The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1897-08-21

of deeds of heroism unsurpassed, in one
case at least, in the history of the navy,
and recalled acts which never received
that public attention which both of
them deserved. Lieutenant Mckee was
son of the gallant William R. Nc
Kee, who fell with Harry Clay at the
battle of Buena Vista, The deed which
made his name an honored one was In
leading the desperate assault on the
Korean forts in 1871. John Talbot,
who was the friend, classmate and dis
tant kinsman OF Mckee, persisted under
the most dramatic circumstances, after
a successful attempt to save the lives
Of his comrades, having volunteered to
make an ocean Journey of fifteen hun
dred miles in an open boat for their
relief On the 29th of October, 1870,
the United States man-of-war Sagl-
nav was wrecked near Ocean Island, in
| the Pacific ocean, and all of her officers
and men cast on its barren and un1n-
| harited shores. Ocean Island was
about midway betWeen San Francisco
and Yokohoma, entirely cut of the
customary track of navigation, and full
| " fifteen hundred miles from the near
est civilized port The crew of the
| Saginaw was therefore in a terrible
plight. Only a scanty store Of provl-
sions had been saved from the wreck
age. the sand bank yielded nothing that
was nourishing, and the chance of the
crew being saved by a passing craft
was about as remote as the possibility
OF the Pacific returning the wrecked
ship intact. A call was made for vol
unteers to undertake a voyage OF tlf-
teen hundred miles in a small boat
the captains gig-to procure relief be-
fore the men could perish from starva-
ton and exposure. Lieutenant Talbot
and FIVE seamen volunteered to make
the Journey, with Honolulu as their
objective point. Talbot and the men
under him began their trip with mea-
gre provisions, some of them already
considerable damaged and practically
useless, insufficient fresh water and
small oil cooking stove. AfteE having
been FIVE days cut, the little company
encountered storms and lost oil means
of procuring light or fire. Then com
menced many days of suffering from
exposure and want of food which wa
not positively sickening. I.ieutenan
Tlbott fell ill, and remained So ant
y then to add to the horrors Of the sit
uation, one of the seamen became IN
sane Thus the gig and It's heroic
crew drifted for thirty-one days, Tai
Dot at times almost exhausted, but al
ways courageous and cheerful, keeping
up the hopes of his comrades and nav
igating the little craft in an intelligen
manner. Finally the boat, ieaky ant
! dangerous, with Talbot and two or tn,
men extremely i'll and another insan,
but harmless to pitiable degree, sight
| ed the coast of Kauai, onb of the Ha
waiian group. 1t was here that Talbo
met his death. The boat got into shoa
water and was capsized. and every mai
save one, Talbot included, was washe,
. into the sea. Before this boat wa
righted Talbot, heavily clothed AM
, much exhausted made desperate eff
fort to save himself, but breaker car
ried him away. He sank without
cry. One Halford, the sole survivor
chung to the boat, and was washe
ashore. He told his story, and in
| short time a vessel was on its way t
Ocean Island to rescue the shipwrecke
seamen. Talbot's body was afterwaru
) found on the beach ana given a tempo
rary burial. Later it was brought t