The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-12-10
CAST ON MEXICAN COAST.
Rescued Crew of the TaIofa Tell of
Their Shipwreck.

New York, Dec. 10.-Not quite like
| Robinson Crusoe, but with a tale that
/ smacked of the old-fashioned stories of
| shipWreck and quaint experiences an
foreign lands, the captain and crew of
the Bath schooner Talofa reached here
yesterday on the Ward line steamship
| City of Washington, from Progreso,
Mexico. The Talofa. is a four-masted
| schooner of the SeWan fleet. She was
in command Of Captain E. R. Fletcher
the first mate was Martin Lee, the sec
ond mate P. A. Keller, the engineer
William ludlow, and there were four
sailors before the mast and a steward
and a cabin boy. me . IaIofa left Guam
tanaTno October %. That was three days
before the Maria Teresa started on the
voyage that proved her last. 1t was
Friday, the day of i'll omen in the sea-
mans calendar. On the same day there
sailed from that port the schooner
Sarah Palmer and one other schooner.
All three have shared the fate of the
Maria Teresa
The story of the TaIofa. was told yes
terday by Second Mate Keller. She
sailed for Tampa in ballast, leaving the
harbOr Of Guantanamo in the afternoon.
The sun was hidden. 1t remained MD
den. About thirty-six hours out the
rotator of the patent log was lost 1t
was believed that it was bitten off by
shark It came on to blow soon after
ward, the wind coming out of the north
west. The schooner was put under
double-reefed canvas and kept SO until
the following Monday, when a gale
from the north set in and the canvas
was reduced to trysails and staysails.
The vessel rolled until she threatened to
roll her sticks out, and most of the men
staid below to save themselves should
the top hamper come down, as seemed
Imminent.
At 10 o'clock Monday night there was
a grating noise under the keel, and it
was found that the schooner had struck
on a reef three-quarters of a mile off
shore at the northeast end of CaSumel
Island, which lies near the coast of
ia n 0n hs3H EfT4I Inlr u a I'd and
seas were making a clean breach over
her. Her two boats were crushed. Her
cabin was flooded, and soon the maStS
went by the board and the vessel was
thrown over onto her starboard beam.
The crew dashed themselves to the rail,
but it was evident that their position
there could not be long maintained.
The captain and second mate decided
to make an attempt to get ashore. They
got hold of the reefing plank, and, drop
ping to the sea, struck out. They found
themselves dragging over reefs. scratch
ed and torn. Then the second mate lost
his hold on the plank and the two be-
came separated, but subsequently the
mate regained the plank, and both men
were finally thrown upon the beach in
an exhausted condition and stripped
of all clothing. The captains condition
was so bad that the mate feared he
would not survive. He dug hole in the
sand. and, knocking the bottom out of
an old cask which had washed ashore,
he put the cask down over the head
sitting posture, thus protecting him
from the wind.
The other men remained c1inging to
the ship. but at daylight they, too, took
to wreckage and tried to make shore.
The cabin boy was swept from the YES
sci and lost He was Harry KeIson, IA
years old, Of Baltimore. Soon after
ward Charles B. COllender, Is years old,
also a Baltimore lad, was seen to loosen
his hold on a bit of wreckage and dis
appear None Of the men had any
clothes on his back. One, however. had
a pair Of suspenders tied around his
waist.
On the, morning of the Sd 1t was de-
cided to look about for help. The mate
went to a point of land about a mile
away. and from there espied the ruins
of what he called an old castle. The
men were surrounded by dense woods
and painless Jungle A barrel of
flour had come ashore, and this, mixed
with salt water, was their only food
during the days that followed. They
could not cook ii, AS they had no match
es to light a fire.
On the 5th, the mate, the second mate,
and the engineer left the others and
started along shore and searched for
help. They felt a good deal like abort
gines, for they were absolutely naked,
and the surroundings were as wild as
when Columbus first set foot on the
shores on this continent. For nine miles
they trudged over the pebbles and cut
ting shells of the beach and then they
came upon dog. They followed the
through
woodland path, the first they had dis
covered, four miles to a swamp, and
then they heard a human voice, and a
half breed native appeared. This man
took them to his shack and gave them
some odd bits of clothing and some
food, and then intrusting them to an
other native who acted as guide, he
started them off on a 16-miIe journey
to San Miguel, which they reached af-
ter midnight. They were there taken
into shack, and rested until morning.
A custom house official sent for them
then, and they went to him, their feet
bleeding. their bodies and limbs scratch
ed and bruised. They were cold, too,
and famished. The customs officers gave
them more clothes and food and sent
them in a boat to the rescue of their
friends, to whom clothes were also sent
All of the castaways reached San
Miguel that night. A week later they
boarded a fishing schooner going to
Progreso, and rea ching there they were
taken in charge by the American con-
sui, who provided them with blue over
alls and cotton shirts, hats and shoes,
and finally transportation. The men,
on their arrival here, seemed very
grateful to the officers Of the City of
Washington, who had seen that they
got the best of everything aboard and
had made them respectable looking out
of their own wardrObeS.
The lost TalOfa was a vessel of 1888
tons, 200 feet long, 40 feet beam, and II
feet in depth. She was built at Bath
in 1889.