The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-10-26
RICH GIFTS FROM THE SEA
Fortunes Sometimes Won by
Beachcombers of Azores.
CARRIED ON AN ICEBERG
Vessel Lands After q Submarine Sixty
Years. Journey-Abandoned Steam
er, With Cargo Worth $780,
600, Makes Man Rich.

The true beachcomber was never
known along the Atlantic coast. Be
fore the days of the lifesavers patrol
men used to search the shores after ev-
cry storm for wreckage, but they were
farmers, villagers and fishermen. In
days long gone there were wreckers
along the Florida reefs who We're little
better than pirates and more of them
were watching the shores of Barnegar,
but the beachcomber had no foothold.
The term was first applied to runaway
sailors and later took in all classes of
bad men living near the sea, but the
beachcomber of to-day, no matter what
his morals, has a recognized occupa-
ton. While he can be found along the
shores of West India Islands and many
other places, he is at his best in the
Azores. Here is a. group of islands
rearing their heads in the broad At
lantic. There is a current sweeping
east from the banks of Newfoundland
to strike the western side of this group
and there is another running up along
the African coast to strike the eastern
side. The spot was created by nature
as paradise of the beachcomber.
In nineteen cases out Of twenty the
beachcomber of the Azores is "a sailor
Every man is in the business for him
self, and everyone has SO much terri
tory which he can call his own. The
rights of each are as well defined and
protected as in a mining camp. Efforts
have often been made by the authori-
ties to abolish beachcombing or to take
1t over to themselves, but every at
tempt has stirred up rebellion. The
man may have a beat of five miles or
only of one, according to the trend of
the coast.
Winked At by Authorities.
No capital is required to start in bus
mess and unless the comber strikes
luck he is hungry and in rags the most
of the time. While the men protec.
one another to a certain extent,
jumper Is bound to turn up about so
often. Then it is a fight with knives
or clubs between two desperate men.
The one who survives takes the beat.
The body of the one who is killed is
not found by the authorities, If a
comber makes a, rich haul his beat is
offered to the highest bidder, but there
are no papers to be passed. The ave-
rage life of a comber is only a. year.
II he doesn't hit it and retire by that
time he is pretty sure to be done for
by jumper or to meet his death in
the surf. AS in the case of brigands,
the native population stands in with
the shore hunters, and whatever of
value comes ashore finds a safe hiding
place until it can be realized on.
The average beachcomber has neither
honesty nor mercy in his heart. In
the year 1872 a Spanish merchantmen
was wrecked on the coast of ST. Mich
ael island, and it is fact beyond dis
pute that five men reached the beach
alive. The comber on that beat killed
them one after the other that they
might not dispute his salvage. The
man was imprisoned and tried, but
there was long delay and he died before
sentence was pronounced.
Embedded In an Iceberg.
One of the most curious finds ever
made by beachcomber occurred at the
Azores in 1858. The island of Corvo was
then in possession of two combers, both
runaway English sailors. There came
drifting into little harbor one morning
a craft which had evidently been frozen
up in the ice for lifetime and had only
lately been released. 1t had come down
from Davis strait, and was an ancient
and battered hulk. without masts, bull
brig, and she was a Russian. Her
matches were on and her cabin doors
last and the hulk was buoyant. She
had come out Of the belly of an iceberg
She had but little cargo, and that con-
sisted of skins and furs in prime condi-
ton. NO papers were found in her cabin
but 1t was figured out that she a sealer
or trader, carrying a crew of 10 or L.
and that she had been provisoned for a
year.
She had been abandoned when frozen
in, and the dark color of the woodwork
and the growth Of moss proved that
she had drifted for years. Then she got
fast in the ice and became part of a
berg. The date of a letter found in
her forecastle showed that she had been
abandoned nearly half a century before
The hulk drifted on to a sandy beach
and the combers went to work on her.
They got out the furs, which brought
them $4,000. hoisted out a couple of bar
rels of beef and then set fire to the
wreck and but little remained Of her
when the story leaked out. That the
hulk had come down from the far north
was proved only a few weeks later by
the log of an English merchantmen.
She reported passing a great iceberg to
the northwest of the Azores and of see
ing curious object imbedded in 1t SO
feet above the surface of the water.
This object was believed to be a whale,
but it was probably the hull CT the brig.
Getting down into the warm seas the
berg fell to pieces and that queer old
relic found herself afloat again.
Long Submarine Journey.
| In the year 1912 the British frigate
called the Foxfire was lost between the
| Azores and Madeira. She foundered in
water 1000 feet deep. but on the after
| noon of July 20, 1875, So years after her
| loss, the hulk crawled ashore on For
| migas island. A stiff gale which had
been blowing for three days, aided by
| the heavy seas and high tide, landed
| her on the beach, and the relic was
seized by a beachcomber named Saun.
| derson, who was an Englishman and q
deserter from man-of-war. The frig
ate no doubt went to the bottom at first
and it may be that she rested there for
half a century. Then a heavy storm OF
| a swirl of the current sent her drifting
along. What her rate of drift was NJ
| man can figure, but she certainly creep
along over 100 miles of ocean bed, ano
was at last thrown up for human eye:
| to gaze at again. Rudder and keel anc
masts were gone. and many of the bulk
| heads were down, but the hull coult
| have been made watertight. Saunder
| son engaged help and made good hau
| from the hulk. Her guns We're worth
1 40