The San Francisco call., 1897-02-24
Toast of the Adventures
on the Brig Percy
Edward.
They Hope TO Make Fame and
Fortune On a Tropical
Island.
Over One Hundred Men Have Con
tributed $Ios Each in Order to
Join the Venture.

Manager Reinhart OF the South Sea
island colonizing expedition is the hap
| piest man in seven States. He has at
| least $1,000 "cash on hand" and so far
has only paid out $500 for the old brig
Percy Edward and say another $1,000 for
necessary repairs. Where the colonists
are going they do not know, and further
more they do not seem to care. Nearly
all of them are unsophisticated farmers
from the interior, and like the unfortu-
mates who made an excursion from Aus
tralia to Paraguay in the Royal Tar, they
seem to think they have the ball at their
feet and all they have TO do is to make
the necessary exertion and a fortune is
theirs.
Some of the members of the expedition
say they are going ito the South Sea
islands just for fun" and that they do not
expect to have anything but an enjoyable
cruise after an imaginary island. The
TACT still remains however, that the Percy
Edwards was built exactly thirty-one
years ago in Boston, Mass, and that her
late owner did not fit her out again for
another whaling cruise. The brig be-
longed 10 James McKenna, and two years
ago she went to the Arctic, but did not
| make enough money to pay the 81 that
each member of the crew was paid off
with. Since then she lay up in Oakland
| Creek until the man who invented "the
Adamless Eden" came along, and then
| there was a demand Tor vessel that could
| be bought cheap. The Percy Edwards is
189 tons net los feet inches long % feet
inch beam and 10 feet inch deep. She
has been thoroughly overhauled and re-
| paired, and cruise in her in the Southern
seas will be as safe as in any wbaler that
has left port during the past month.
well! we'll! welll" said Henry Peter
| son, the champion oarsman, yesterday,
when he viewed the preparations being
made, they say they are going to have
plenty OF fun. Well, I'm willing to gam
bic dollars to doughnuts that they'll get
all they expect. Why, they do not even
know where they are going and God help
the man who is going on a rowing expedi-
ton In the Southern seas in search Of
nothing"
This is the worst comic opera l have
ever witnessed" said an employe of the
haroor Commission. There is not the
slightest chance in the world for a man in
ne" Gulnea without money and as to the
solomon group or the New Hebrides, the
men who go there should carry Gatling
gun ana plenty OF ammunition. There
are more cannibals than Ewes down there
and the passengers on the Percy Edward
had better look outn
Nearly three years ago a similar expedi-
Ilon TO Inc one planned TO leave on the
fercy EDWARD next Thursday left Austria.
ia on the bark Royal Tar. 1t was bound
Tor Paraguay and everything that the
colonists had was put into the general
fund ana all and sundry were to share and
share alike. A concession had been re-
ceived from the Government OF South
America and each family was to receive
so much land and each single man wa. to
be gwen SO much in proportion. II was a
secono South Sea bubble and disaster fol-
lowed IL from the moment the vessel
reached its destination. The COLONY /
now almost deserted and the colonists n re
nearly all back in Australia, sadder but
wiser men. VIII the expedition on the
Percy Edward prove more successful, is
the question OF interest on the water front
Just now.
First Mate briggs of the brig is conf
| dent that the venture will be a success
and says that besides owning the vessel
and her contents there is $1,000 in the
| treasury. Where they are going he does
not know, and the destination Will not be
| known until the vessel gets to sen. "She
will clear for cruise in the southern
seas" said he. According to him the pub-
lie and the press looked upon the scheme
as chimerical, but he is certain that it will
be a success.
Three young farmers joined the expedi-
ton yesterday, and each paid $1o0 ior
chance in the glorious future that awaits
them in the new Eden, serpents and saw
ages barred.
In the meantime the Percy Edward
| will probably clear to-day OH "a cruise 10
the South Sea islands, "and Thursday will
see sail hands and the cook" aboard and
ready for the excursion. Revolvers. Win
chesters and shotguns are part of the pas
| seneers' equipments, and while the pas
| sengers say they will not fight unless