The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1909-05-18
LATEST CRUSOE
ESCAPE UPON
AIRSHIP
SHIPWRECKED IN SOUTH SEAS,
CAST ON ISLAND, DASH FOR
MAINLAND IN ABROPLANE.


SEATTLE, May 3.-If Robinson Cru
soc had exercised little foresight and
taken an aeroplane with him when he
ran away to sea he might have escaped
from the island of Juan Fernandez. He !
would have boarded his aeroplane, |
sailed away to the nearest mainland
and therefore have a tale to unfold |
that would have taxed the credulity OF
the world.
And yet that is just what Frederick
X. Standish, civil engineer of Bos-
ton, did. At least, he says he did,
and there is no one who can really say
that he didn't.
Standish arrived in Seattle today
from Sydney, Australia, and he tells a
story which, If true, makes Orville and
Wilbur Wright look like a couple of
amateurs when it comes to sailing in
the air
The story told by Standish in fact is
so startling as to challenge belief. He
says that with single companion he
was shipwrecked on an uninhabited
island in the South Pacific, and that he
ling fight through the air, winding up
with a notwithstanding plunge into
the sea, only to be thrown exhausted
upon the beach of an island inhabited
by pearl fishers.
His companion in his aerial escape
persisted just at the moment when
their final rescue was assured.
Ill re hn fAI1 htr to
he is the hero of an adventure so ex-
traordinary that none but the writer
/ of extravagant fiction could hope to
invent an incident to equal it, If his
story is not true he possesses an ina
y gination which he can easily capital
\ ize and dispose of to any one of a
half dozen publishers of lurid fiction.
Here is the story of the adventure
? of Standisn and his companion, as told
by himself today:
81 am an engineer" said Standish,
'and my profession took me to Aus
tralia a year ago. Finishing my work
j. there, l decided to go to New Zealand
= and accordingly took passage on the
tramp steamed Aphrodite, sailing from
Sydney.
ION board the Aphrodite I formed
the acquaintance of Adolph Won Mes
singer, who claimed to be the son o.
: German nobleman. OF course, cam
say whether this Is true or not, but
q found Won Messenger a young man o.
more than ordinary intelligence HI
was deeply interested in aerial naviga
hod faA
~ from a model of his own invention.
- This aeroplane he was taking will
him to New Zealand. 1t was lasheC
securely on the forward deck of thu
N Aphrodite, where naturally it was tn,
object of a great deal of curiosity.
THE second day out from Sydne,
the Aphrodite encountered bad wealth
er and sprung a leak. The steame
was an old one and made extremel
bad weather in the storm. FINAL
the water in the hold gained so rapid
III on the steam pumps that the officer
and crew took to the boats.
Won Messenger and l remained o
board. 1t was foolhardy thing to d.
of course. The Aphrodite, with deck
dlillOSl dWdSug IOllSu III In6 lIOuSn I
the seas like log of wood; but
spite of its apparently sinking cond
l4 ton Won Messenger and myself d.
cided we would rather take our char
ces with Aphrodite rather than in tn
overcrowded small boats.
Several days passed and the Apl
rodite kept afioat The weather b,
came more settled and we knew thi
= the old hulk would hold together
IN long as the sea remained calm.
1--WE had plenty of provisions {
board but were unable to navigate Il
" weather-logged steamer, because Il
J water in the hold had flooded Il
boiler-room. We were, therefore, cor
PEELED to drift with the boat wherev
the vagrant currents of that part
the ocean cared to take her
Finally one night the old tub sta
'HN gered upon the beach of an islar
m which was afterwards learned was
lay the Solomon group
m,
Recent casualties to vessels while