The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1912-07-18

wrecked three-masted schooner G.
W. Watson, and his young bride, re-
turned from the South Seas the 9TH
er day on the steamer Aorangi, says
the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
On board the Aorangi was the
Watson's entire crew of seven men,
besides the young captain and the
pretty Oregon girl whose romantic
honeymoon, begun with her marriage
in a launch at sea, was interrupted
by one of the most dramatic ship
wrecks in the history of the South
Sea Islands, and finally reached an
ideal stage when the lovers, rescued,
passed a fortnight in true honeymoon
style as guests of a South Sea chief
upon a coral island. ....
Back of the story of honeymoon
spent on a coral isle is the tale of
brave young captains courtship and
of the wreck of one of the stanchest
schooners that ever set out from
Pacific coast port. Its most dramatic
feature is the account of how the
shippers pretty bride stayed alone
ID the ships small boat after the
schooner had been waterlogged on
a reef, expecting every moment to
see the hulk with her husband on
board, take last plunge to the bot
tom of the sea. The bride had been
provided with a hatchet, and ~she
was instructed to cut the rope If the
schooner should start to sink and pull
the small boat after it.
81 The Watson left Shoal Water Bay,
on Puget Sound, January 13last, with
cargo of 100000 feet of lumber.
In command was Skipper Andersen
bIue-eyed, 6-foot, outstanding young
sailormsn. He is a Norseman OF the
type that has sailed the seas ever
since the days of the brave Vikings.
The young captains heart, as his ship
left port, was filed with anticipations
and happy thoughts, for during the
brief pause of his vessel at Raymond,
Oregon, ne had wooed and won, with
a sailors tempestuous ardor, Miss
Ann de Lateur, a charming belle
whose parents are among the promi-
nent residents of Pendleton, Oregon.
The captain left with his cargo OF
lumber for the far-off port of Pa
peete, in the South Seas, where Miss
de Lateur was to meet him and they
were to become man and wife.
After SO days at sea he reached
Papeete, where he found his sweet
heart waiting to get married.
3. To his CONSERVATION the captain
found that it was impossible to get a
marriage license until the banns had
been posted for 80 days by the
French authorities. The doughty
captain hired gasoline launch and,
with the assistance of kindly priest,
Father Christian, the marriage cere-
mony was performed four miles out
at sea.
After the Watson had discharged
a portion of her cargo, sail was set
for Riotea, a picturesque port on an
: island of that name, where the re-
mainder of the cargo was to be dis
charged.
The Waston reached Riotea one
day later-the distance is not much
more than hundred and fifty miles
but when they reached the port
the ship was leaking. 1t was propos-
ed to return to Papeete, where there
is a shipyard for repairs.
At midnight it commenced to blow
and the forward watch reported a
reef ahead. The anchor was cast,
but the Watson slowly drifted toward
the reef. In the morning the water
/ was eighteen inches deep below the
deck and the captains wife was put
in one CT the two small boats, which
was attached to the schooner by a
MANILA cable. She was Instructed
to cut the cable if the schooner
should sink.
At 9 O'Clock the Watson, having
dragged her anchor, struck the reef,
and within ten minutes the big
schooner had gone to pieces.
Capt. Andersen, First Mate Han
sen and the second mate got into the
small boat with Mrs. Andersen. The
other sailors took another small boat.
Behind the reef the water was almost
as calm as mill pond. After row.
ing three miles they reached the
land, one of the innumerable coral
islands that dot the South Pacific
seas. Here they were welcomed by
a native chief, who took the casta-
ways in and gave them: every consid-