The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-11-10


of ITO gallons of drinking water, con-
triyance. for catching rain water, a lib
eral supply of canned goods, several
sacks of flour for making bread, an oil
stove and ten gallons of oil, three ca
meras, 500 plates and other Photographic
supplies, four guns, several reyolvers,
and liberal supply of ammunition, and
small supply Of medicine, included in
which was a small key of brandy and a
few dozen lemons.
Description of the Boat.
The boat, which was christened Till
KUN, had three masts and four sails
one of which was jib. She had keel
eight inches in width, ana attached to
this .bolted securely 400 pounds Of lead.
A keelson was also fitted on and the
crude handiwork of the Siwash boat
builders was strengthened by the addi-
ton of stout oak ribs. Beneath the floor
OF the little cabin only large enough to
accommodate one man at a time. We're
four tons of ballast ard her proud own
ers declared before they started, that
their boat could neither capsize, nor
turn turtle"
Screwed into the deck Immediately in
front of the foremost was the ships COM
pass; in the cabin the proposed course
was carefully mapped out, and beside it
in water tight casket were the ship S
log and the private diaries of the two
passengers, who were also the captain,
mate, boatswain and crew.A-It was also
proposed to take along ships cat, but
pussy was taken with .tcold feet just
before the anchor was weighed, and leap
ing over the roof of the cabin, she reach
ed dry land and disappeared into the
woods.
At dawn one morning about the middle
of June the Tilikum was cast loose, and
with a few farewell cheers from friends
of the two voyagers,, it was headed for
the open, and the long journey was on.
From letter dated at Apia, it is learn
ed that a vessel was sighted two days
out another three days after that, and
then, for fifty-eight days, not even a sail
was seen. For a time the weather was
all that could be desired and the stanch
little boat scudded along, making about
10 mi S a day.
AS the equator was approached the
heat became intense and to the dlsmay
of the travellers their canned provisions
began to spoil rapidly, In fact the rate
at which their supplies showed ten
dency to decompcse made the two men
think they had been the victim of an
embalmed beef contract. Added to this,
bad weather was struck about 200 miles
south of the equator, and for two weeks
neither of them was able to snatch more
than, one or two hours sleep in the
twenty
Struck school of Whales.
When the bad weather passed over, the
passengers in the canoe were subjected
to another nerve-racking adventure, the
equal of which few living men have ever
,,a cSaJ tbrorob They ware gliding along
satisfactorily and were beginning to
think that the worst was over, when one
morning the early rays of the rising sun
revealed the presence of what was ap-
parently a number of miniature islands.
A little later they Were enlightened as
to the name of these islands, and their
astonished gaze rested upon a school OF
giant whales They appeared to be in
Vulnerable and while the sight was one
that would have delighted beyond meas &
ure the hearts of the crews of a fleet OF
Whalers, the two mengln the cookie
shell canoe devoutedly wished they were
elsewhere.
For two days the leviathans of the
ocean kept the canoe company. OCCASION
ally treating the men to an exhibition Of
sportivenes that all but swamped the
boat. Accompanying the whales was a 9
school of sword fish and a number OF
deep sea turtles, and these gentry APP s
peared to manifest more curiosity in tho
canoe than the easy-going mammals. L
The sword fish seemed ~also to he fonG
of little sport and one of their di-
versions was to SWIM tA within: ten feet
CT the canoe and thAlf with a flying leap,
sail over it and alignE tWentyssfeet on
the other side The occupants of the
canoe We're in momentary fear that one
of these fish would tak6 it into his head
to test the resisting qualities OF the bet
tom of their caneef but they were happily
spared any experiment sin this direction.
Finallyathe colony Of whales. sword
fish and turtles grew tired OF the SLOW
pace, and obligingly put on steam and
disappeared ahead Ehea the question as
to how long the provisions would last
became pressingSene, Most of the
canned goods had been 1hrown overheard
and the men weEe suAsisting on what
little flour they had EFT Their water
was almost gone, and only by the most
rigid economizing We're they able to
make it last until the island of Penryhn.
was reached Here they found two trad
ers, Capts. Dexter and Winchester, who
received them like long lost brothers. re-,
painted their boat and gave them neU
supply Of provisions.
The natives, too, had we'll developed in
stincts of hospitality, and the new ar
rivals were guests of honor at a. series of
| daily levees at which the menu con-
| sisted largely of eocoanutS and yams.
/ Two pleasant weeks were spent at Pen
ryhn. and start was made for Samoa