The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1911-03-14
TO GET 4 BOAT
FOR CAPTAIN SAM
vprron DRAWS olrsoK ron $500
10 START A "rRAIsB"
FUND.
lFrom Mondarla AdrerLIaar.l

(Fsom Mondays Advertiser.)
Editor Advertisor;-I read with
most decided interest in yesterdays
Advertiser the detailed account Of the
sinking Of Captain SANS schooner
"Moi wahino" by the Lighthouse ten.
der Kukui and Captain Sans subse.
quent swim Of twenty or thirty miles
to shore during his enforced bath Of
4 twenty hours in the water of these
seas, supposed to be infested with man
eating sharks. Truly can cay that no
short story OF adventure as sea that
ever 1 have read begins to compare
with this in thrilling thrills. Nor has
any story have ever read of sea ad.
venture compelled in me more pity and
admiration for the hero, this old ka-
naka, Captain Sam. Pity, too for the
poor wretches who so suddenly were
ushered into another world, amid the
crashing Of woodwork, as the steel
power of the lighthouse tender crashed
through the wooden sides Of the little
schooner, while her propeller, doubtless,
cut and mangled their poor bodies even
after life sought to leave them In the
water.
Pity too, for this poor old man, bowed
by weight of seventy-seven years,
who doubtless having but few years
at most remaining had often congratu-
lated himself upon being the proud
posessor of this little schooner that was
and should provide such a good liveli-
hood for the old woman and himself in
their few years of life, and who sud.
denly, and without moments warning,
finds himself coast into the sea quar-
tor hundred miles from land land his
little livelihood in the schooner utterly
destroyed and vanished, with his entire
crew of seven, who, but few mo.
ment 8 before had like himself been full
of life.
An. truly that was hard luck. Surely
he would have been forgiven had he,
like many man, thrown up the sponge
and followed the rest of the crew and
, his vessel, realizing, as he must have,
/ the impossibility of his ever reaching
shore and knowing how impoverished he
and the cold woman would be, even
though he did reach Shore Surely we
must pity this poor old seafarer at
seventy-seven.
When we remember that heartbreak-
y ing swim and that cruel walk over the
lava shore, which must have cut his
feet at every step, before he finally
reached haven of shelter, everyone
must feel the same pity do.
And then my admiration comes up
for this old hero. Did you ever hear
of anything like it, Talk about Lord
Byron and his little dip gone down to
lhistory as a great feati Talk about
} your. Intercollegiate swimming matches
| in tank, or even in a lake or riverl
iTalk about all the swimming feats you
ever heard Of in your life, and compare
/ them, with this one Just finished Of
! TWENTY-FIVE miles, begun at nine o'clock
of pitch dark night by being tossed
into these shark-infested seas without
moments warning end finishing at
high noon of the next day, with the
landing on a rockbound shore and amid
| boiling surfl
/ That's a swim for you'll That is a
swiml Not merely dipping yourself
? in the surf, and, after swallowing a
| teaspoonful of water, crawling out to
/ lie in the sand OF hop around on one
, foot to get the water out of your ear.
/, THAT WAS A SWIM, and all you big
biceped, big-deltoided, big-bellied and
small-bellied swimming athletes sit up
and take good notice, and remember
that after this swim this old man of
seventy-sepen walked over this lava
compafed to which the t"hot sands'' of
Aloha Shrine are cool and grassy pas
i ltures--iIis he bare feet for many miles
before he cUnld get food, of which he
had had none for twenty hours, and to
get clothing to cover his nakedness
i A man mark he does not need, for
e God and all athletes know he is man
Kanaka or white he has proved him
= self every inch a man, and his perform.
ance may well give, the population OF
: these Islands, white as well as Hawa'
. iian, pride, and much pride.
But pity, nor even our admiration
:, viii not give him back his staneh
= little vessel and the means to gain a
= living for himself and his wife.
She is proud of him, and no wonder
Wouldn't the primitive rise in any
n woman and make her proud of the
= physical achievements of such a mar
= above any other sort of accomplish
q ments possiblee / guess so, and so de-
/. Iyou, but they have got to live, and h'
4 must have a boat.
It may be years, or never, before
}. the U. s. government reimburses hin
I. for the one its servants destroyed fol-
j. him. There must be fifty men in this
town whose pity for the misfortunei
Z OF this brave old man and whose ad
i lmiration for his endurance feat viii
prompt them to contribute at least $25
!. each toward the purchase of a new
a boat. Anyway I'm going to see, and
q / will start the subscription off with
! $25 and sincere hopes that my fellow
!. Americans from no matter what part
. of our country viii follow and help the
old man and his wahine to once more
make an independent living.
w. G. MCPHERSON.