Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1889-02-15

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the captain give up the attempt to save
| her, and order the crew to take to the
| boats and come on board the santa Anna
( which was hOve-tO ut about q cables length
away. He was the last 10 la"va ti'a ''H'-
| and ten minutes after he Quilted it the
( sHecate' was one mass of flame. 4 burning
! fiery furnace. the heat of which we could
| feel even on the galleou'S deck.
1--WE watched the fire until it burned
down 10 the waters edge and was extin-
! guished by the sea. leaving nothing of the
| once gallant war-Ship behind save few
! chsrred fragments. Then, the wind being
fair, orders were given to make sail, and
| we Went on our course, not without hope,
| despite the omens, of a speedy and happy
| termination of our eyentful cruise.
| "Most of the officers and men have lost
| all their effects in the fire; but, thanks TO
the thoughfulneSS and courage of the boy
| who waits on me, l have saved a good part
OF my wardrobe, some writing materials,
and nearly all my books.
''The captain informed me this morning
that he is very well pleased with the Santa
Anna She is one of the best built ships
he ever saw, being constructed of a wood
| called teak, hard enough and stout enough
to last century. She is also good sailer
| and, with favorabl, weather and moderate
luck, we may, he thinks, reach Portsmouth
in about fifty days.
Il sincerely hope so, and pray God he
L
the sea, and so soon as we get home shall
resign my appointment, and seek a less ex-
citing, If more monotonous, sphere of duty
ashore.
"A terrible discovery was made yester-
! day. We are short of water.
According to the purser's calculations,
! made the day after the burning of the
'Hecate,' the supply on board the Santa
Anna was amply sufficient for the voyage
eENE H..
eral of the casks which he thought were
full are quite empty, and we have not more
| than enough for ten days consumption.
| We are already on short allowance, and
Captain Barnaby has decided to make for
| the BermuiaS.
| at is very unfortunate this discovery
was not made sooner, for at the best we
| cannot reach New Providence in less than
| fifteen days, and if we had bad weather or
| contrary windS-But | will not anticipate
evil. We are in the hands of Him whom
the winds and waves obey.
For two days it has blown hurricane,
and we have been driven hundreds of
| miles out of our course. The allowance of
water is reduced to quart day for each
man for all purposes, and as it is terribly
| hot, and as our diet consists chiefly of salt
pork and hard biscuits, our sulferings are
almost past bearing.
"Becalmed. Allowance reduced to a
pint
"Still becalmed. To-day a deputation
from the crew waited on the captain, and
| requested that, in order to ecnnomize wat
er, and, perchance, save their lives, the
| Spanish prisoners should be thrown over
board. This he refused to do, but he Or
dered the Spaniards' allowance to be re-
duced to half pint.
1.-THE Spaniards, maddened by thirst.
| have attempted to seize the ship. A num-
Der of them, who were allowed to walk on
| deck, secretly released their comrades, and
attacked the watch-some with cutlasses
obtained know not how, others with mar
| 1ine-sDikeS, or whatever else came to hand
! The EuglShmen at first driven from the
deck were speedily reinforced, and then
! ensued a frightful struggle in the dark, the
| Spaniards. utterly reckless of their lives
! fighting with the ferocity of despair. But
in the end they were overcome, the wound
| ed (and fear many of the wholC) thrown
into the sea, and the survivors forced be-
loW and put in irons The captain, him
self sOrely hurt, had great difficulty in pro-
| tecting them from the fury of his men,
who, if they might have had their way,
would not have left single Spaniard alive.
Still becalmed. Oh, how gladly would
! we give this thrice accursed treasure for a
| few casks of water, or even a few hours
rain!
|
81 am sick-I fear, nay, hope, unto
| death, for | suffer so horribly from thirst
that death would be happy release. Yes
| terday two seamen committed suicide, and
my dear friend, Captain Barnaby, has died
| of his wounds and want of water, since,
| hurt though he was, he nobly refused to
| take more than his share.
"The command nOWdevOlveS on Leuten-
| ant Fame. He Is tirst-rate seaman and a
! man of resOlute and original character but
he has some strange ideas.
81 write this with difficulty. lam worse
! Tomorrow | may not be able to write. and
| as have no hope of ever seeing England
| again, | know not what will become of the
! ship and her crew. ! am about to incloSe
| my diary (Which contains "A narrative of
| the principle events that have bcfallen us
since the 'Hecate' left England) in water
| tight case and commit it to the waves 1t
| may peradyenture be found after many
! days.
II beseech any good soul into whose
| hands these pages III " fall to forward them
| to [illegiblel Surrey. England, or to the
Secretary of the Admiralty. London.
ROBERT HARE.
ION board the gaIIeon Santa Anna, Feb
ruary Z, 1744. "
CHAPTER vL-oF THE SANE OPINION STILL
"Poor fel!owl / wonder what became of
him and the others? But why on earth
| didn't they distili fresh water from sea
waterf" were the first thoughts that Oc-
CURED TO me after reading the chaplain's
narrative.
And then | remembered that the events
in question took place in pre-scientific
| age: that there was certainly no distilling
| apparatus on board the Santa Anna"
nor, probably, any means of making one
large enough to provide for the require
| ments OF two or three hundred, possibly
! three or four hundred men.
Again, why did not they take to their
boats and try to reach land that way in
stead of waiting helplessly for a wind,
with a certainty that if it did not come
| quickly they must all perishs But l knew
! not how far they were from the nearest
! land, for the chaplain never indicated the
! position of the ship, and seldom gave the
| date, or even the days of the week, so that
the length of time which elapsed between
! the different events set forth in the manu-
script was matter of pure conjecture. It
was, moreover. quite possible that the
'Santa Annals" boats had been smashed
by the ''Hecate's'' fire, and, in any case,
! they could not have held the crew and the
| prisoners and enough provisions and water
! for a long voyage. l could, however, see
nothing to warrant the boatswain's belief
! that the galIeOn had become derelict or
been cast away. Men can live a long time
! on a very hort allowance of water: the
| chaplain would naturally be one OF the first
| to succumb and when the weak ones died
J off there would be more water for the sur
! vivors. Besides who could say that a
! breeze had not sprung up, or heavy
shower Of rain fallen, the very day after
poor Mr.. Hare committed his diary 10 the
/ wavess
| found no opportunity for a few days Of
| speaking to Brlsover again, except in the
/ presence of others. But when the chance
came, l returned him his ''dokyment,"
| which, in the meanwhile, 1 had carefully
/ used
well, SIR" he said, anxiously, what do
| you thinky'
! Believing that I could do the poor fellow
! no greater kindness than to cure him Of
| his haIlucinatiOn, If that were possible, /
| said that in my opinion there was about
as much likelihood of finding the Santa
| Anna" as of finding the lost Atlantis or
/ the philosophers stone.
| 81 don't know much about them there"
| answered Tom, who did not seem greatly
| impressed b. the comparison; ''but If you
Z mean a TO think there is no likelihood of
| finding that there yalleoa, should be glad
/ TO know why ron think SO, if you would
I kindly tell me-"