The Hawaiian gazette., 1889-06-18

\ al, May o.
An Interesting Statement Made by the
second Mate OF the Wandering Min
>trel in RrFutatiOn Of she story in
the San Francisco Can - Above.
We repub,ished an article IN this
Gzv's issue. -e-a-dins the supposed fate
cs the fishing vessel Wandering Min
s.rel. The a--ic,e in question was clip
ped from the san Francisco Call Of May
Sl-h: but we are now prepared 10 give
solution Of the mystery that casts dis
credit upon the Calls informant.
NJ. George Hanker. who was second
mz.a OF the Minstrel AT the time she was
lost called ST the ADyEzrISER office last
week. and, IN conversation with one
Of the reporters. made the following
statement. the Elsc OF which was sworn
-- 81 the o+5lial enquiry recently held At
the once o; the British Etce-CousuI.
H4uksr shipped At Honolulu -
second mate OF the Wandering Minstrel
Immediately previous 70 the sailing Of
that vessel. bound 10 the shark fishing
grounds ue4r French Frtgate Island,
and the vessel a-r.vsd there in January,
1855. The weather was squalLy and the
- TOO rough 81 the time for fishing
purposes. and the vasSe. was brought Co
anchor On the LeaSilz Of : sandy aCoL-
On the 81 iav %. February the anchors
t-z--sr art one Of the chains gave WAY.
when Shortly afterwards the vessel
S-r-ez the reel ana bumped heavily.
Three boats were then prepared Tor the
reception Of the persons On board and IL
u-CL provisions -, could De carried,
which were all safely landed on the
a-u-L. S small sandy island destitute OF
vegetation. During the night the gale
Increased 70 hurricane violence and the
vessel went 20 pieces On the next
morning. February +-U. the wreCkage
was s-rswat z-cuZ the shore. and tue
form o. -ns Wandering Minstrel was no
where % be scents waClsTIlEs had
ended forever.
Before the time Of the wreck the
Minstrel had been 10 the Midway Isl
a-1s. and had intended % stay there
four months fishing for SHARKS: but this
berg Iuprac-lCGl.e, owing % stormy
weather. the vessel bore away for the
French ErEa-5 Island, and the result
- stated soon followed.
About = month after landing on the
island Frank Lord the cook. the third
lla-swaz- who WIS s Manila man, and
two other Manila sailors. stole one Ct
GOATS during the night and put 20 sea
with wlL- they could lay hands on
These men have never been heard from
since The chief maze. Cameron. who
= vel spoken Of. remained with the
others On the island for about eight
u1--l>g and finally left On the I5ch OF
October. rS>S. In one u the ships lClts
T5-1 the full permission Of the Captain
Previous 20 leaving the island. Cameron
had collected E quantity Of dried fish AMI
l-rls - provisions during his intended
ueriL-uS voyage and the boats crew
consisted Of himself. 3 sailor named
johnson whom they found upon the IS
and. and . Chinese Uov- Cameron. It i .
now known. arrived - the Marshall
+ l--s safely. after being = llyS 81 sea
from French -rl-5- De refused 8 pas
Slze offered him or the Captain VI the
schooner Orient which touched at the
Mz-sl--Ls. bound % >lu Francisco. Moth .
zrz further has been heard Of Cameron. .
since the time Of the incident here re- .
lated but a. that event happened only F.
8 very few months szl, the story IN the f.
san Francisco Call has no foundation I.
and Il Vas unfortunate that the ADTEE- F..
-rszE gave the yarn additional publicity. .
Tlis Ez< done. however. before the pre- .
sent version 1l the details came 20 our .
knowledge There vas no uCleF among .
the ezS-zEavs. and the Thousand dollar .
Cameron d Port townsend must BE some /
15l=r Cauer1UaE OF G myth. Jack .
Cameron late chief mate u the Wander .
IN Minstrel vas well known IN Homo .
lulu and highly respected among his T.
Ecs. i1-aG1sS- There was nothing mean .
" dishonest aIcu. Jack. and the yarn I.
about him szCLEIC- CC- 0E tie way gt .
policemen does not TT his character n .
any respect
La= lie q the Casra ways upon the /
s-zzL ilr over d year vas an llelTl4C-e I
-1z. They Ezi % Llz from seven u ten Z
feet into the sand for SUCH fresh OF T.
l-a-zls- water as was lL-4Ilal.=. Veg /
E-zr-5 diet u any kind vas not PrgclF- .
z1 the second mates ll1itatl1l was 4
an empty barrel and the shelter u the .
I-lzr men. except the captain and his .
VIE 7l1 occupied small hut built by .
some urevl--s Inhabitants q ras Island {
Va piece u SAIL spread upon pieces u I
the ships rILCers- >=z fowls eggs we're /
plentiful IN their season. E-l could % .
ca-zlt during good weather, and birds I
could be trapped by various devices
but the feeling u relief which these cast
17s-Fs experienced CT the arrival Of the 4
schooner Norma can be LeCC r imagined 7
-lzu described
Tie Norma Captain johnson, brought
the survivors % HC1CL1Ll-tEree Of the
crew having died and were buried OF the
French Er-Zzre atOL-
The town Of RudsIstsdt- Ger
many. has been thrown into fever
- Excitement E- -hl discovery OF I