The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-12-01
STARVATION DIETS.
Boiled Rope, Seaweed, Raw Boots and
Barnacles Have Saved Lives.


The hardest fare that six strong men
and boy OF Is ever kept alive on was
the daily menu OF the WindOver'S sur
vivors, who were cas-. up on the Irish
They lived for sixteen days on stewed
rope-yarn. without a crumb OF anything
else 10 help digest IT, except water; and,
thought il made them i'll. they kept alive
on II and did not waste away very much.
The WindOver was a bark carrying salt
between Spain and the states, with an
English crew. and she was dismasted
and abandoned about 1000 miles OUT on
the Atlantic Three of the crew were
killed by falling masts. and two others
We're washed overheard, but the other
seven took 10 the whaleboat and set out
for Britain. Beng in too much of a hurry
they took too little food. but three large
butts Of water, besides the tank the boat
already held. The result was they ate
up the provisions in four days. but had
water enough for a month, and, after
starving TWO days more, they tried boiling
lengths OF tarred hemp rope into a pulp
and swallowing it. They had a keg OF
paraffine wax. and. though il made them
very I'll at first. they eventually con-
trived 10 live on the boiled hemp, the tar,
boiled to a jelly, adding TO the nOurish-
ment of the rope They landed in COM
paratively good health
Two men who went to a small island of
the Irish coast a little while ago kept
themselves going for ten days on a diet
almost worst. They landed IN a boat,
which was smashed by a wave on their
y
left on the bare. rocky island, which has
only a slight scalp of coarse turf, Win
out food. Fortunately there is a spring
on the island. but nothing in the way OF
food but gulls, which they could not
catch, and nothing to make a lire with
as a distress signal There are not even
any shellfish, as there is no beach, ana
the pair had to subsist for the ten days
on cold, raw seaWeed washed up by the
tide. For two days they starved, but
after that they tackled the seaweed;
f7.avN off
rescued. When taken off they were a
good deal emaciated, but no Ill effects re-
suited. The same thing happened OFF the
same coast five years ago. when four
fisherwomen were imprisoned on an in
let by the loss of their boat. They lived
on ''kelpie'' grass for six days
A diet of boots is one of the comlnonest
of last recourse foods, and, though it is
hard for a well fed person TO imagine that
anyone could maStcate and digest shoe
leather, a pair of long seaboOts VIII
keep a man alive for fortnight If ne
has little water. Captain Maboly or the
foundered steamer Gwalior and his sec
ond officer created a record last year by
living for seventeen days on boot leatner
and a pint of water per day each
OF course, no teeth can tear cowhlde
boots; they have to be cut up ana
shredded with knife, and the shreds
cheWed and swallowed. Boiling even
when possible, does no good at all, out
takes from the boots what nourlshment
they contain. A few ounces of leather
Delng so nar0 10 digest, stays the SlOA-ie1N L
for fifteen or twenty hours
The best known and most useIul OF
starvation diets for wrecked or cast
away people, however, is that of barna-
cles, and if anything of the kind happens
to YOU they Will probably be your staple
food Barnacles are long, tough, nall
shellfish, half vegetable creatures, thaI
grow on the undersides of vessels. Three
EngliSnmen and crew OF Lascars VIC
had been forced to abandon the sailing
vessel North Star a few months ago
kept themselves going for over week OF
barnacIes and only two of the crew died
The worst of them Is that they give 0It
internal cramps and cause an insuffera Die
thirst; but thev do nOurish the frame
You have TO reach under the vessels SIDE
and pull them off, taking care not q
leave the best half of them sticking &C
the blanks. Only a starving person coulC
possibly eat them. Many castaWaS
crew, however, has found them better
than nothing