The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1894-09-14
STORY Of south SEAS
Romantic Sequel to a
Traders Voyage.
\ Nine Year-Old Wife
Among the Pelews.
The Trading Trip of the Schooner
Golden Fleece-A Bold Adven-
turer's Queer Act.

This is tale of the schooner Golden
Fleece, a true story Of the South seas.
A news item and romance COM
bined, clearly demonstrating that
truth is oftentimes even stranger than
fiction.
What makes the log Of the Golden
Fleece so interesting is that she is
vessel that was owned and controlled
by San Francisco firm. What makes
her charterer's and captains history
immensely striking is that the skipper.
Quintin, the mysterious doctor from
Paris, the devil-may-care. indolent
Stafford Smith, trader and adventurer
sailed from San Francisco three years
ago and did so with a whole lot Of
newspaper fuss and feather.
Recollections of tile Golden Fleece
have not died out. Conjactures were
indulged in regarding her whereabouts
and she was supposed to have been
lost. One year ago all hope Of her ever
returning to port was given UP.
But the Fleece turned uo at Hong
Kong, and is at present at Yokohama.
Her crew is penniless, she has been
deserted by her captain, there is no
one to claim her battered hull and the
vessel is likely to be sid to satisfy
debtors, for during the absence Of the
Fleece upon her remarkable voyage,
the firm Of Wright, Browne & Co.
failed and there is really no Cne who
is willing to come forward and claim
the trader and fetch ner back to San
Francisco. What adds local interest
to the story is the fact that the char
terer married a child of the Felew
islands, upon whose desolate shores
Horace Holden of Salem was cast
many years ago and where he spent
several years as packhorse for the
inhuman savages. Rut the story of
the Golden Fleece is told by the San
Francisco Call:
The doctor a clever sort of a chap
| with a chin beard and mild blue eye,
and Smith, tall, reckless and bell!ger-
ent looking, conceived the idea of 60
| ing trading in the southern archipel-
| ago in the year 1891. The two came
| here from New York and chartered
| the Golden Fleece, secured the ser
vices of Captain Quintin and sailed
away to make their fortunes.
Both charterers appeared to have
money. Prior to setting sail they
spent it freely and were such jolly,
good-natured sort of fellows that
everybody took a fancy to them.
The doctor. whose name is said to
| be Edmunds, claimed to be lineal
| descendant of the Duke of York, or a
| distant connection of William the
| Conqueror, or some other disting-
| uished nobleman, and though some
people disbelieved all this they still
| admired Edmunds for his personal
qualifications as a gentleman and a
scholar.
OF Smith the ladies all were suspic-
| ious. He claimed to hail from San
Francisco, Boston, New York and
| every portion of the United States, ac-
cording to whether the person with
| whom he conversed was from the
north. south, east or west. He liked
the women, but the women did not
like him. He has at last found one
who does, however, as this story will
relate further on.
The Golden Fleece sailed with the
two queer characters to Hong Kong,
and there she was initiated with bad
| luck by having her spars condemned.
She stopped at the Caroline group of
islands before going. over, but she did
not make any money for her charter
erS.
Wright, Browne G. Co. refused to pay
the bills for new spars and there was
trouble right away. The doctor and
Smith footed the bill finally to avoid
being detained in court under heavy
expense, and after cutting a wide
path to notoriety in the Orient, they
again fitted the Fleece out as cruiser.
The doctor had a mother or aunt who
furnished him with coin, and who was
one of the sureties in the charter. She
lived in England and it was she who
sent Doc coin for another expert
ment.
Just as the Fleece was about to
start Captain Quintin drew $500 that
was due him and dropped out Of sight
like a, twenty dollar gold-piece in a
sure-thing game. He has never been
seen or heard of since, but it is sup
posed that he headed for California
and may be there now for aught that
anyone knows.
Smith said he could sail the schooner
and he did. The scheme of the traders
was to kill fish at the Pelew islands
with dynamite and fetch the cargo
back to China. The Fleece cleared
and for twenty months not a line was
heard from her. Everybody thought
that she had struck reef or been
lost in typhoon.
Not SO. The scheme of killing fish
proved a failure. The vessel did not
move away from the Pelews. In the
meanwhile several remarkable things
happened.
The monarch of the Pelews, 4 cop
per-colored giant, with five wives, mad
a favorite daughter. a typical belle of
the tropics, with dark dreamy eyes,
long lashes and thick. brown hair
just such as one reads about in nov
els. Smith couldn't impress the
bellies of civilization, but he won this
child's heart completely.
The king was rich in his way. The
adventurer saw an opportunity to let
the Geld world drift as it may, and to
cast himself upon the hospitable shores
of the chiefs domain. where he might
idle away the rest of his days.
Then said he, 81 will settle for life.
and marry the 9-year-old princess"
This he did.
The doctor must have become weary
with life on the islands, for one night
he got into a canoe, rowed over to an
adjacent island, and the next thing
that was heard of him he was in
Paris, where he walked down the street
putting the most fragrant of Havanas
and stopped to sup in the bonton of
the Boulevarde cafes.
All this time the Golden Fleece was
missing. No tidings came from her.
Wright, Browne & Co. failed and the
firms creditors were anxious to get