The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-08-20
RICH GIFTS FROM THE SEA.
FLoTSAM THAT COMES TO BEACH
COMBEHS OF THE AZORES.

Sthnce.
From the New York sun.
The true beachcomber was never known
along the Atlantic coast. Before the days
of the hfe-saving, patrolmen used to
search the shores after every storm for
wreckage. but they were farmers. VII
layers and fishermen. In days long gone
there were wreckers along the Florida
reefs who were little better than pirates.
and more of them were watching the
shores of Barnesat; but the beachcomher
had no foothold The term was first ap-
piled TO runaway sailors, and later took
in all classes of bad men living near the
sea but the boachcomber Of to-day. no
matter what his morals. has recognized
occupation. 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 group of Islands rearing their
heads in the broad Atlantic There is a
current sweeping east from the banks of
Newfoundland to strike the western side
of this group. and there is another rum
ming up along the African coast to strike
the eastern side. The spot was created
by nature as a paradise of the beach
comber.
In nineteen cases out Of twenty. the
beachcomher of the Arozes is sailor.
Every man Is in business for himself and
every one has SO much territory which
he can call n $ own. The rights Of each are
as well defined and protected as In a min
ing camp. Efforts have often been made
by the authorities to abolish beachcomD-
ing, or to take IL over to themselves: but
every attempt has stirred up rebellion.
The man may have beat of five miles.
or only of one according 10 the trend
of the coast. As rule he knocks up
shauty Of some sort about midway of his
beat. No capital is required to start in
business, and unless the comber strikes
luck he Is hungry and in rags the most
of the time. While the men protect one
another to certain extent. jumper IL
certain to turn IN about so often. Then
Il is a fight with knives or clubs between
two desperate men. The one who sur
wives takes the beat. The body of the
one who is killed is not found by the au-
thOrides. If a comber makes rich hnd
his beat Is offered to the highest bidder
but there are no papers to be passed. The
average life of a comber is only year
If he doesn't hit II and retires by that
time, he is pretty sure to be done for by
a jumper, or to meet his death in the
surf As in the cases OF brigands, the
native population stand In with the shore
hunters and whatever of value comes
ashore finds a safe hiding place until II
can be realized on. The average beach
cOmher has neither honesty nor mercy in
his heart. In the year 1872 a Spanish mer-
chairman was wrecked on the coast Of
st. Michael Island, and il Is a fact beyond
dispute that five men reached the beach
alive. The comber on that beat killed
them one after another that they might
not dispute his salvage. The man WIS
imprisoned and tried but there was long
4 nd Ha ed IVA is
pronounced.
One of the most curious finds ever made
/ by beachcomber occurred at the Azores
! In 1855. The island Of Corvo was then Ia
| possession of two combers both runaway
/ English sailors. There came drifting into
a little harbOr one morning a craft which
| had evidently been frozen up in the ice
for a lifetime. ana had only lately been
released. IL had come down from Davis
strait and was an ancient and battered
hulk without masts. bulwarks, or name.
The craft had been brig and she was a
Russian. Her matches were on and hei
cabin-doors fast and the hulk was buoy
ant She had come out of the belly of an
iceberg. She had but little cargo, and that
consisted Of skins and furs In prime con-
diton. No papers were found in her cabin,
but it was figured that she was a seaier
or trader carrying a crew Of ten or twelve
and that she had been DroVisiOned for a
chalk but the beef was perhaps better
than the day il was put on board 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 borg. The date Of a let
ter found IN her forccastle showed that
she had been abandoned nearly half-a-
century before. The hulk dnfted on to a
sandy beach and the combers went 10
work on her. They got out the furs, which
brought them "a 900. hois ed out a couple
of barrels of beef, and then set fire 10 the
wreck and but little remained OF her when
the story leaked ont. That the hulk had
come down from the far North was proved
only few weeks later by the log of an
English merchantmen. She reported pass
ing a great Iceberg to the northwest Of the
Azores and of seeing a curious object i'm
bedded n IL fifty feet above the surface OF
the water. This object was believed TO be
| a whale, but it was probably the hun Of
the brig. Getting down into the warm seas
the berg fen to pieces, aud that queer old
relic found herself ahoat again.
In the year 1912 a British frigate called
the Foxfre was lost between the Azores
and Madeira. She foundered In a gale,
though not until most of her crew had
been transferred IN a wonderfully plucky
way to "A consort The frigate went down
afternoon Of July 90 1874 sixty-two years
after her loss, the bulk crawled ashore
on Formigas Island A stiff gale which
had been blowing for three days, aided
by heavy seas and a high tide landed
her on the beach, and the relic was seiZ-
ed by a beachcomber named Saunderson,
who was an Englishman and a deserter
from a man-of-war. The frigate no doubt
went to the bottom OF first. and il may be
that she rested there for half a century.
Then 4 heavy storm or a swirl Of the cur
rent sent her drifting along What her
rate of drift was no man can figure, but
she certainly crept along over a hundred
miles Of ocean bed, and was at last
| thrown up for human eyes to gaze at
| again Rudder and keel and masts were
down, but the hun could have been made
waterught. Saunderson engaged help and
made "A good haul from the hulk. Her
guns were worthless as may be supposed,
| but he got about $1,000 IN gold from the
| purscr's safe, and many relics which
! brought high prices from tourists In
| oyerhaulng the hulk enough human bones
| were found 10 account for twenty-five