The Green Forest tribune., 1918-02-15
Personal Narratives of Sailors Are Particularly in Demand
 al This Time.
OLD TALES ARE READ EGAIN
interest in Merchant Marine Responsi- ble for Demand fer Stories Of Sailors-Escape of Mariners
 From Arabian Sands Told.

From Arabian Sands Told.
 Washlngton.-Omcials of the Con gressional library, which is in q way 2 clearing house for all the libraries of the country, state thae at present there is a lively demand from read CTS for all kinds of literature relating to sea lore, especially to the ad- of sailors ia the American marine.
 Personal narratives are in greatest demand, and are the hardest for tine ordinary render to fad. There aaa- however. 2 good many of them both here aRd in public libraries and spe- ciai collections in Eastern cities.
 Many of these books, now being re- read with public interest after many years, have particular point at this time for their value in Indicating the grit with which American sailors face peril aud hardship, such as the pres- eDt era of German "frightfu}ness" at ! sea is apt to impose at any time on American crews.
 A visitor to the capital the other day had in is1grip. one of. these cid volumes of adventure that may be
 cited as an example of the kind of
 literature the, American sailors of long
 ago produced for the benefit of pes
 terity.
 It was written and published in 1794
 by one Daniel Saunders, an American sailor, and described his suffmIngs, and those Of his sbipmates, in escap- ing from the Arabian desert, after be- }ng cast upon it's burning shore by shipWrecl1
 Daniel Saunders was a seaman on | the ship Commerce of Boston, which | while coastins in the Eastern seas for 1 a cargo and on a voyage from Iaa- l ras to Bombay "an the coast of Mala- bar" stranded in the night on q beach on the Arabian coast, the'captain hay ing lost his bearings.
 On attempting to land on the beach the crew. of aA souls were meHaeed by savage natives. They therefore manned their boats and co8sted along shore. On the second day ont they were caught in a gale on lee shore. aud obliged to make a landing on the beach through high surf
 In making the landing one boat was upset aad three of it's occupants loss their lives. among them being "Na- thaHiel SeaEer Jun, tbo merchants son. In those days, merchants made voyages. and tle father .of tAEs lad "staod an unhappy spectator 54z this melancholy catastrophe.a lis sIfef says the author. s9nay he more easily imagined thah daseribed."
 Attacked by Arabs.
 Wet and WeaIJ, the sailors lay down to sleep. They. were .rousod bv the approach of a hand of IS Arabs, enseamels. "and armed with spears -cutlasses and knives who at- lacked them, stole all tbe stores that had been in the boats, and robbed them of all their clothing, "even to the shirts off our backs."
 As the camels could not carry all the Blunder, the hrigands finally Jeff some old clothes 10 cover Us, to pre- vent the sun from burning our skins" One got 8 pair of trousers, another q coat, another q shirt, but one got only ] strip of canvas, which he wrapped around him.
 Thus arrayed the shipWrecIed ma- liners, on being left by their plumber CTS, set out for Muscat, which they were told was fiye-days' journey dis ant.
 Their way lay through fields of burning sands and over mountains of ,ocl1s and precipices, affording neither ,ood nor water"
 In this Scorching desert, famished. md with .topgues. cracked and mouths sore, the sailors found themselxes cx- posed to q sun of incredible fereeness )y day, andtto cold aews at night.
 For two days they stumbled on ilong the seashore, with neither food Tor water. On the third day the party )roke up into several smaller groups. some sought shorter route by fol- owing paths that led .intand. } Saun- lers and three competitions tried the nland route, and came upon. some vines that. bore kind of melon. re- ;embHng watermelon.
 Feverishly tasting some of the fruit. hey found it bitter and unfit for 'ood.
 Turning back to the beach, the wan lerers met three Arab fishermen. who robbed them of some books and pa pers. and took from the man with the canvas his sole protection from the sun. Later that day Saunders and his party met an Arab who directed them to a we'll Here they were joined by Captain Johnson of the Commerce and I few of their mates
 The next day they found food, in the form of crabs and cookies taken at a -ocl1y point on the beach.
 Natives Were Kind.
 The wanderers now began to meet nore natives, both men and women. The latter were kind to them, giving hem water from goatsllin containers, ut robhing them eventually of their hoes. Captain Johnson was relieved f his trousers.
 Faring or the next day, the captain ell, because his "sinews and nerves ' ad been so contracted by the sun and i ews that he found himself unable to ( ,avel" e EES GERMANY NEAR BREAK f