The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1911-02-16

SEoGp III dSiIlC INGSOSO III CONNECTION
With Panama CanaI-Scene of Curl
Gus Sea Postofice and Once Empire
of King Patrick, Famous Deserter
and Slave ~Inpounder.
In looking around for q site for a
naval station which would be of stra-
tegic Importance in the protection of
the Panama canal the United States
government entered into negotiations
with Ecuador for a lease of the Gala
pages islands, in the Pacific off the
coast of South America. So great.
however, was the demonstrative wrath
of the people of Ecuador that Presi-
den Alfaro promised to drop consid-
Grafton of the lease. Consequently
Uncle Sam probably will not come into
the possession, for one thing. of the
only giant t%ortoiseS known to exist.
For years the Galapagos have been
noted for these strange creatures and
for little else, except possibly the Gu
rious sea p~ostofice established there a
hundred years ago or more by whalers.
Callers at the sea p%ostoffice after de-
posting mail there have had a chance
to disport themselves by taking q ride
on the back of Il giant tortoise.
The tortoises of the Galapagos are
said to be the last survivors of the
reptilian age, to which belonged the
huge dinosaurs and other creatures
of which only fossils remain. Accord
ing to visitors to the islands. these tor
tOiseS have sometimes reached q length
of seven or eight feet. The tortoises
have very shiny necks and cruel look
ing heads and are of a dull earthly
color. 1t is said to be comparatively
easy to Mount the back Of one of
them. and with the aid of q stick to
keep your balance you can enjoy a
novel ride. The %tortoises have made
deeF paths all over the islands. They
do not appear to be dying off.
UnIucky 10 Again.
Perhaps because there are thirteen
little islands in the Galapagos group
they have been unlucky for some folks
who have been marooned on them.
They lie 80 miles southwest of Ecua-
dor and about 1,500 miles from Pana-
ma, occupying relatively the same po-
sition in respect to the traffic approach
ing the canal from South America as
Hawaii does to trade from the north.
One hundred years ago there was a
real wild man there. The wild man
of the Galapagos was a red headed
Irishman. and his name was Patrick
Watkins. King Patrick he called him.
self, and for several years he ruled the
islands and made slaves of some sail
ormen who landed there. He is said
to have been responsible for the first
sea postoffice established there. that
being the way devised by one sea cap
tain to warn others Of the presence on
the islands Of King Patrick.
Later he succeeded in sailing away
and finally died in a Peruvian Jail.
Commodore David Porter. father of
Admiral Porter, visited the islands in
his ship, the Essex, during the war of
1912 and brought back a story Of the
reign of King Patrick. David Glas-
gov Farragut was a midshipman on
the Essex, and he described the sea
postofice as it then existed in a jour-
nal he kept of the cruise.
A man who visited the island in 1884
described this sea postoffice as consist
ing then of q candle box nailed to a
tree and said that it looked old enough
to be the same box found by Farragut.
Good Postoffice Erected.
In the early nineties the British war
ship Amphion visited the Galapagos
and erected n new p%ostoffice to COM
memorate her visit. The crew of the |
warship put a new box on top of a
post on the beach above high water
and cut the name of their ship in it.
Since then it has been the custom of
callers at the postoffice to inscribe their
anne on the post as a sort of post
mark.
Uncle Sam once before the present
time had his attention called to the
Galapagos. That was when an eXpedi-
ton was sent there to rescue Frederick
Jeffs. an American seaman who was
reported as marooned there as the re-
suit of q shipwreck. 1t was Febru-
airy, 1908, that the navy department
was asked to send q ship to look for
Jeffs after word had been received
from the coast of Ecuador that the
crew of a Norwegian vessel which had
been wrecked there had been rescued
with the exception of Jeffs. who had
wandered away. The whole world in
stantly began to take interest in this
case of Il Robinson Crusoe.
The gunboat Yankton. detailed from
the battleship fleet. then on its way
around the coast, reached the islands
in March. 1908. and made a careful
seaUh of Indefatigable island. one of
the smallest in the group and the one
from which the other shipwrecked sail
Ors had been rescued. Though they
searched hard and long. the only trace
of the missing sailor the exploring par
ty could find was a signal pole erected
by him at a spring ten miles from the
spot where the other sailors had been