The Press., 1898-03-10
sHTPBOARD FEVER.


puny boy at that when my Uncle John,
who was my guardian sent me to sea
aboard of the brig May Queen of Lon
don. He WASH concerned about my
health as / have every reason TO be-
lleve, and am also quite sure that he
wouldn have shed a tear had he heard
| was lost at sea made the voyage
from London TO Valparaiso and to es
cape further Ill usage deserted the brig
and hid away for two weeks l then
found d good natured captain to take
me to RIO from which port | shipped
as cab boy on an English bark named
the duchess She had cargo OF green
coffee for Australia and New Zealand,
carried a crew OF IA men, and few sea
captains had kinder heart than her
skipper whose name was Martin The
bark left RIO with a fair wind and
every body III perfect health, and her
run to the east until she had sighted In
accessible Island and left 1t 100 miles
astern was something to boast OF Then
came dead fiat calm. which lasted for
IL DAYS, with such not weather that
every body suffered day and night On
the fifth day OF the calm two men were
suddenly stricken with strange all
ment They first lost thell sight. tLen
taste and smell departed, then fever
seized them and they lost their reason
They were reported SICK at o clock III
the morning By : p NJ both We're
dead AT i clock a third man was
taken down and lived only two hours
No one was attacked ON the sixth day.
but on the seventh the captain. second
mate and a common sailor all came
down at once The first complaint was
dryuess OF the tongue That was fol
lowed IN halt an hour by loss OF sight
and other senses, and before noon all
were dead The bodies were at once
shrouded and committed to the deep.
and the chief mate ordered the matches
removed to ventllate the cargo, and d!s-
lnfectants were used III the most thor
ough manner
On the night OF the seventh day
sailor who mad lam down on the deck
III perfect health and soundIy slumbered
tor three hours awoke with Larche
tongue Water had no power to quench
his thirst He drank until he must have
lmblbed gallon, and as he turned from
the water cask his vision lett hIm III a
fash He did not wait to die a. the 9th
ers had done, but CROPPED his way TO the
ship side and dropped from the rail
into the sea. He was the sixth who had
died. and the living were now panic
stricken Some went alott, some went
beIow-aIl avoided each other The only
exceptions were the mate and myself
10 FY1l Z no
situation, seeming glad TO have Inc near
him, and after the last death be wrote d
letter TO his wife III England and
charged me TO see that 1t reached her Ill
case he should die and be spared
we mad now lost nearly halt our
crew and the ship lay heavy on the
CLASSY sea without sign that the calm
was ever to he broken On the morning
OF the eighth day there was better
feeling however No one had been at
tackled during the night ana we Logan
to hope that the epidemic had exhaust
ed Itself The bark had OF course heen
En0Rged down long before. Int on the
forenoon OF this day the sun NOT being
quite SO fierce, the matches We're secured
things alott more closely attended to
ana the craft made ready tor what
might happen to short handed crew
AT noon every man ate hearty dinner
An hour later tour men were taken
down almost at the same moment. and
the symptoms were more violent than
In any OF the preceding cases They
were seized with the terrible thirst
hey drank quarts OF Water-they went
| mad ann died IhorQ ut
the bodies they were simply thrown
overheard as soon as life had departed.
When this had been done, the mate
called the living around him and SAID
there was no longer any hope that a
man would be spared The captain S
gig cCuld De got at handily and III case
We wanted to take 1t and pull away
from the ship he would help to get her
| In the water The two sailors were
eager to tie off, pu1 my mind was quick
~ made up to remain with Mr. Mer-
WIN. tie did not express himself either
way on the subject but we provIsIoued
the nOaG, got her down, and the men
/ scrambled INTO her amt pulled away as
| II the ship mad been on fire or was ex-
peCteO 10 go down They went off to
the east ana after rowing a couple OF
miles gave ct and raised 2n awning
toy shelter
| hen the mate and were left alone
he wrote up his IugbOCk and also pre-
paTeO TWO statements winch he sealed
| up III BOTTLES and cast overheard We
then burned tai and sulphur to dlsln,
fect the cabin and torecastIe, and he
1 n
mixed "a large dose OF common black
pepper 1 tried to swallow some. but 1t
was TOO fiery
That night when | went to sleep the
bark was heavlng about ON the ground
swell III the same mOnOtonous way and
| MerWln sat at the table Ill the cabin
reading book. | slept the night through
without a break, and 1t was sunrise
when | turned cut 1 looked into the
mate StateroOm. but saw that he had
not been TO bed ran on deck, but he
was now here TO be seen called him
and began a search and it was a full
hour before gave up and realized that
he was not in the ship What had hap
pened during the night could only sur
mise He was either seized with the
dread epidemic and wandered about and
fell overheard or the strain ON his mind
was SO great that he deliberately com
mitted suicide He had not wakened me
or left message Of any sort behind
When fully realized that was alone
aboard of the ship, was SO terrified
that | hid away in the cabin for several
hours 1t was not until noon that re-
membered the men who had pulled
away the day before and went on deck
to look for them By the aid of the cap
tain glass | soon had the boat under
my eye She had drifted down to with
in a mile of the ship and by going aloft
could make out that there was no one
in her | was not absolutely certain on
this point however until about z
/ O'Clock By that time she had drifted
down to within 100 feet of the bark,
and the only relics of the men to be seen
| were a coat and hat For two hours the