, 1912-01-06

the Caribbean Sea at the rate of about forty
miles a day.
The fsherman's boat was a fiat bottom
punt. built of ordinary inch pine planks. 1t
was 18 feet long, about 4 feet beam, and
square at the bow and stern, with a bare 8
inches of freeboard. Rodrigues, it seems,
embarked on it on September % and last
sighted land two days later. From that
time until he was picked up by the M0r@ on
October 26 he never sighted an"thing ex-
cept sea anil sky. During his Ions exposure
he passed through several storms, which are
frequent and severe in the Caribbean in DC.
tober, but he said that he never once lost
faith in the Supreme Being who watches
over men on the sea.
When asked what he, thought when he
discovered that he had been driven out to-
sea and that only an inch plank separated
him and death, Rodrigues replied earn-
estly:-
What should I think ? I knew I could do
nothing, but [ believed that the good God
would take care of me on the ocean, and |
prayed on my knees in the salt water that
half filed the boat that he would let me get
back to my wife and two sons in Venezuela
John Z. Meeham, Chief Officer of the N0-
Td said, that at six bells i'll the morning watch
e g. m. on October 26 he sighted a SIN Ill
boat about five miles away on the port bow.
A man was standing up frantically waving
q garment and looked, through the glass, like
a ship.
I altered the course, said the chief officer,
and in less than 80 minutes we came along
side and stopped. The occupant, who ap-
Peared to be very weak. had sunk back to
bis seat. He had II spiritsail bent to the
mast, evidently made out of q blue shirt, and
q white JACKET sewn roughly together with
ROnp warn Ho on1L1 Ont Cnn0k RI. mo hnt
managed to get out a round paddle and
bring his fraiI craft alongside the ship. 1
sung out to. the bo's'n to get a tackle, rugged
over the side and hoist the castaway' up
with a bowline on to, the deck. When the
man had heen hoisted on board safely, I ask
ed him il he wanteds his boat. He gazed at
it earnestly for two or three. minutes, then
turned around and looked at the steamer, and
pantomimed that he did not. There was, no.
thing in the craft when she was cut adrift
except the lines and hooks. with. which be
caught the fish, the paddle, and a glass jar
full of rain water, which was slowed under
b4e pieces of wood roughly nailed across the
boat to serve as seats.
The man was in the last stage of exhnus-
zion, and so nearly famished, for want of
food, that it was, dangerous to give him. any
solids, so he had o. little soup, and the stew
ard fixed up some salve for his salt sores,
which gave some relief. It was marvellous
to me that such a craft could have lived out
fRe storms we passed through IN the Capibr
bean Sen before we picked it up two days,
out of Trinidad. [ would not have crossed
a pond in the boat, it looked so frail.
! expected to be gone for four or five
days on this trip, said Rodrigues, and [ took
with me two pounds Of bread, q pound of
hard cheese made of goats milk, half a pound
of butter, four pounds of preserved potatoes
and q big glass jar Of water, When the
northeast gale took me by surprise it carried
away my spritsail and l lost control over the
Boat. The water poured in over the side,
and all through the first night l thought I
should sink every minute ard | prayed God
to protect me. The second day | saw land
and Thought z was saved, but the breeze
freshened aud drove me out to sea again. On
the fifth day I despnired of ever getting back
70 Venezuela, and determined to make my
small stock of provisions last as long as pos
sible. I suffered from hunger but [ made the
bread last until the twenty-seventh day. I
i Ike out the rations by catching cat fish and
eating them raw.
b The last three days before l was rescued
III had nothing to eat of any kind and it was
fhe rain-Water that saved nv life by