The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-04-22
A WHITE SAVAGE.
Strange and Moving Career OF a Long
Island Sailor Boy.
From the New York Advertiser.


From the New York Advertiser.
Some years ago, when Sag Harbor, at
the eastern end, Long Island, was still a
resort for whalers, that was before the
discovery of petroleum lowered the price
of whale oil, all the lads of spirit there
abouts looked upon a voyage to the North
or South poles as an essential part of
their education
A drearier life than that Of common
sailor on board a whaler il would be dim
cult to imagine. The food, though abun-
dant, Is coarse; the quarters are vile
smelling, and far from wholesome; the
service is hard, and the Officers are apt TO
be tyrants. Whale ships find their game
IN the open sea, and so never touch at a
port unless to repair the damage done by
storms, or to get fresh supplies
Henry Pearsall's father every one
called the lad "Hen"-had been to sea on
a whaler when boy, and so knew that
the life was delusion and snare, that
the effect OF such association was damag-
ing. and that the time of his sons. he had
two, would be wasted if they left the
farm for such a career.
Hen Pearsan went to school in the win
ter, and worked on the farm in summer
till he was II. Unknown to his father,
he read many doubtful stories of sea life,
and he heard the yarns of old sailors,
quite as fictitious as what he had read,
till his soul was filled with yearning to
see more Of the ocean than was visible
from the hills Of his fathers farm.
knowing il would be folly to try for his
fathers consent, Hen waited till the
night before a whale ship was about to
start for the Southern Ocean, as the
South Pacific was called by the sailors,
and putting off in small boat to where
the vessel was anchored, he hailed the
deck watch, stated his purpose, and was
taken on board.
Hen Pearsall had not been twenty-four
hours at sea before he regretted his con-
duct. He had been too much on the
water to be sea-sck, but he had that aw-
full pain at his heart known as home-sick-
ness, which is far harder TO stand, and
which, among such companions would
have been laughed at if known.
From the time the ship left Sag Harbor
TIL TIL she reached the northern New Zea=
land, $4,000 miles away, the Albatross,
that was the name of the whaler, touched
at no port. While rounding Cape Horn
they, of course, sighted land, and now
and then the purple disc of an island in
the far distance could be seen, but that
was all Salt meat, hard bread and
muddy coffee were the fare; hard word
by day, and on many sleepless night was
the rule. The captain was a tyrant and
the mate brute, and Hen Pearsalrs
back usually bore the red imprint of a
ropes end.
of New Zealand number Of whales
were captured and the excitement at
tending this, broke in pleasantly enough
on the awful monotony of the cruise.
Twice in two years the ship touched land
once at the Bay of Islands in New Yea
land, and the second time at Pongo-
Pongo in the Navigator Islands. Here,
without telling his purpose to any one,
Hen PeaFsall decided to desert, though
he had two years pay coming TO him.
He dropped over the side of the vessel
one night, and unheeding the man-eating
sharks that swarmed about, he swan
ashore, guided by the fires of the natives.
Without food he hid in the woods three
days, while he watched the crew search
ing for him. 1t was not till he saw the
Albatross flying out to sea, that he came
to the native village, where he was re
| ceived with the kindness that character.
ICES those people.
Hen Pearsall was at the other side o.
! the world from his old home, and the only
white man On the island He was adopted
! into the tribe, married, and forgot his
kinsmen in America, and nearly forgo
his mother tongue.
And so he lived, dressed as a savage
till he reached the age of 50, though il
that land Of perpetual summer he never
lost the run Of the years.
One day great storm swept over the
| Island Upoll to which he had moved
and his stalwart, bronzed sons came tc
him and told him that white mans shiI
was going to pieces on the coral reef that
| surrounded the islands. Obeying his
orders, the sons and the others, all OF
whom were like fish in the water, manned
their outrigger canoes, and dashed
through the waves to the rescue of the
first whites Hen Pearsall had seen since
he deserted the Albatross more than
thirty years before.
Out of crew of twenty-eight, twelve
were saved, amongst them Capt. Thomas
Pearsall, the commander. 1t turned out
that this Capt. Pearsau was Hens young
est brother, who. like himself, had taken
to the sea, but with better success. The
savage brother learned that his parents
and all his family but this brother were
dead but he had found new attachments
and refused to leave his bronzed sons and
daughters, and go back to civilization, of
which he had conceived horror.
In their canoes Hen Pearsall and his
sons took his brother and the men who
had been saved to Apia, where the
American consul sent them home. And
there they parted forever, the one to re-
turn to his wife and children at Sag Har-
Dor, and the other TO his wife and child
rem under the broad fruit trees and
fronded palms of Upola.