Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1908-03-06

Alexander Oubis, who was cast away
Tor 1--WE months on Il desert island IN
the Pacific. Mr.. Morrison has arriv-
ell safely at Dundee. and has him.
self related the story of his thrilling
experiences.
II Joined the craft in New South
Wales lie said. "and We set sail
from Newcastle for Panama on No
ycmber &c. 1906.
For about two months we had COOL
weather and favorable winds Then
we entered region Of calm, out of
which we could never extricato our
selves. Months passed by without a
pun of wind coming our way. am.
never once did we sight any kind ot
craft
AZ tho end Of four months our al
natlon was bad In the extreme. Food
was giving out. and he water was
getting unpleasant. The captain
gave orders that the ship was TO be
put on half rations.
| For month we lived or. rather.
eked ont an existence-on tho half
allowance of food. and then we werc
transported into 4 dellrlum of the
Widest enthusiasm by catching sight
of land. We made out that we we're
. approaching the Galapagos Islands, OF
which only one or two are Inhabited.
| 1T was decided that we should try
to reach Chatham Islands, but the
currents took n dead set against ms.
and We ran the risk of being carried
back into mid'ocean. There was moth
Ing for IL but TO abandon the bark ana
| take 10 the two boats.
4 ION NAV Nfo.,t,.,..
tinued. I'VE left the bark TO her fate
and made for what we thought was
+, Charles Island. There were ten men
in each boat. ami we arranged 10 keen
close together
'For ten days the hattle against
strong contrary current continued. and
at last we neared a forbiaaing.looking
island. IL was both barren and do
serted, and as Il was obviously no use
trying TO land there. we altered our
course. heading. rs we imagined. for
Chatham Island.
In the darkness the two boats mart
ed company. To add to our woes, the
plug fell out of our water tank, and
before the mishap was discovered the
entire supply was gone
Our predicament was now greatnr
than all our previous trials. we lie
gan 10 suffer the unspeakable horrors
4 OF thirst under Il tropical sun.
J AT the end OF the eleven,.. day we
reached land.
The island was about as uninyiting
as anything have ever seen in my
| thirty-six years of seafarlng life. The
center. some miles inland. was occu-
pied by mountain whose stones were
quite black, probably from streams of
lava. Except at the coast line. the
place was thickly covered with leaf
less. thorny shrub.
| Fresh water. however. was what
we most urgently needed, and there
was no sign of 1t anywhere, but the
captains resourcefulness came to o,,r
aid. Slicing M leaves from n large
cactus tree, he distributed portions
round and I shall never forget the
delight of tasting the cool Juice.
THUS refreshed, we formed our
selves into small parties and set on.
TO gather dried wood for n fire. We
had sixteen matches between us-of
which we still had nine when we LETT
the standard We treasured them as
! If they were the most priceless things
on earth.
when We came TO compare the con-
formation of the coast with our man
We were plunged into despair by the
discovery that we were on Indefati
gable island. which for centuries had
been stunned by even natives OF the
archipelago.
! While We were still wondering
what We should do news arrived that
enormous turtles were disportlng
themselves oil q beach close Mt hand.
farming ourselves with clubs, we crept
over the rock on either side OF the
bay. and. cutting off the turtles re-
treat to the bay. we heat them TO
death. We slaked our thirst with the
blood and had n hearty meal of turtle
fiesh-the first real meal we had for
nearly month.
In n cave we at last came acros
water. That night we had our first
turtle soup. and began TO feel that tho
period of starvation was at an end.
The turtles, however were not al.
ways to be caught mapping. and after
a time VIC had TO look elsewhere for
sustenance. We got track OF gigan-
TIC tortoises, or land turtles, as we
called them. They had thick lee3,
suggesting the elephant, and were
strong enough to carry a man, but
they were not such good eating rs the
sea turtles.
Later, we found the haunt OF the
sea-lion or bear seal Each dny.
however. increased the wariness. and
n shortage forced lis to fall upon the
land lizard, loathsome.ooking quad
ruped, about five feet In length and
foot in circumference. with row
or spikes extending from the Tn OF
his nose to the end OF his tall.
BY the end OF the first month we