Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1889-07-18
LIFE ON THE DEEP.
Perils Of Old Oceans Gray and
Melancholy Waste.
Awful Fate of Ship Load of Laborers-
A Mexican Don's Experience With
Pirates-A Ship Upset Bya

Whale.
1 was one of the boat steerers and
harpooners on the old whale ship ron
Coast of Boston when she Witnessed
the calamity to the English ship Edna
Dean off the coast of Chilli. This ship
had been chartered by certain mine
owners in Chill to bring $50 Iaborers
from Ecuador. They were to be land
ed at Conception. and it was within
forty miles of that port that the calam-
ity occurred. Our ship was heading in
from the west and the Deanwas coming
down from the north. We raised her
one morning about eight o'clock The
wind was light and variable. with just
the sort of sky for sudden squalls, and
noticed that the captain and mate
kept an anxious eye on the heavens.
We; were under plain sail, while the
Dean had every thing spread to the
breeze. and we. had scarcely raised her
hull when the men began to wonder at
the recklessness of her captain in
cracking on with such a sky above
him. - GEEK
The Dean was pretty sight as, she
drew near. Every sail was drawing,
and she was throwing spray twenty
feet high every time she ducked to the
run of the sea- Very little work was
going on aboard our ship just then,
and nearly every man had his eyes on
the stranger as she came sweeping up.
What is known on the coast as a thun-
derbolt squall suddenly formed in the
northwest and came tearing down up
on us like monster shell from can
non. 1t came with the speed of
thought. accompanied by a kissing
and cracking sound, and covering a
track about mile wide. The Dean
was in the center of this track. We
had our eyes right on her as she was
struck, but no two men ever agreed as
to the particulars. 1t seemed to me
as if there was an explosion. and that
she was lifted out of water and then
fell to pieces. To others she made
one dive and was gone. To others
still she was knocked or her beam
ends and then turned bottom up. Not
the slightest breath of that squall
reached US. the line being as clearly
defined as stone wall. A great shout
was heard from end to end of our ship
as the Dean disappeared, but still no
man was sure that he had seen Alright.
1t was only after we rubbed our eyes
and looked again and again that we
could realize the awful calamity.
The whaler was not ten minutes
reaching the spot and dropping two of
her boats, but not one solitary human
being, dead or alive, could be found.
Indeed, there was so little wreckage
about that were amazed. We found a
topmast, yard. water cask. a piece
of bulwarks and some deck rattle, but
The awful force of the squa1 must
have driven her under water. and per-
haps sort of whirlpool was formed at
the instant to suck her down. She
had four hundred and sixty-eight men
aboard, and why it was that none were
thrown to the surface has always been
3 puzzle. We remained in the vicinity
half a day, but we saw nothing more
than have described. 1 - se@
In 1889 a Mexican Don of large
wealth bought great tract of land on
Cape San Lucas. at. the end of the PEN
insula called Lower California. and
chartered brig at Mazatlan to con-
vey his outfit across. The brig made
three trips, taking lumber, livestock.
provisions and implements, and on the
third the Don and his family and
about thirty retainers were passen-
gers. His intentions were well known.
and among his people on this trip were
five men who had taken service with
him to capture the brig and rob him OF
his money. This plan was partly
carried out. When the brig had
reached the Cape coast the villains
showed their hand, but such was the
resistance that dozen persons were
killed before they got possession.
Those left alive were not permitted to
land. but were crowded into one OF
the briggs boats and sent adrift, hav-
ing neither sail nor oars, food nor
water. The brig was then run up the
Gulf of California about thirty miles,
plundered, holes bored in her bottom,
and while she was sent adrift to sink
the robbers pulled ashore in their
boat.
The brig drove down the Gulf and
out to sea and waterlogged. The peo-
pie on the boat drove out to sea, and
after several days of terrible suffering
reached Revilla Island. which is 125
| miles southwest of the Cape Here
they found water and food. but four
died from exposure and exhaustion.
| They had not been on the island quite
two days when the waterlogged brig
came in sight 1t was midsummer.
with a fine spell of weather. and tine
survivorsGas once decided to cast their
fate with the brig. Her deck would
have been awash in a placid sea but
Tor her buiwarks, and there was not I