Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1891-04-17
TOSSED ON THE WAVES.
JAPANESE JuNKs CAST AWAY IN
THE PACIFIC OCEAN.


Miles out without Mast or Rudder-fortS
H.ans to Each Man Per Day
On The morning of the 9th of January,
1871. the City of Picking on her outward
trip. sighted what at first appeared W
he an abandoned vessel adrift at sea. Inc
steamer bore away for her, when II was
seen that she was Japanese JUNK WIN
one mast gone An officer and boat
crow were sent off, who found that tle
Junk belonged to Ha- Rodadi; that she
was partly loaded with rice ana SAX
fJapanese whisky, and besides the skip
per and supercargo had crew oil tVe
men On the LIST of December preceding
the Junk which, by the way, reJolced III
the name of the Hisayoshimam. had been
driven out to sea, and things having go'
badly mixed up in an unusually terrlilc
hast il was found to be the easiest way
of lowering sails to chop the mast down
Then heavy sea carried away the rud-
der and stove in the bulwarks, after
which the Junk drifted and sloshea
around in the old and unoriginai way OF
"at the mercy of the winds and waves.
THEY STUCK TO THE SAKL
Cantain and crew had become so com
pletely disheartened on the waste OF
waters. or so unduly jolly on waste oil
saki. that when boarded by the officer OF
the steamer they didn't know the day oil
the week or the month, hardly knew
where they had come from, and certainty
| didn't know where they were gong TO-
| They were informed that they were
something like 1000 miles distant from
japan. but despite this warning ntelh-
eence, only four of the crew would leave
the iunk-the captain, supercargo ana
the fifth man declaring their intention
of sticking to the JUNK SO long as the
rice and saki held out.
The Coos Bay News, published at
Marshfield, Ore, in its issue of July II,
1878, had the following report from the
CAPTAIN of the schooner Parallel, which
arrived at that port July 10 from San
Francisco;
THE schooner Parallel on the 18th inst,
in latitude 80 deg. AZ min, longitude
1870 deg. 90 min, at A a. m, sighted
Japanese Junk adrift. A boat was low
cred and the strange vessel boarded
when terrible sight met the boarders
Not a living soul was aboard, but three
corpses of Japanese who had probably
been dead at least month. Two o
the bodies had been shackled together
, doubtless having been crazed for wan
of food or water and fastened up b.
, Sf
$ bodies were lying amidships with thei
knees bound together with cords upol
their breasts, their arms were draw
4 over their heads and securely tied an
< cords were bound around their necks
, in short, they We're completely inclose
e in netting formed by the lacing an
i interlacing of cords. The sunken eye
e and shriveled condition of the bodie
a were frightful to look at. The othe
+ corpse was found forward, stripped
d the waist, and gave indications of th
terrible sutferings that the man mus
% have endured previous to his dealt
- From the numerous tireplaces and ma
g found between decks it was evident tn;
=, the vessel had been manned by larl
- crew. Upon examination considerab
u water was found in the hold, but no eg
- dence of her having had a cargo {
j board could be discovered. The on
article Of food that was found was
portion of chest of tea, covered wit
to mold In the cabin were several ham
~ some pieces of furniture.
O. THE two bound bodies were We
or dressed, and a lot of fine silk ladiC
Is wearing apparel was brought off Il
f, wreck by the sailors. The stencil Of
caying bodies was such as to prevent
thorough inspection, The hull of Il
le junk was in good condition, and VIII,
sc last seen was drifting to the south al
a east and bearing with it, perhaps,
d, mystery of the Oriental seas"
ne PROBABLY THE LATEST CASE.
When the steamship City of Picking 6
, rived at san Francisco from Japan, Ju
u 70, 1881. one of the passengers related
= following story to Chronicle reportC
% The tenth day out from Yokohama t
90 steamer came across a dismantled, hel
less japanese junk, which had be
as driven Off from the entrance to the b.
to of 9eddo during a typhoon that had {
on CURED on the 9th of December, or t
months previous to their rescue. Tn
had lost their masts and rudder and h
tn been drifting at the mercy of the win
he they knew not where. After their OK
en- provisions were exhausted they had 81
sisted on their cargo, mostly beans a
dried fish, and on such rain water as tn
ry could catch. They had burned most
ID, the small woodwork, doors, berths, w
TX dows, ETC., of their junk for fuel, a
were on short food rations, forty bed
per day for each man being the allo
ance. Their fire, when put out from til
nj to time, they had rekindled by rubbi
I'm two pieces of wood together. One
Sc, their number had died from exhaust
w and they had given up all hope of e,
ar seeing land or anything human ag;
ed when they sighted the City of Pekil
n, They were taken on board the steam
M a concert was given in their aid, and
us the next trip of the City of Picking II
II were taken back to their own country
gu So little by little the long record of {
oe- asters has been gradually abridged, if
III wholly terminated Japan has now
.le only navy, but an excellent fleet
, r coasting steamers and well built sail
roi craft of modern construction. Bef
nc her awakening Japan drove away
III rescued junk men from her coast
t Go, though they had the plague; now she
'"e wards the rescuers.
Catch of $40 Trout in Dnv.