The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1899-11-10
CANNIBAL CAPTIVES
HARD EXPERIENCE
The Thrilling Story of a Young Ad.
ventnTer In The Southern SraS.
eras-
TERRIBLE SUFFERING At SEA
In Small Boat Without q Compass
and Becalmed at Times Without
IOOd or Mater.
TERRIBLE SUFFERING At SEA

--a--s-s-
Some yarns " an exceedingly tough
ana MunohauBcn-llke character have
bccn spun-and printed-by men, Of
their adventures In Australian waters
or IN the South seas. but AN cxamlna-
tlon OF such stories by any one with
a personal knowledge Of the Paclnc
and Australasia has soon, and very
dcscryedly ~. knocked the bottom Out
OF them Y@ there are stories Of
South sea adventure. well Ruthentlcat-
cd. and arc not whit less wonderful
than the most marvellous IA schools
that any man has yet told and lived"
And tho story Of what befcll John Rem
ton is one of them. say Louis Becke
and Walter Jeticry In casselrs Maga-
sine.
Like Harry Blum. John Renton "whei;
hoy left his friends and home DER
the Wild ocNik's waves all his life to
roam" Renton's home Was IN stfom-
ness. In the orkncys. and he shipped on
board n vessel bound for sydney In is@
as an ordinary seaman. he being then
lad OF Is. when In sydney he got
about among the boarding houses In
sailor town" and one morning woke
~ on the forccastlc OF the Roynard OF
Boston bound on cruise FOR guan0
among tho South Pacific islands.
Renton had been crlmped, and. hnd-
ms himself where he was. bothered no
morc about II but went oheerfully to
work, not altogether displeased at the
prospect OF new adventures. which
would enable him by and by to go back
90 old folks whit plenty OF dollars and
stock OF startling yarns to reel on.
He was a steady. straightforward lad.
though somewhat thoughtless Rt times.
and resolved 90 BE- a steady, straightfor-
ward man. The vessel went 10 the
Sandwich Islands and there shipped a
gang OF Hawaiian natives TO help load
guano, Then she sailed away to the
southwark for MeKean's Island. one OF
the Phoenix group. situated about lati-
tude degrees S5 minutes south and
longitude ia degrees 20 minutes west.
on board the Reynard was an old
salt known to all hands H Boston
Ned" He had been whaler In his
time. had deserted and spent some
years beach -comblng among the islands
OF the South Seas. And very soon.
through his speoious tongue, he had
all hands wishing themselves clear OF
the "old hooker" and enjoying life in
the Islands. instead OF cruising about.
haEed here and there and everywhere
by the mates Of the Renyard. whose
main purpose In life was To knock n
man down In order to make him nit
up. Presently three or four hands be-
came infatuated with the idea OF set
ting on an island. aud old Ned, nothing
10th, undertook 10 take charge OF the
party II they would make an attempt
to clear from the ship, The old man
had taken fancy to young Renton.
And the youngster. when the ldee was
impaired to him, fell In with u enthus-
iastically, for he was exasperated with
the treatment he had received oh
board the guano-man (the afterguard
OF an American guano ship are a
rough loO. The ship was lying on and
on land, there being no anchorage, and
before the plan had been discussed
more than q few hours the men, Ave
persons In ALL determined to put It
into execution.
A small whale boat was towing
astern of the vessel, In case the wind
should fall light and the ship drift in
too close TO the shore. It was fine
night, with q light breeze, and there
was, they thought, a good chance OF
getting 10 the southward to one OF the
Samoan group where they could set
tie, or by shipping on board a trading
schooner there, might later on strike
some other island TO their fancy
BY stealth they managed to stow In
the boat couple OF small breakers of
water, holding, together, sixteen gal
Ions, and the force lstle break barge,
with biscuit enough for three meals a
day per man for ten days. They man
aged also to steal four hams, and each
man brought pipes and tobacco and
matches. A harpoon with some line,
an old galley frying-pan, mast, sail
and oars, and some blankets covered
the equipment. For they took no COM
pass, though they made several at
tempts at first 10 get at one slung In
the cabin and tried at first to take one
out Of the poop blnnacle, but the Of
ficer Of the deck was too wide awake
for them to risk that, and the cabin
compass was screwed to the roof close
to the shippers berth; and so the old
man who was their leader, old sailor
and whaler as he was, actually gave
up the idea OF taking compass, and
these people without more ado one night
slipped over the side into the whale
boat cut the painter. and by daylight
the boat was out of sight Of land and
OF ship. They were sailing upon the
Pacific, running six or seven miles be-
fore a strong northeast breeze and ex-
pecting to sight land In less than a
week, and were already anticipating a
freedom and luxury Of island life in