, 1888-01-21
THE BEACH COMBERS.


During the month of August, in tho
year 1877, a large iron steamship was
blown ashore on n wild portion of the
eastern coast of Florida in n hurricane.
She was called the Ladona, and was
bound to New Orleans from New York
with an assorted cargo.
She settled down in the sand with her
nose in the air, some 200 yards from the
beach. AT low tide one could wade out
to within thirty feet of her. the swirl of
northeasterly waves having formed n
channel all round her bow. The stern
had settled down in ten fathoms of water.
In those days this portion of the east
ern coast was very thinly settled by hunt
ers, cowboys and n fct- families from
other southern states, mostly driven from
their old homes by the resulting exigen-
cics of the civil war. An were poor. the
hurricane had ruined their crops, SO they
gathered from far and near to despoil
this crippled giant of the ocean of its
treasures.
A party of four, known generally az
Cap, Little Dave, Boy Blue and Old
Moss Moore, arrived in a half faInished
condition about Slidnight ON the lagoon
side of the narrow strip of land that
guards from the Atlantic surges the long
series of tide water sounds here lining
the ocean shore for 200 miles.
\ heavy rain storm of the previous
night had ruined their supply of hominy.
As the residue of their grub" consisted
solely of q tomato can full of odorous
lard, their hunger was easily accounted
for. Some other campers had their mus
quito bars stretched Mt the boat landing,
npa ~ Af,r Iort- ,1s-,.-.~.l
stewed onions and potatoes by the en-
bers of their fire. Tn appetizing smell
was too much for the probity OF half
starved men. The pot was surreptitiously
conveyed to a safe distance in the scrub
and emptied quickly Of its contents.
1.-THE interpoSitIon of that pot of souse
is certainly providential, - quoth Cap, the
moralizer of the party. ut saves us
awhile from drawing straws to see which
of us shall be eaten first"
They stealthily returned the Dot,
laughing over its owners probable state
of Slind on finding it empty in the morn
ing. Then, shouldering their bedding
and q couple of empty cooking vessels,
they started for the ocean beach, then
about n mile distant.
The moon shone brightly, and the liGh.
land breeze sweeping over tho lagoon
was laden with mosquitoes from the
marshes. The muflcd thunder Of the
breakers floated over the sand hills with
intermittent yet increasing power. AT
last the mighty sheen Of waters and the
broad sloping avenue of the beach, swept
clean by the perpetual tides, lay before
them. They YEARLY trod the hard,
moist sand, looking for q convenient place
to spread down for the night.
A milo to the southland tho black bow
of the Ladona projected from the sea,
surrounded by n curling swarm of break
ers. Strung along the sandhills were a
series of rude bivouacs, marked by
sheltering arrangements of boxes and
barrels, and the Tapping of numerous
mosquito bars. Numbers of men, singly
or in groups, wandered along the beach
watching the waves for wreckage, or
gathering up the potatoes and onions
drifting ashore from several hundred
barrels that had been washed from the
steamers main deck.
Our party were soon installed in a
camp, sheltered from the wind by sew
eral dry goods cases, and at low tide were
ready to so ON board with the rest,
There were three score or more of the
beach combers, divided into groups of
from five to n dozen, who then swan
and wnded on board, and got out such
portions of the cargo as they could, until
the tide became too high for such work.
Then the goods were thrown on the
beach, into as many equal piles rs there
were men in the gang. One man would
turn his head and another one, pointing
to n certain lot, would say to him:
Whose pile is this?"
John Smiths"
John Smith would then stand by his
pile until all Were similarly apportioned,
when each man would carry of and care
for his own plumber.
Everybody was short of provisions and
every one lived on the wrecked potatoes
and onions until, as Little Dave said,
The whole country smelled like u garlic
patch"
a shrewd Ohio man saw how things
were, and quietly going home, returned
in n few days with n boat load of flour,
meal, coffee and bacon. That move was
considered to have made his fortune then
and there. Bacon sold for one pair Of
shoes per pound, while it took good pair
Of boots to secure an equal amount Of
coffee. As TO four and meal, the men
recklessly threw in whole suits Of clothes,
bolts of jeans and calico and hats and
white shirts by the half dozen to obtain
enough to last each man for u week or
two.
Never since the surrender of Lee did
plain provisions bring such fancy prices
in trade throughout Dixie. The Ohio
man sailed down the lagoon the next day
paeuI,ar