The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1898-11-30
TWENTY DAYS WITH DEATH "OPENS WITH VAUDEVILLE.
EXPERIENCES IN A BOAT WITH
THIRST AND TEMPEST.
Mrs. Mcdonald Tells of Her Children
and Herself After They Left the
Burning w. II. Starbuck.

Burning W. II. Starbuck.
Twenty days in an open boat, on "a
tropic sea, with three children, the
eldest not yet seven, to care and be APP
prehensive for, is happily the trying
experience of few women. 1t was the
experience though of Mrs. Mcdonald,
wife of Captain Henry Mcdonald, of
the i'll fated ship w. II. Starbuck. But
right bravely did she bear it. To see
her now and hear her speak of it,
calmly. seriously, with no touch of
self-consciousness, is to realize more
fully than it is possible from descrip-
ton what an ordeal it was.
"The baby. ! suppose, will not re-
member anything about it; she is too
young. only eighteen months. But
the other children will never forget
it," Mrs. Mcdonald said this morn
ing. "Thev stood it bravely and well.
Of course they did not realize as an OIL
der person would. the danger, or
what it meant to he in an open boat,
1000 miles from land. But the quart
ers were so cramped in the boat.
There was no room for them to move
around in. And yet they did not be-
come fretful or make trouble. The
older children seemed to realize that
there was nothing to do but accept
the situation They could see nothing
but the ocean around them and the
sky overhead. In the day time the
glare of the hot sun reflected from the
water to which we were so close,
burned and scorched until it was al
most uncomfortable. And at night Of
ten there was rain that wet the few
blankets we had. and always the salt
spray stinging the parched skin and
adding to the tOrmentS of thirst
which we never dared to quite allay,
for fear of eXhausting our supply of
water Yet the children never muir
INJURED or complained.
But now they are so tired 1t
seems as if all the fatigue and cramp
of those twenty days had been saved
up and they felt it now. We landed
| last Saturday morning, but the chill
drcn are tired yet. 1t seems as if
they could not get rested. And the
baby, too. is tired. Her little mus
"les seem to ache. and her bones to
feel the stress of her experience.
81 feel that way, too, though not
all the time. 1t is only when | try to
walk around or exert myself that |
seem to grow weak and tremble. I
never expected to see land We had
some very rough weather, and | had
my mind made up that each day
would be the last. Now that we are
safe, | suppose we feel reaction from
the tension we were under and it will
| be some time before we feel ourselves
again.
"Oh, yes, ! have often been to sea
before. | usually go every other trip
with my husband, and have
been pretty well over the
world. The children, too, are good
sailors and have taken many trips.
The eldest is Howard, who will be 7
next February. Maud will be in
May, and Gladys is eighteen months
old. My people are Cape Breton peo-
pie, but since my marriage my home
has been in Hoboken, n. j. My hus-
bands people were from Cape Breton
originally, too, but they all live in Ho-
bollen now. His brothers are all cap
tains of vessels. Two of them were
drowned at sea.
"The people at Hookena were very
kind to use. We stayed at the home OF
the sheriff there until the Mauna Loa
arrived Monday night. People have
been very kind to us here. Several la.
dies have called, and Mrs. Lyle wants
us to come to her home to remain il
we do not go today on the Peking."
Captain Mcdonald has followed the
sea for twenty-five years, but this is
his first disaster.
My boat was the poorest of the
three" he said, but it was the Iarg.
est We suffered a great deal from
thirst. We took all the water we
could and had plenty of provisions
me allowance of water was pint {
DAY at first, afterwards reduced tC
nan pint. We could have used more
but we did not know how long w,
would be out The nearest land wa,
the Galapagos Islands. but to bav,
5 started for there would have been +,
meet with contrary winds. I figure,
'pat we could make about 70 or 81
lnlieS day. but we really made obou
100. We had plenty of sail.
- For the first week my wife and tb,
noy suffered terribly from seasicIxnaes
ne motion of the boat is so difreran
from that of ship. IF it had not bee,
f. lot some wine had don't believe m,
, wife would have survived
,.oi,ir ne secret OF our success lies in tn