The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-08-09
FOR SEVEN YEARS
ALONE on THE SEA
The Wonderful Voyage of Captain
Frietsch Recently Concluded at
New Orleans s-NoMore for Him.

New orleans Letter in the Sun.
After seven years voyag gng on near
ly every ocean. the only occupant of
the little vessel which he himself built,
Captain Adolphus Frietsch landed here
this week from his last solitary cruise,
met his family which had come all the
way from Milwaukee to see him. and
announce his determination to sell his
boat, retire from his solitary sea life,
and spend the remainder of his years
in Pensacola on the proceeds of his
voyages and speculations.
Captain Frietsch Is a Finn, only Al
years old. but has been at sea for
twenty-four years. Seven years ago
when he was living in Milwaukee. en-
gagged In the schooner trade there the
viking spirit seized on him and he de-
termined to travel over the world and
visit all the seas. lie himself built a
little vessel. the Nina, with a forty
foot keel. He left Milwaukee in 1894
for Liverpool, passing through the
Great Lakes by way of Buffalo and the
Erie canal to New York. His little
vessel aroused some interest at the
time and thousands came to see her.
He set sail from New York for Europe
and for most of the world, that was
the last heard of Captain Frietsch and
his Nina. That was even years ago.
The solitary mariner has been plough
ing the ocean waves" ever since. The
Nina has long since gone the way of
all such tiny vessels and the captain
comes to New Orleans in new vessel,
the Anna f., also built by him, and a
trille larger than the Nina, having "A
44-foot keel and 12-foot beam. He
comes here from a cruise along the
coasts of South and Central America
and the tropics with the little vessel
stocked with shells, Corals and other
marine curiosities. all collected by
himself, for whenever he saw coral or
smell that pleased his fancy he dived
overheard to collect them.
Seven years in hermitage at the sea
Is remarkable. and il seemed strange
that Captain Frietsch should have es-
capped all its dangers-but very narrow
ly at times, fro when the first vessel
the Nina was wrecked off tn reef in
kilbrennan Sound the captain just
nissed going with her to destruction
ny a few seconds.
To navigate vessel without a crew
Is a difficult matter, for there is the
| question of the watches. Who was
going to look after the Nina or the
| Anna ID. when the captain, boatswain
| chief mariner all rolled in one, were
asleep? Over this apparently insuper.
able difficulty Captain Frietsch tri.
umphed by a lesson he learned in tn,
aft Of cIn u.h ial, 1,A 4
| ore can learn who will make the prope,
| tr.al-'the ability to sleep for a fixed
| time, an hour two hours or three
| hours as the sleeper might desire
This enabled the captain to rest during
| calms and when there was no DANCE,
10 fear and to be awake and ready
tn attend to his boat when DANCE,
| threatened. He naturally slept most o
| the day. because there was less DANCE
of his little vessel beilg run into, as 4
| could be seen. whereas at night h,
had To be more particular and keel
watch for vessels. In crowded place!
| like the British Channel he denied him
| self all sleep and when he was on tn,
route Of vessels he seldom allowed him
| self more than two hours rest makinl
| good eXacminstOn of the horizon
before retiring to rest to make sur,
that there were no vessels within reacl
which might run him down. He time,
himself carefully and gauged his res
by the character of the water in whicl
he was and the outlook for the Weathe
lie also so trained himself to tn,
slightest luffing in the wind or differen
| rolling of the vessel.
So accustomed did he become i'm tim
to the system of voluntary sleepin,
and waking al a fixed time that wheI
the Nina was wrecked, when it was evi
dent that he would go on the Killner
| man reefs he timed rhe hour at whicl
the wreck was TO occur and havin,
| made all the necessary arrangement
what he would do when his little vesse
went to pieces, and finding that thi
could not occur before an hour, he la,
down and took a good hours sleep, $,
ed when the wreck came. The Min;
was wrecked at the appointed time
and II was only by superhuman effort
that Captain Frietsch was rescued. Bu
however pleasant, it may be, and full
of adventure, an ocean hermitage be
comes tiresome in time. and so Captai
Frietsch has concluded after havinl
been tossed about in his two little boat
for seven years, that he will return I
the domestic life of a "landlubber."
The popular Punch cigar is still tn