The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-10-02

Wrecked on a Bleak Island, Starv.
ling Sailors Tell a Horrible
STORY OF DISASTER.

ITOm I1uuScr duu EApOSuro 10 The
storm-Real Story of Marooned
Mariners That Chills the Blood
Four of Them Persisted From Hun.
ger and Exposure.
The story Of the wreck of the
American bark Prussia, ON Bleak
Staten Island, Terra Del Fuego, "The
land of fire." Is a thrilling one. Six
of the crew have been landed at New
York by the steamer from Montevido''
Four persisted and three are In a hos
pital at. Punta Arenas. The Prussia
was , owned in San Francisco and
sailed from Norfolk, Va, March II,
with a cargo of coal for San Francis
co.
On June 10 she was. off Staten Is
land. It. was bitterly cold. Capt
johnson was trying to make New
Years Island light. A storm came up
in the night and the bark was ashore
a wreck before the danger was real
lied. She broke up at once. Every
man Jumped overheard and. II of the
13 reached a strip Of land which was
somewhat sheltered by overhanging
rocks. 3 ~. ~
They kept warm as best they
could throughout the night. At
dawn Sabata, the cook and Ham
mond, a sailor, were missing. The
Prussia was gone. The strip of land
was not more than 800 feet long and
impossible cliffs kept the men from
escaping across the island.
The captain was so exhausted that
he died early in the morning and
wa sburied on the beach. The men
collected what wreckage they could,
made a fire, constructed what shelter
they were able, secured some cans of
provisions, a few biscuits and a bar
rel Of pork and talked owe means of
escape.
Carpenter Carl Stark was set to
work at once to build a small boat,
He had no tools and had to make
them from iron in the wreckage. All
hands helped, but 1t was a slow ted
ious job. and they feared that their
provisions would not last.
1t was decided that two Of their
number would try to work over the
mountains, and the lot fell to Porthin
and Hosteth. These two scaled the
high rocks and started across. After
a few days Porthin returned, crawl
ing on his hands and knees. HIS feet
were badly frozen and Hosteth, he re-
ported had frozen to death.
: The food had given out. The rocks
were covered with limpets which the
sailors collected, and they killed some
seals that entered the cove. The
seals, Rainey says, seemed to acquire
wisdom, and after a few had been
killed avoided the place. The boat
was finished after 80 days of hard
work and Mate Hunter, Stark and
Heine started off to find New Years
Island and sent a rescue party to
their mates.
It was only thirty miles to the is
land, but the frail shell in which they
risked their lives had to be favored,
and they avoided the open sea and
worked in and out of the bays and
inlets. It took them six days to
reach the lighthouse and they think
they went 100. miles. g..
Lieut.. Delgado, who is stationed at
the light, called for volunteers, and
with six men in a whale boat, with
Hunter acting at pilot started to res
cue the men still on Staten Island.
The weather grew so bad that they,
too, spent six days at it, and con-
sumed more than half of the pro-
visions they had taken aboard.
The bad weather lasted and they
had to wait six days longer before
v%enturing on the voyage back: with
little left to eat. Luckily, the voyage
to the light was a quick one, taking
only one day. The sailors were care
fully nursed at the light and sent on
by the tender Orestes to Punta Aren-
as. Porthin was in the worst shape,
and it was feared that he would lose
both feet.
From Punta Arenas the six men
who arrived at New York last week
were sent by steamship to Montevid-
co.