The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1906-04-05
"Reminiscences of a 49=er.
The Voyage of the Bark Suliote, and list
of her Passengers.

A friend recently sent me copy OF
YOUR paper containing an account or
the fair held in your city IN AID OF tie
Waldo County Hospital. | think the
ladies of Belfast are entitled to high
honor for working so strenuousiy IN De
half of so good a cause. They should be
entitled to a generous check from the
library man, Carnegie, but he probably
vould hedge it about with such condi-
tions that it would not be worth talk
ing about.
In looking over The Journal | had
brought to mind an incident of long,
long time ago-1S4S-9-when the bark
Suliote. Capt. Josiah Simpson, with
some tifty-odd passengers, left Belfast
for California via Cape Horn. Among
them were Bill Weeks, ex-county at
tornev of Waldo County, Bill Griffin,
ex.editor of The Republican Journal,
Il call them Bill because that was the
cognomen they went by on ship board
myself and others. ! kept diary dur
ing the voyage which contained the
names of all the passengers. the ofllcers
and crew. and all the incidents of the
VOYAGE. | kept it in a chest that
stored in an OLD dismantled ship that
Law in Frisco bay. There was no storage
on shore. Where stands the present
city were onlv tumbe-down cabins,
tents and frog oonds, In those wild
times everything was topsy turvey, and
when went to look for my chest some
two wears later the bay was filled with
Sims from every cline and not a vest
ACE of the old hulk could I find, nor
could learn anything about it, so my
liarv was lost Could | have saved 1t
# would be precious heirloom to me
NOW. Being together on so long
v,vaop we became quite intimate and
t,fendIy and would be pleased to learn
IL anv Of my fellow passengers are alive
10 lay
Many things happened on the voyage
that were ludicrous, and some other
Wis Under the after head comes tins:
few DAYS out it was discovered that
lie major part of the fresh water was
naf Thp water was mostly i'll Old whale
o,i casks and it was said that the own
ars ot the vessel had contracted with
u4r-ies to clean them with lime. tap
rearel that they had put lime in and
rh5n tiled the casks, and wheT opened
at sea they were found 10 contain
first class whitewash. The passengers
were wild with fright when TINS De
came known, and council was held TO
decide whether to return to port OF De
mt on an allowance Of a pint or water
each day and steer for the nearest is
land on our course. 1t was voted 10
adopt the latter plan and we bore away
for Port Prayer Cape de Verde. Our
allowance was so small that to make 1t
last through the day we only took
swallow at time, and 1t was so ropy
that we had to be careful and pinch 1t
off with our fingers, else it would all
have gone at one gulp.
W. arrived at the island III due sea
coz. and anchored a mile outside, as
.,.h,rros Now comes
'''''1 ,.,.,,.. ;,,oidop+s As
'"e u '.'e ,.a+i,.as discovered that
soon d. '''e ti,,af xa,1,c ontside
49,, eboro ont tbev
VIC "'''''o'' ~ e +,,an, in avarv
CAME d 'ii''''- ,i!.,. a.,,,+o and CON
KING W d -'''' ,.t-.';,,a, lilo o,,r.
per t''"'e''--'''' +ho+ +bo
pee I'9 r .,.o ,,,o,.o
o".'' '''''' ,,a,,,a ,.a5.. ont and
ana I''e i''''' .,... ,o,.o ra,.1,s
carry ~ 's''0', 0' w. .I,n' na,,,a If
WE ''''' ''''" s+.,4 ,-,,s..,,. and fnS-
90 lI-l.l sLo,,fd saw at least
~ al'' ,.,,>,, o,,+
2'o P"olus' y sun 4st7 49,, and hod
and 'he ols man MUM Wv ''.'' ao,,or
started 1ol V'ie S''ol' WIZ L. ,a,d erst
strHoA I''eAi anu ''N''>l ~. chow oan,o
14lo ll'e o'''' .1:t. ,ionoiso
She 0l'' ie''' .,9+ fron, bis
ana '''e e"s' "''''' '..,, t,,,,o ground
mOulN udd1 eie "ii ~