Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-08-02

swept necessarily.
Scattered over this stretch Of sand there
were many objects going to prove that hu-
man beings had made a prolonged stay in
this part of the island-bits of glass and
china, fragments of esrthen ware, scraps Of
Iron, provision cans of undoubted Ameri-
can origin; and in addition TO these were
noted utensils common to shipboard, pieces
of chain, broken rings, parts of rigging in
galvanized iron, graphing iron, hoisting
tackle, pump handle, fragments Of spars
gnG floats, ard pieces Of sheet iron torn of
water cask rs 70 the origin of which no
California sailor could possibly GO astray.
'Tt was no E1glish ship that ran on this
island, said Captain Willis, ''it was an
American vessel"
eyes," cried out Zsch French, land take
my wcrd for it, she was built in one of the
Pacific portg"-au opinion that was shared
by the other sesmen.
But still as vet there WAS nothing to show
that this ship hsd been the ill-fated Dread
n2ught. AT all events, the question was:
Did not this vessel-from whatever port shs
hRiled-go down in the open sea, since there
were no signs of aIiy part Of her hull? Had
not her crew taken refuge on this island by
means of the ships boats9 No! for Captain
Willis SOON came upon proof that this vessel
had been wrecked upon these reefs. At
HnOuI Il CAD.C \ 16IlElu, WtOHeU IN aLuOuE lu6
rocks and reefs, lay the miserable remnant
Of q ship which had been driven ashore by
the fury of the gale, and upon which the
waves had beaten with tempestuous violence
until oak and iron had parted and every
thing had been wrenched asunder, pounded
into fragments, scattered and strewn and
tossed up over the reefs by the mighty rush
Of the sea. Sadly and silently Willis and
his men stood gazing upon the prey, to
i Il.
Of this ships hull there was nothing re-
manning, nothing of the upper works, no
trace of the masting, either from having
been cut away at sea or from having been
put to some use on shore after the founder
irg Of the vessel
'Iet US set to work" aried Willis, "and
perhaps We may find SO as name, some let
Ter. some mark which will ik the nation
sliiv of this craft- .
Yes" replied Zach French, ''and may
heaven grant that it Will not turn out to be
Captain Johns ship thar was reduced to this
awful plight
The examination produced no definite re-
Eult While il was true that articles picked |
up on tae beach were undoubtedly of Amer |
ican manufacture, yet was there no ground 1
to affirm that they Lad once belonged to the |
iil-fa5eG Drsadnaught. One of the seamen |
enou came upon the cave which had been
LAAllkVA LllS G2SNSAA q IL
ialo an enormous mass of granite in the
angle formed by The pls-eau and tie beach.
Captain Willis and Zach made haste to join
the man who was halloaing to them. It |
might be that within this cave would be |
solved the secret of the wreck: that in this |
dark chamber would be revealed the name 1
of the vessel The only entrance to the |
cave was through a narrow, arcbed passage
way. near which opening lay the ashes of
L,ra-,laoa -ba 10 Of xr,,iob
ha6 hlackened the walls. The cave proved
70 Dc about &c by 10 feet in size,
with lO-foot ceilinG-quite large enough
to accommodate q dozen people. The
Clace was quite bare excepting the pres
eace Of a ruGe bed of dried grass covered
with bits and shreds Of an old sail, a bench
made OF pieces Of a plank, two stools fash
io-ed IN the same style, rickety table
from the wreck, possibly from the ships
cabin. In tie way of utensils there were
few plates, few iron dishes, three forks,
two spoons, a knife and three meta: drink
Ing cups all eaten by rust.
Poor wretchcs"' murmured Zach French, |
''what dsstitution they must have suffered
during their stay or this island
''Ihey don't seem to have saved scarcely
anything Of the ships material" replied
Cdp,ain Willis, land that proves the vio-
leAce with which she must have run on |
these rocks and reefs. AS everything went
to pieces hcw were these unfortunate beings
able to procure food? No doubt they had |
little grain which they sowed. some salt
rceat, some canned provisions which they |
gradually exhausted But what an exis-
tence. and how they must have sufered!''
Yes. with this slender store eked out with
such fish as they might be able to catch | ,
such were the only means they had to keep
body and soul together. There no longer
seemed to be any possibility that they
could still be upo1 the island. End vet if
thev had been forced TO lay their bones !
mere it was very probably that the remains
os the ore who had died last would be
found somewhere. But in spite of all
patient searching done inside and out of
cav, no trace Of their bodies could be
found.
''This leads me to ihink," observed Zach
French, that these castaways were taken
OF the island" "
"Btt hove" asked Captain Willis, could
they nave possibly. with the debris of the
wreck, built raft big enough to put to
sca?'
'sNlo, Captain; they didn't have enough to
build canoe with. L incline to the opin-
loa that their signal must have been seen by
G passing vessel"
"But, Zach, can't bring myself to think
that"
.'Why not, Captaino''
Because, i passing ship had seen them
snd taken item OF, the whole world would
have heard CT il, unless tina! ship itself had |
gone down with every soul On board, which
is hardly possible. I therefore can't accept |
the theory that the casTeways of Browse
Island were rescued in any such way"
You may be right, Captain said Zach
sadly, "buy if IL was impossible for them to
build raft stiil there's no proof that all
the SHIPS boats perished in the wreck"
Even SC, replied Willis; 'but since ,
there las been no report il the past few
years Of q ships crew being rescued in the ,
latitude Of Western Australian, it's my
opinion that this vessel must have found
cred during its passage from the Australian
coast to this island"
Iach SAW that he would have little show
G. overcoming this theory; but still being
unwilling to leave andone anything which
might aid them in learning what had be-
corae Of the castaways, he added: ''But
CAPTAIN, voa surely intend to visit the ,
other parts OF the island?"
Yes, 10 keep my conscience cuiet," re-
Piled Willis; "5ut first, LET'S go and remove
that signal so that vessels will not be in
GEenced to leave their course to save people :
who don't exist
The Captain and Zach and the others now
made last examination Of the beach, then
hayirg gained the plateau by passing
through the gorge, they turned their steps
toward the promontory.
They found II necessary to pass around
deep excavation, a sort of stony pond fed
by the rains and cloudbursts, in order to
keep on their way.
Suddenly Willis came TO halt and point
e. al four mounds parallel with each other.