The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1898-11-02
Extraordinary Of Story Of a Modern
Adventure.
MAN CAST AWAY THIRTY YEARS
A Pearl Seeking Expe dition
Amongst the Blacks of Aus
tralia-Story of Rescue.

IS described as the story OF the mos;
amazing experiences a man ever lived
| 10 tell. NJ. Louis de ROugemOnc. the
hero Of this extraordinary story. is 9
| Frenchman, born at Paris in 1874
! When he was nineteen years Of age he
went 10 the far East to make mis- for
| tune, and in 1868 invested his little
money with a pearl-fishery adventurer
! who sailed from Batavia Louis de
| Rougemont and his partner, Peter Jen-
sen, sailed in 1863 in forty-ton
: schooner named the VeielIand. TO go
on pear-fishing expedition with a
crew Of Malays off the south OF New
| Guinea.
Despite the occasional attacks of
| devil-fish as terrible as that described
by Victor Hugo and the constant pres
| ence Of sharks, which used TO be hunt
| ed and captured by the pearl-fshers,
| the trip was extremely successful. Al
the end of the season in 1864 the take
| OF pearls was valued by Captain Jea-
| sen at 100000. They had a very fair
| snare of adventures while pursuing
| their calling in the New Guinea wat
| ers, and on one occasion had to use
| the argument of grapeShot in order ID
allay the animOSity OF the natives.
after which fishing off New Guinea be
came impossible. Off they went, there
| fore TO some hitherto uneXplored fish
| ing grounds, the precise locality of
which NJ. de Rougemont does not
know. There they obtained three mag
nifcent black pearls, q treasure which
| led Jensen to continue fishing two
| months after he ought to have stopped
| and gone home. The season ends us
ually in May. He went on fishing TIL
July
One morning Jensen and eleven of
the crew left the ship in the little
boats for the pearl fishery, leaving De
ROugemont and a dog alone on board
the ship. A great storm arose, which
swept the ship away, carrying De
ROugemOnt and the dog with it. Of
Captain Jensen and the Malays moth
ing was seen or heard again. For sew
eral days the vessel drove before the
wind, and when the storm abated De
ROugemOnt tried to steer her westward
with the aid of long steering oars, for
| the rudder had been smashed in the
storm. After thirteen days he ap-
preached the Australian coast and ran
! into a narrow strait between Melville
and Bathurst Island. There he was at
| tackled by natives, but hosting the
mainsail he stood for the open sea.
| where for four days he sailed along
without incident. But on the fourth
| day the vessel struck a coral reef and
| remained fixed.
| He made raft and succeeded in
| reaching q small Sand-bank which rose
| a few feet ont of the waters Of the
| lagoon. 1t was 100 yards long, 10 yards
| wide, and only feet above the sea at
| high water Upon this sand-spit De
| ROugemOnt lived for the next two and
a half years. He rescued sufficient sal
wage from the wreck to provide him
self with a sleeping place and with
| food. Early in his sojOurn on this
| desolate sand-spit he discovered a
| singular hole in the sand about two
| feet deep. On scratching the sand he
| came upon human remains, and in an
| hour unearthed sixteen complete Skei-
| etOnS. Plenty of sea-birdS visited the
| Island, whose eggs supplied him with
! food. In his youth he had taken a
| keen interest in archery, and he had
| with him a bow and arrows, with
| which he was able to secure birds for
his table. \ fire he made by striking
| a steel tOmahawk against a stone one:
| and having once obtained fire, he never
allowed it to go out during the Whole
time he remained on the island.
| He went about perfectly nude, but
| landed from the ship the greater part
| OF the cargo, including its valuable
| pearl shells, of which they had over
| thirty tons on board, the value OF
! which he computed at several thou
| sands. The pearls Of course he re-
moved and buried in the sand, where
| they remain to this day. BY way OF
| amusement he built himself house OF
| the peaTl-Shells, the walls OF which
were feet high, feet thick, and 1O
| feet long. Finding a stock of seeds in
| the captains cabin, he planted them in
| a soil prepared by mixing the sand
! with the blood of the turtles which he
| killed, and very soon had crops OF
| corn, from which he was able to OBJ
! tain straw to thatch his house He
| caught plenty of fish, and further sup
| plemenJed his store by rObbing the
pelicans of the fish which they brought
| TO land for their young ones. He made
| a hammock out of sharks hide and
| generally behaved himself after the
| fashion Of Robinson Crusoe. He had
| an English Testament which he read
aloud until he nearly went mad by
| worrying himself over theological diff
| ficultieS. He then set to work TO build
a boat out of the remains Of the ship
| He succeeded after seven months in
| building a heavy sailing boat L feet
| long by feet wide. He launched il
and then discovered that he had built
! it on the wrong side of his island. and
! that the boat was floating in a lagoon
! from which there was no access to the
/ open sea. During all this time his doc
was his only companion. and by con-
/ tinualiy talking TO him he found him