The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-11-07
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun.
 A THIN, sun scorched Spaniard,
 "A cloalsed with heavy blanket sat 4 \ in the forecastIe or the British freight steamship Ikaria yesterday, and told, while shivering how he had been eaved by the handy freighter from the b,istering Caribbean after 30 days drift ing In an IS foot ramshackle flat bottomed lcat
 The castaway Is Juan Rodriguez, orig inally of Almeria, but until recently Il laborer on the Panama canal. After giving up his job on the canal he went to Caracas and bought the flat bottomed boat equipped with a spritsail and one oar, and decided to fish for living all together. He has since changed his mind. He had luck In fishing and headed back For Caracas. but an offshore wind that finally became a gale drove him to the
 northeast and his sail was carried away Seas filled the boat and he bailed with lis hat He had a demijohn of water and food enough to last five days. When morning came he found no land in sight and no sun, and having no compass did not know which way to steer. He took off his shirt and made a sail of 1t and piled his car just to keep himself busy. "A the end of the first day he cut a his jackknife so that he might not lose track of the time. The notch meant Sep tenlber 27. for he had set out from Cara cas on September 26 It was pleasant weather the next day and a school of sharks paid him visit. romping around tho boat and occasionally coming up un- der it with violence that nearly cap- sized it and sent the Spaniard to his knees praying to his saints.
 | On the day of the third notch in the guIlwalc Rodriguez decided that he would have to help the saints out by putting 1 himself on a diet. He figured that he might be three weeks adrift and cut down his daily bread allowance to mere mouthful and drank only few mouth | fuJs of water. When the sharks and
 other big sea monsters that frolcked too
 close to the crazy little ship for his com-
 foit were out of the way he fished. hay ing saved his tackle, and landed some good ones, which he ate raw. He added
 to his supply of water when it rained. After, he had made the tenth notch he
 paid more attention than ever to his cru | cifix, but also stuck steadily to his diet | schedule.
 | After little blow the seams of his
 boat opened permanently and he sat in water up to within nine inches of the
 sunwale. On the days when the tropical 'sun was blazing, and that was most of
 tho time, the upper part of his body was
 baked and the lower half soaked in salt
 water. He exercised by using his paddle | until salt water boils made it painful
 for him to move at all. He prayed God
 {. keep storms away and take care of
 linn.
 he was feeling blue when he cut the twenty-seventl notch in the gunwale cal- ondar, for all his bread was gone and all
 the water. But rain came the next day and he caught and ate some fish. On October 26 at a. m., just after he had cut the thirtieth notch, he saw the smoke f, om the funnel of the Ikaria He had no voice to shout. but by supreme enort he got on his feet and waved what was lef: of his trousers.
 The Ikaria was in command at the time of Chief Officer J. T. Meethan and he saw the fisherman five miles off the rort bow and headed for him. The waif was only speck at first, and If he
 mad not swung his trousers he might have been passed. Captain Matthew Robert son came out and saw the Spaniard hauled aboard. He was helpless, having exhausted Himself completely in his effort
 to signal for help. A bowline was passed uude his arms by a sailor who was
 lowered from the freighter. The Spaniard was in a sorry plight. almost naked, ema-
 ciated and covered with salt water boils. He was asked if he wanted the boat
 saved and he shook his head wearily, and Eit was cast adrift.
 He was unable to tell much about him. self until several days later after he had
 been nourished bit, on soups chiefly.