The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-01-15

expected, it presented weather-beaten
appearance. The deckhouse and the
cooks galley were still standing, and |
thought could make out lot of wreck
age floating alongside. 1t was now within
an hour of shutdown, and had not been
surveying the wreck over three minutes
when peremptory order to come down
cholzed me off. 1 reported the presence
of the derelict to the captain, but with so
much blubber at hand he was Indifferent
to other things, and asked no questions
about her.
ABOARD THE WRECKED HULK.
Four days later, when the oil was in
the barrels, our position at noon showed
that we were fifty miles southeast of the
spot where we made the double capture.
An hour later the man in the crows nest
sighted the derelict to the north of US,
and at 2 O'Clock we were up with her. 1t
was the hulk of the lost Magnet From
the time of sighting her up to the mo-
ment of heaving to we looked for some
sort Of signal to show that some one was
yet living aboard of her, but nothing was
shown. When we had her under our lee
the crew ran aloft to look down
upon her decks. The fall of the masts
had crushed her bulwarks, but the dam
age had been repaired afterward, though
water about was entirely clear of wreck
age, and the hull was apparently as tight
and buoyant as when it left Rio. 1t was
terribly weather beaten, however, and
seemed to be sailing in bed of weeds and
grass. A musket was brought up and
fired three or four times, and the crew
shouted in chorus again and again, and
the captain ordered boat lowered, and
said he would go in her himself. We
h,oo -1e,1 an,s ~ . h,,yu md han fN1
lowed the captain over the rails I braced
my nerves to meet a terrible spectacle.
Nothing living or dead was in sight.
Every bit of the wreck was gray-white in
color because of long exposure to the
weather, and here and there about the
decks were black spots Of decay. There
were a'few coils Of rope, heap Of cloth
ing and bedding, little better than black
mold, and three or four water casks had
rolled about with the hull until demol-
ished. a--
The door of the cooks galley was held
open by its hOok-sand we looked in to find
pots and pans hanging up and the stove
in good condition. The Magnet left Rio
with 120 adventures and a crew of seven
teen men. In the deckhOuse, where the
crew were quartered, we found bedding
and clothing and sea chests, but nothing
to show what had been the fate of the
fitted up for the passengers. L at least
expected to find dead men down there,
but no such grewsome spectacle met my
eyes. There were bedding and clothing,
firearms, knives, tobacco boxes, hatchets,
cartridges, empty jugs and bottles, a
great lot of cheap crockery and other
stuff, which the passengers wanted for
use on the voyage or after they had
landed. In some of the hunks the bed
ding was nicely arranged, but in others it
was rolled in heap. The lamps had
been taken down and the oil poured out
of them, and we found hanging on nail
some wicks which had been taken from
candles. Neither here nor in the deck
house above could we find SO much as the
heel of boot or shoe.
THE LAST LIFE ON BOARD.
From between decks we proceeded to
the cabin. the doors of which were shut,
but not locked. The first sight to greet
our ewes was that of human body hang
ing by a rope around its neck in the main
cabin. There was no odor emanaJing
from the dead. The body had simply
shriveled up until it was hardly more
than a skeleton. The frame was that of
a large man, but the weight of the body
was not above fifty pounds. On table
Just beyond where the man was hanging
was the ships log, and near IL an ink bot
tie and pen. The captain took the log
on deck and soon announced that it con-
tanned some particulars of what had oc-
Cured abroad. We then made search
of the cabin and found the ships papers,
about $500 in gold pieces, a bag containing
1925 in silver, several rifles and revolyers,
three watches, some legal papers which
had belonged to the captain, and quite
a number of other things. Neither
the ships flag nor any charts were to be
~
sextant could be turned up. The entries
in the logbook for the first two weeks
were in the captains handwriting. Then
came note written in different hand
and saying:
1--WE found out that they had deceived
us and sent them adrift in one of the
boats"
Ten days later another entry, in still
another hand, referred to some of the
people sailing away in the long boat.
Later on there was an entry to the effect
that the ship had been dismasted, and
then not a liue had been written for
months. The man hanging by the neck
and swinging to and fro like pendulum
with every roll of the ship had been the
last survivor. He had written on page
OF the logbook in a trembling hand:
II have been alone for the last ten
days, and for the last four have tasted
neither food nor drink"
LEFT TO THE SEAS MERCY.
The next day, or the next, before he
had grown too weak, he had arranged
the rope and put an end to his sufferings.
After the ship left Rio the gold hunters
must have found out that Cross had de-
ceiyed them. Perhaps the captain aud
the mate interfered in his behalf and for
that reason were sent ahoat with him.
The second mate was not a navigator,
and even if he was attempting to return
to Rio the loss of the masts put it out of
his power. One would argue that the
wreck ought to have been sighted and
the men taken off, but if sighted by any
craft beyond those mentioned they
neither relieved nor reported her. 1t is
likely that at least thirty people left her
in the boats, but none Of them was
picked up nor reached an island. Every
scrap of everything which could be used
to sustain life had been picked up, and at
last the sole survivor had found himself
slowly dying for the want of food and
had ended his lifea day or two sooner by
means of the moose.
We took everything Of value that we
could find aboard the wreck, and let her
GO 10 drive with the wind and wave. The
4 -. hay. at