The San Francisco call., 1896-12-06
IN SEARCH OF
=
A RICH ISLAND
:.
::
Romantic Story of How
"a Lost Chart Was
= =. Recovered.
p
Sent to Boston by a Delirious
= : Sea Captain and For
gotten.
George E. Martin Comes Here to Get
Capital to Search-Expeditions
That Failed.

have searched in vain, bids fair to be
cleared up at last and in most romantic
manner.
On Monday last a quiet-looking young
fellow. about 2S years old, registered at an
uptown hotel as George Z. Martin from
Boston, and after inquiring the address of
a number of men prominent in maritime
circles departed to look for them. The
same evening he paid his bill and left,
stating that he was going to Oakland to
stop for few days.
From a gentleman with whom Martin
became acquainted while on the journey
from Boston to this City it was learned
that Martin is nephew of Captain Mar
tin, the original discoverer of the island,
and that he is bent on making a voyage
to it.
Martin said that his uncle while on his
way from Apia to this City many years
ago in command of a schooner was blown
out. of his course by a gale, and while
getting back to it sighted low island.
He first supposed that 1t was Clipperton
Island, which is not so much out OF the
Line OF vessels plying between Samoa and
San Francisco, but soon saw that he was
mistaken.
The high point of rock that distin-
guishes Clipperton was missing, and to
satisfy his curiosity Captain Martin sailed
close in to the island. He soon discovered
that the island was an atol, and that it
was enormously rich in the phosphates
that bring such rich remuneration to those
'who can land them in sufficient quantities
on American soil.
=. Provisions and water were running short
and Captain Martin continued on his voy-
age after taking observations to show the
of% = bo 81 infanhinO 1rr,
and make his fortune out OF the valuable
deposits.
This information was conveyed 10 his
relatives in Boston III a letter which ac-
.companied a bulky package of papers
which the old mariner asked them to keep
until he should send for them. The pa
pers were carefully put away, as he re-
quested, and eventually forgotten, as
nothing was ever heard of him again. 1t
was supposed he had gone in search of the
island and had been lost at sea.
Martin was taken sick with typhoid
fever alter reaching San Francisco as the
result-of the priYAtions he had endured,
and was sent to the hospital, where he re-
mained for several months. When he
was finally able to get about his mind was
impaired and he was totally unable to re-
. mem Der what had become of his private
papers, and though he called on every
friend he had in The City and inquired if
. he had left anything with them the docu-
nienis never turned up.
d. Captain Martin tried faithfully to get
capital 10 invest in a ship to search for
tAe island the location of which he was
sure he could find, but people took no par
tfcuiar notice of his talk, thinking him
demented. He died broken hearted a:
hQt being able TO search for his lost island.
o Years afterWard Captain Burns, who
owned a schooner called the Vine, came
m No Of old chart that Can
tain Martin had drawn from memory, and
taking stock in the story relating to the
island, fitted out his vessel and started on
a voyage OF exploration. Burns crulsed
about for several months but found moth
ing and finally gave up in despair.
s:The map tnat Burns relied on located
sthes island about 400 miles southwest of
Clipperton Island, which has already pro-
duced a fortune in phosphates.
In July last another band of adven-
ttirous sailors, after looking the matter
carefully over, concluded that they could
find the island if it was still above water
aad chartered the little sch ooner Noon
light of ]. A. Magee and others, who con-
stitute the Oceanic Phosphate Company.
Captain Spencer headed the party and
after taking aboard provisions for several
months and cargo for Altata, Mexico,
she sailed in search of fortune. From
Altata the schooner headed for the sup
posed location of the atol, but though the
search was kept up for a month, beating
backward and forward across the trackless
waste, nothing more than the pinnacle of
Clipperton broke the monotony of the
trip.
Provisions were looked over on the for
tieth day out and, concluding that it was
useless to risk starvation, the party re-
luctantly turned the vessels prov toward
San Francisco and reached here in Octo-
Il lseIo Of ina Il
pocket. The chart on which this party
relied is supposed to be the same one that
sent Captain Burns on his long and fruit
less voyage.
Now comes the strangest part of the
story, where it is taken up by the man
who arrived here on Monday.
Long accounts OF the Moonlight trip
were published in the San Francisco pa.
pers and the Eastern press copied the
tale. A New York paper fell into the
hands of Martin and brought to his mind
a bundle of old, musty papers, charts,
ETC., that he had been examining a few
years before.
They had struck him as curious, but he |
had regarded them as valueless and had |
contem plated destroying them.
He instituted inquiry among his rela-
tives and learned the story OF how they |
had reached Boston and at once concluded |
that he had found his uncle's original pa |
pers.. Their presence in the Boston home |
he accounted for on the idea that when |
Captain Martin first fell sick he concluded |
that such valuable papers had better be in
the safe keeping OF his relatives and that
he could send for them when he recov-
cred. if that was to be bis fortune.
When recovery came his mind was gone
as far as the papers were concerned, ard
they had remained unnoticed for many
years.
Young Martin decided that he would
make an attempt to find the island, and is
here to see whether he can find some one
to take the matter in band and put in the
necessary capital.
Regarding his charts Martin mas very
little 10 say. except that he has positive
evidence that they are the originals, and
that if the fruitless expeditions went in
the direction reported they were wrong
He says that they were hundreds of miles
off the right track, but refuses to say in
which direction.
A captain-owner in Oakland is investi- |
eating the story told by Martin, and If |
convinced of its worth will soon take his |
vessel to the south seas
Strong Mayor or Big Council.
hall of hal