Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-12-27
LOST CREW FOUND
ON A PACIFIC ISLAND
SOME OF 'EM MARRIED

a passenger and freight service be-
tween the California ports and Homo
! lulu, relates a remarkable tale of the
sea Captain Saunders was in the San
Francisco office when the story of the
lost Eel Dorado, Sanders & Kirch-
manns four masted schooner, was
| brought in there by the steamship
Moana, Captain stringer.
Ell Dorado sailed from Portland,
Ore, last March for Antofagasta,
Chile Her captain n. b. Benson, was
the only American on board his two
mates, the cook and eight seamen be-
ing scandinavians. The schooner was
unheard of so long that she was given
up for lost. The marine insurance
companies settled with the schooner's
owners and Captain Bensons family
went into mourning.
Last week a wireless set the nerves
of maritime exchanges a-tingle with
the news that every man jack of the
crew was alive, although eight of
them We're as good as buried, in the
sense that they were 1000 miles from
| the nearest civilization, 400 miles
from Pitcairn Island and $500 miles
from Papeiti, Tahiti, while the skip
per and three sailors are at the last
named paradise in the South Pacific
Somewhat startling was the infor
nation that seven of the schooner's
officers and crew were married to ma
tive islanders. Ell Dorado had been
abandoned in a sou'wester and all
hands had landed on Easter Island,
| the most outlandish, lonesome and I'M
canny spot in the world. 1t has 800
sculptured statutes created upon cy-
clopean masonry; stone houses, some
of them more than 100 feet in length,
with walls six feet thick and built like
forts; tablets in strange and to this
day undeciphered language; terraces
on headlands, with walls toward the
sea, some Of them 80 feet high and
mere than 200 to 300 feet long; stone
pedestals and platforms and PROSTATE,
uncouth, immense lava images. The
island, mystery of the ages, has AZ
! square miles, one white man, sheep
herder, and 200 uncivilized but peace
able natives.
The sinking schooner was abandoned
June 10 in q storm when $50 miles off
Easter Island, and rough seas made
| II all lI-ddy ZIP Ipl biN -At'E"A NS't~N
men to the island, which is visited. on
ly once a year. and then by New
Zealand trading schooner which touch
es to carry off the wool.
AS soon as the castaways landed
word spread in some mysterious way
to the native settlement at Stone VII
Iage. and the chief, with his tribe, fol-
lowed by the Scotch shepherd, tum-
bled out to meet and feed the strang-
ers. The inhabitants are vegetarians,
never killing II sheep for food, so
there was no mutton for the sailor
men
The natives were most hospitable,
and most of the sailors, seven in all,
including the cook and the two mates,
following the example of the Scotch
men were tremendously married in a
group by as many native girls. But
in spite of their langurous-eyed brides
and the eternal mysteries of the
strange isle soon became tired of it..
After three months of life in a place
where money has absolutely no value,
where there are no saloons and moth
ing but water, cocoanut milk and
cocoanut rum to drink, the skipper
said if three men would go with him
and the others stand by he would
take the yawl in which they came
ashore and, with three of the hands
as a crew, sail to Papeiti. $500 miles
away. The plan was agreed to, and
Oct 8 the day on which they start
ed. all the inhabitants came down to
the beach, including the priest, the
Scotchman and the seven dusky tribes.
All knelt upon the coral in prayer for
the success of the rescue expedition.
Captain Benson was just Is days,
having been favored by fair trade
winds, in making Tahiti, the trip be-
ing much better in point of comfort
and safety than the first trip from
the laundering schooner to the grim
island. But baking, roasting sun
beat down upon their necks. To re-
lieye the tension, although the wind
was fair, the skipper permitted the
men at times to take the sweeps. To
while away the tedium Thomas Nell
son, who had been shipwrecked twice
before spun yarns, recounting his ad-
ventures, varying them with such ad-
ditions and emendations as to reflect
great credit upon his creative ability
Sharks nosed. their way under and
around the yawl, so that the voyagers
} after succor and tobacco were not
without company, not to mention the
thousands of sea birds that lowered
over them on their lonesome ways.
As the trip progressed Captain Ben
son found that the suns violent rays
| somewhat affected his powers of MAX
ing calculations, and it was necessary
for him to keep his, head wet con-
stantly in order to do his best think
ing and figuring.
On the afternoon Of the 2Sth day
: from Tahoroa Bay the rescue crew
made landing at Point Venus, 10
miles east Of Papeiti. The Governor
received them with great cordiality,
the American consul provided them
with quarters and the steamship
Moana sent in the news by wireless.
Now the burning question is: Who
is going to Easter Island and tear
away sailor husbands from tapa
clothed brides?