The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-07-18
M MAN NEED STARVE.
an OLD SAILORS WAY, OF PRO
CURING FOOD.

Clam 6nSH oh0
kerchief. " Z
IRON, the Ne,O York Sun.
ussilornen die hard. never knef one
~ be starved to death.
"8ut YOU have heard Of such Thugs"
.Ob yes. have heard of graf many
Liza I have never seen. lave been
.arIv all over the world, as ar as the
wstsr reaches. but / have neFsr known o
van actually to die for wanT OF food or
water"
WAS the first officer Of a British tramp
,,a.mer. living at the Brooklyn stores, who
'pos snealins; a real old tEr, II ever there
.ros one with a grizzled gray beard and
like a wad of sole leather. Il Is not
lao.ssarv to folio his dialect, il it may be
called for it might make hard reading,
as be is a Dane, who for many years has
called Plymouth his home; and although
bjs language is excellent. his pronunciation
:, mcmillan. The ship, just in from So.
Croix with cargo Of sugar, lay TIED 20 the
wberf. The first officer of this well-tound
Pritisb tramp had promised Sun reporter
taIt ON nautical matters, and was about
% fnIfiII his promise. with an open box of
81 Croix cigars, which are generally bad,
wing on the beuchfor inspiration.
'Ct Is harder to starve q man.to death
than Won would imagine" he went on.
s,There is food everywhere--in the earth,
the sea and the cir. And water Is just as
DIsntv, There is only one situation where
can imagine men dying of hunger or
thirst"
TWhat is thatg he was asked.
"In a heavy sea in an open boat, with no
food or water on board, and everything
soaked with sea water. It might happen
In such a case, but even thon the chances
would be thousand 20 one against 1t.
or course | am talking about mariners.
Sailormen arc not likely to be cast away
in the middle of prairie, which knew
nothing about. It is thirst that kills them
before hunger has chance. An able man
il good for from seven to ten days without
food if he has plenty Of water. hear that
tome men have lived five or six weeks on
shore wiBhout eating, but shipwrecked men
cannot do that, because they are exposed TO
heat or cold, and are worn down with anx-
iety. The worry is worse than the heat or
cold"
"Would they not be as badly off on a
desert island as in an open boatt" we asked.
There are no desert islands, " the sailorman
replied emphatically. "Leastwlse, 1t depends
upon what you mean by desert island.
There are plenty Of islands without any in
habitants, but very few in any part of the
world without any vegetation, trees, shells,
sand and so Oh. don't call that desert
island as long as there is tree or a bush.
Suppose you were cast away on such an
island, with nothing but the clothes on your
back. You would be surprised to find how
soon you would have enough to- eat and
drink, house to live in, and how. quickly
YOU would come to living in quitesa civilized
way, if you were not rescued that is, If l
were with you, or some other man who has
had experience with such things. l have
been through that several times. but never
came anywhere near starving"
you must have suffered with thirstp it
was suggested. --l-'
mot at ALL" he replied, cor not what
you might call suffered. But you have
the right idea OF it; water Is the first thing
a man wants. Pll take yoUwith me to an
island l once spent five weeks on with two
other men, in north lat 12s "a, longitude
about GO west from Greenwich. That put
Us, as OF course you know, just off the
Spanish main, as we still call the north
coast of South America. 1t would keep us
here all night il l should tell you how we
came there, the wreck of the ship
and all that; but it was collision, and
the bo'sun and one deck hand and re ached
the island on spar, and precious glad
we were to find our feet on sandy bottom
though there was no other land in sight
But no matter about that you and l are to
suppose ourselves there together, landed
about the middle of the afternoon, after
floating and swimming since o'clock in
the morning, or about eleven hours, without
food or drink. There are some trees on the
island and plenty OF bushes, but we can see
all over the little place, and there is not a
living soul, nor house.
I'VE don't care for anything In the world
but q drink Of water, and that is just what
we don't seem able to get But courage,
comrads! There is plenty of water here, as
there is almost everywhere. We search the
whole island fors a spring, you taking
one side and | the other, but OF course we
find no spring, for the island is a limestone
formation, covered with sand. barely rising
above the sea. There is always q chance of
hndiDg a fresh water spring by digging a
few feet In the sea beach; but we are too
thirsty-at least you are-to run any risk
OF wasting time in this way. So we will
take way that is sure. You still have
your watch on, aud handkerchief in your
pocket"
Yes; but you cannot produce water
from watch and a pocket handkerchief"
No; We must have also some shells from
the beach, then the water comes. l Will
take the crystal from your watch and in
five minutes under this hoUsun we will have
q ire. II we had no watch along we would
still have fire, but it would take longer.
You have heard of rubbing two sticks to-
gether! Well, that is not exactly the
way, but pretty near it. should
take thin piece of the hardest
wood could find, which would
probably be the species of mahogany that
IN the West Indies is called horse flesh and
make blunt point on one end. Then a
bock OF dry decayed wood, nearly ready 20
blunt point to fit into. By revolving the
sAcE rapidly between the palms of my
hands should have fire in from thirty to
sixty minutes with hard work. However.
the watch glass is much easier and quicker,
and you can gather some fuel and a dozen
OF the largest shells you can find while
make a blaze.
-. NOW, this is the first step 10 our new CIV
hlzatlon," the first officer continued. 1.-The
minute we produce fire we mako our first
advance out Of absolute savagery. But the
water you ask; for your throat is burning
up your tongue blistered, your eyes, per-
maps, beginning to bulge. We are going to
nistill sea water and make it fit for drink
ing on exactly the same principle that the
condensers turn salt water to fresh aboard
snip, only by much simpler process. II
We bad a small still we could soon have
enough fresh water to battle in; but in the
absence OF still we must use shells and
our handkerchief. When half fill one of
these shells with sea water and lay i6 on
the fire the water BOON boils,
and steam is produced. That steam is abso-