Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1908-02-21
A SEA TALE.

! Tales OF castaways at sea as thrilling
as any ever told by Poe or Stevenson,
and stories of hardships comparable to
the mishaps of Robinson Crusoe or the
Swiss Family Robinson, are still to be
met with in this age of the world, when
/ iron bottoms and steam have seemingly
! robbed the ocean OF its terrors, and when
uninhabited islands are considered more
mythical than actual. As truth is stran-
ger than fiction, these stories gather in
terest from the fact that their happen
| ings are varacious, and the sufferings
| they describe are real. One of the most
striking of these tales of the sea relates
| to the adventures OF Scotch sailor
| Morrison by name, picked up on loue
| island OF the Pacific, and brought back
| to his native city of Dundee
| 1t was in July, 1906, that Morrison left
| Dundeee as second officer on a vessel
built at that port for an Argentine firm.
| The vessel having been banded over to
| the owners at Buenos Ayres, he shipped
on the Norwegian baique Alexandra,
| bound for Newcastle, New South Wales,
| for orders. At the Australian port the
Alexandra loaded coal for Panama, and
| sailed for her destination at the end of
| November of last year.
Over 500 miles from her port of call
the barque was becalmed, and for near
| ~ six months lay helpless. Provisions
and water ran out, and the crew suffered
so severely from thirst and hunger that
| in May they abandoned their vessel, and
set out in two boats in an endeavor to
make land Morrison was in the cap
| tain's boat, together with mixed com
pany of Danes, Swedes, Norwegians and
| Germans, and an American named Jeffs.
| BY and by the boats parted company,
and never again had sight of each other.
| One of the craft struck an inhabited
| island, but that IN which Morrison was
| driited on and ON, and latterly, as no
word of the occupants reached civiliza-
| ton, it was presumed they had persisted.
"On and on we rowed," said Morrison.
Our provisions consisted only of bis
cults and timed meat. and a small sup
| ply of fresh water. Of clothing we had
| practically none, and shoes we knew
nothing of. During the night the plug
of the fresh water tank gave way, and
to make our case even worse our pro-
visions ran out until we were reduced
to living on the bicsuit dust in the can
vas bag. and only n lick of dust at that
In our cramped positions we could get
no sleep, and we suffered intensely from
thirst. Our legs began to swell, and our
whole bodies were getting so cramped
that we prayed for land, if only as much
as we could set foot on.
After eleven days we struck an island
which we afterwards learned was named
Indefatigable island, but we could scarce
ly drag ourselves from the boats, and we
Just lay down on the beach. But water
we had to procure, and we dragged our
weary bodies as best we could searching
for the precious liquid. Not living
soul was seen to guide us in our search.
So parehed were our threats that we
made use of the only vegetation on the
island, short stunted shrub something
like a cactus, to slake our thirst, and
though the substance that exuded was
of a gummv nature, it was welcome in
deed, Great Joy was felt when on the
fourth day we discovered supply of
fresh water in cave, and here we re-
solved to encamp.
Now began search for food. The
only fruit was a kind of growth some
thing like an apple, but it burned our
threats. and we left it alone fearing it
was poisonous Then as gift from the
gods, along the beach came turtle Mr.
Turtle was promptly turned over, and
with small supply of matches we had
saved fire was lighted, the flesh of the
turtle roasted, and no feast was ever
more heartily enjoyed by man than that
Cur first meal of flesh for months.
I'VE gradually became accustomed to
our dreary surroundings, and afterwards
we started in parties to explore the
island, but one man was always left at
the camp to keep the fire burning, for
our stock of matches was small.
Between searching the island and
catching turtle. we managed to keep our
selves alive. and we became quite expert
at the turtle capturing process. But it
was n sore and painful process moving
about the rocks with our bare feet, and
after a time we had scarcely any cloth.
ing at all.
we looked like savages, and when
thu captain appeared one day with head
gear consisting of the rim of a hat with
IA piece of shirt fastened on for cover
we forgot our hardships and managed TO
raise laugh But our position was he
coming desperate. Some gave up hope
altogether of ever being rescued. and to
raise their spirits four of us set out on
lengthy tour of exploration, and diseov
cred, twenty miles distant, evidences of
an old camp.
II was decided to remove to this new.
ly discovered encampment. and all set
out on the journey except the Ameri
can, Jetfs, who declared he had suffered
enough already, and would stick by the
old camp lest even greater hardships had
to be faced. Poor fellow, ] am afraid he
does not experience hardships nowl
IT was a slow and wearisome Journey
from the one camp to the other. Our
legs could scarcely carry us erd the cap.
tain was so weak that he had to crawl