The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-01-31
Lost Explorers Of the Pacific.

NtNtIul ulblllhN dEOt lht IVNdA
Geographical Society. Mr.. BASIL THoM-
SON, at one time Prime Minister Of the
Tonga or Friendly Islands, read pa
per about the lost explorers OF the Pa
cihc lie essayed the difficult task OF
accounting for some Of them. The sub
ject brings to mind these haunting sen
fences of CARLYLE:
THE brave navigator goes and returns
not the seekers search far seas for him
in vain lie has vanished trackless into
blue immensely and only some mournfu
mysterious shadow OF him hoyers long In
all heads and hearts"
Not all the lost explorers were swal-
lowed up by the all powerful and
never firing waves Of that great sea
miscalled the Pacific" to quote OAR
WIN. or were consumed by cannibals.
There Is reason to believe that some of
them lived polygamous and bllssfully
unconventional lives on palm frlnged
isles. such as HERMAN MELVILLE wrote
about ~ entlclngly In 'Typee" and
"Omoo." Mr.. BASIL THOMSON. with a
lingering look backward and sigh
from the depths OF hlm-we do not
mean to say chat in his reform work in
Tonga he was other than n staid, lr.
reproachable oflicial-has collected such
details as were available to prove that
seafarers who disappeared from human
ken In the vast Pacific lived out their
natural lives and perpetunted their
species in an atmosphere Of romance.
The explorers were better with the
cutlass than with the pen, and there
were no publishers In the remote
archipelagoea
The eX-premier Of the Tongas does
not carry his story beyond the eigh-
teenth century, because beginning
about 1TSS THE discovery of sandal
wood and the high price of sperm
whale oil drew the trading vessels and
whalers of many nations to scour the
Pacific" so that to the marooned ex-
plorer succeeded the beachcomber, who
had plenty of opportunities 10 be found
and returned to civilization. BY the
way, Mr.. THOMSON certifies that the
/ original beachcomber was one Con
zALo DE Woo. a native Of Gallcia, who
/ sailed with MAGELLAN in 1919, deserted
/ from the Trinidad at the Ladrones or
/ Mariana Islands. was spared by saw
ages who killed two of his mates, lived
| for five years among the dusky Cha
morros-was it on our own Guam2-
and submitted TO rescue by sailors OF
! LoAYsA's squadron. What story DE
/ VIGo had 10 tell that was never told
to the world! Compared with him the
/ beachcomber of later day was a
shabby. unplcturesque rascal.
There are Hawaii traditions that In
A. d. 1900 and 1850 white skinned peo-
pie were cast away on the islands and
Ing a lighter hue to the stock. These
presumably were Chinese or Japanese
The first lost explorers from Europe
belonged to LOAYsA's expedition which
sailed from Corunna in 1926 In seven
ships high OF poop and mere toys for
Pacific surges. Two deserted and one
was wrecked before the great ocean
was reached. or those that passed
through the Strait of Magellan the
flagship Victoria attained the Moluccas
me pinnace Pataca found her way to
Tehuantepec, but never again were the
Parrel and Lesmes seen after a TEN
pest scattered the little squadron
When SAAvEDRA called at Viscaya two
years later one of the crew OF the Par
rel, who had two mates with him
boarded the ship and told moving
story Of how the natives had captured
the Parrel, slain the officers and sold
the crew into slavery; but from another
source SAAvEDRA learned that the mer
OF the Parrel had mutinied, thrown
their officers overheard and run thu
ship on the rocks Of Salgir, where
islanders had seized the crew. Ac
cordlngly SAAvEDRA hanged the three
mutineers. There was no trace of theil
fellow scoundrels.
AS TO the Lesmes, the other lost shlI
OF the squadron. QUIRos, a Spanish nav
lgator, touched at Chain Island, east
ward OF Tahiti, In 1906, and found
there breed of small speckled dog
; not of native stock, together with {
very old dame who wore a gold ant
emerald ring and showed no fear o
the Europeans. The inference was tina
the old lady had lived with white PEG
pie. QUIRos, assuming that men OF tn,
Lesmes had been cast away on tn,
island, erected cross there.
! No venture into the unknown wa
more III starred and romantic thar
ALvABo MENDANA's second voyage Il
explore the Solomon Islands, which h,
had previously discovered and believed
to be rich in gold. MENDASA sailed
from Peru in 1895 with four vessels
One of them, which he had comman
deered at the Port OF Cherrepe. wa
mathematical by priest, one o.
her owners, and thereafter the expe
ditlon seemed to be under an evil spell
Three OF the four ships were lost II
E the Pacific. One the Almiranta, de