The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1907-01-06
MELAUOPE ROMANCE
TOLD BY TOTS
CAPTAIN WILLS LITTLE SON AND
DAUGHTER TELL A REPORTER
ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCES IN
THE WRECK OF BRITISH BARK.


his wife their little son and daughter,
and the crew of eighteen men figured
so fortunately and her subsequent
salvage by the steamer Northland
which brought her 10 this port, are
matters Of current history all over the
coast now. But the fact that Captain
Wills and his family are quietly DOM
iciled here, at the Merwyn, he to stand
by his stricken ship and await the final
issue of the salvage and insurance
matters in that relation and the" others
to recuperate from the fearful stress
to which they were subjected in that
brief. but fearful, encounter with the
sea at its worst, is not so widely known
as il might be, and led a reporter Of
this paper to imagine that the telling
OF the story of the Menalope by the
children themselves might prove of
peculiar interest to many. 1t is not
often that such tales are told by little
folks ard as these children are excep-
tionally bright and clever, their inn
pressions and experiences suffer moth
ing is the manner Of their telling
The reporter called at the Merwyn
the other day and sent his card in to
to the children who soon greeted him
in the office, and did 1t without the
slightest manifestation If timorous-
ness other than that Inherent In we'll
bred youngsters meeting an elder for
for the first time. Their manner was
perfect; their language. with all its
childish limitations, entirely adequate
TO the occasion, and their poise just
a bit remarkable: so much SO that the
reporter himself. was quite quickly at
ease and thoroughly en- rapport with
the pleasant task he had set
himself.
Upon inquiry it developed that the
children We're both born at Penzance,
on the island Of Cornwall, eff the South
coast of England. and that the last
four years of their lives had been spent
upon the Menalope, which. by the way.
had been deftly equipped by Captain
and Mrs. Wills, with every home COM .
fort, decoration and appurtenance pos
sible. the accessories of the old home
in Cornwall, which was sold, having
been retained and applied to this end.
the education of the children resolving
itself into one Of the dearest duties Of
the parents, and with conspicuously
happy results.
The little girl Victoria May, is well
in her thirteenth year, and her broth .
er, Nicholas Charles Kelynack. has
just turned his ninth, and they are the
most devoted of chums in every con-
ceivable line of pursuit and Indulgence.
When they found out the nature Of the
reporters errand, they were both so
kindly eager to contribute to the story
that the news-monger was quite at a
loss TO segregate the different morsels
Of information supplied by each. and
the detail that follows. must be ia
ken by the reader as the composite ex-
preston of the youngsters, their sep
arate relations dove failing admirably
for the purpose. The story as told by
them is as follows, and adheres in
terms as nearly as possible to the Ian
guage used by them:
"You must know" said the boy,
that We came up the coast from Man
zanillo, Mexico. Daddys orders were
to load at Eureka We were to take
lumber from there to Australia but
when we got to the bar at Eureka, on
the morning Of December 5, a tug
came alongside and handed US orders
to proceed to Tacoma and load there;
but as the water on board was run
ming low and getting bad, Daddy went
in to Eureka, anyway, and took on a
fresh supply"
I'VE were in there just twenty-four
hours, and sailed the next morning
with good fresh breeze but it kept
SVtIiHS IeoheI dIl lHc tIHlt anu Dy
sundown it was blowing a gale. We
did not think much about it, though
until about 8 o'clock that evening,
when the ballast began to shift. The
mate he told US at dinner there was
danger Of its shifting, and the men
were put to work shoveling it back,
but it wouldn't stay. and the first thing
we knew she was on her beam ends
and lurching awful. was in bed
early and at o'clock Daddy called US
all into the mess room and we didn't
sleep any more after that because he
said we would have to abandon her as :
soon as daylight came, so we stayed
up all night, and at o'clock in the
morning when it was plain she would
never right herself Daddy gave the
order to get out tht life boat and pre-
pare to abandon ship.
TT took the men until o'clock in
the morning to get the boat ready,
and the ship was heeling bad one
Of her masts had gone by the board and 1
the rigging was all in a snarl over the
side, so we used the high side in fixing
the boat we were to go out in. All the
other boats were smashed in the gale,
anyway there wasn't any we could use
but the one. There was a big hole in