thousands
| that the IMAM o-war" bird to whom they
! intrusted their brief message would carry
it safely and quickly thousands of miles to
the civilized world. They little dreamed
that eight days before they set out from the
desolate rock where they had lived so for
| lornly the bird they had sent skimming over
| the waters had finished his wonderful flight
| and had told the world of their unhappy
situation. Few stories of the animal kingdom
| equal in pathetic interest than that of this
strong winged bird, whose happy fulfillment
of the mission intrusted to him set two
nations at work to rescue men in sore dis
| treSs.
| HOW THEY HIDE MONEY,