Year: 1878



 Monday, the 11th of February, was a dark, rainy day in the South Atlantic Ocean. The schooner Carrie B. Long, of Stockton, Me-, on her voyage from Buenos AJres to New York, had reached a point just south of the equator and about two hundred miles from the Bra zil1an coast. Nothing was to'be seen m any direction, when all at once the look out shouted out, "A sail ]" Atthe same instant husky cry was heard by the seamen on the deck. All looked in the direction whence the cry came, and laughed at the lookout for his announce ment that sail was in sight. All that was to be seen was an uneven mass of bamboo, not ten feet square, in the mid dle of which half naked black man was kneeling upon a box. The only sail visible was shirt discolored with sea water. which was flying from slender bamboo pole. Beside the man was rusty kerosene can; in his hand @ rude paddle which he used to support his feeble body as he raised himself to shout for help. The raft was so narrow and so low in 'the water that every slight wave rolled over it from stem to stern. The man shouted necessarily, but now and then the sound died away in his throat, and the hearers only knew that he had shouted by the convulsive action of his mouth and chin.

 A boat was lowered from the Carrie E. Long and made it's way toward the raft. The man continued to shout, although rescue was so nigh. His cries were not intelligible, but it could be distinguished that he used no English. AS the boat neared the raft one of the sailors pushed off again with an exclamation. The man on the raft uttered 8 scream of despair. "What did you do that for?" the mate asked. The offending sailor made no reply, but pointed underneath the raft. Following his finger, the others saw three or four immense sharks swimming leisurely there. Now and then one would thrust it's nose between the light bamboos as if to pry them apart. More than once the open mouth of one could be seen raising itself over the top of the raft within yard of the occupants feet. When this happened the man on the raft ceased to shout and seemed to become dumb with terror. ..

 Again approaching the raft, the res- cuers this time secured it to the boat and transferred its single passenger to their own craft. No sooner had he touched the shlp's deck than his strength, sprung from excitement and the instinct of self preservation, abandoned him, and he fell unconscious. As he lay on the deck it could be seen that the sores on his body had been made by the continued wetting with salt water. Crystals of the salt were visible on the raw edges of the wounds. The body was emaciated, and the bones at the joints seemed as ii about to thrust themselves through the skin. The ordinary black hue of his skin was turned dirty drab. His tongue, swollen to unnatural size, hung half out of his mouth, and the wonder was that he could have uttered single sound. After he was aroused, he could only gasp inarticulate moans and point to his mouth for water.

 It was nearly week before his appe tite, and with it his strength, returned so that he could be questioned. There was not Portuguese scholar on board the Carrie E. Long, although one of tho crew knew little Spanish. It was more by gesture than by word of mouth tha he told his story. He said that his name was Manuel Francisco, and that he ha6 been at sea ten days when rescued. Orig inally, there were three on the raft, bu one had been washed overheard and de Voured by sharks before his eyes before they were two days out. The second died from exhaustion on the fourth day He threw his body to the sharks, think ing in that way to cause them to qui following the raft, but after they hat torn his comrade to fragments they onl, followed him the more intently. H' dared not sleep, for fear of walking of the raft into their open jaws. Wate gave out on the sixth day, and thirst wa added to the loss of sleep. His only foot was bread, which had become musty iron long confinement in the kerosene can and the eating of which consequent. only added to his thirst without satisfy ing his hunger. His sufferings becam so intense that he was about to cast him self to the sharks when the Carrie B Long hove in sight.

 Where did he come from and what wa he doing on the raft? Francisco faile' to answer this question satisfactorily He insisted that he had originally saile' from the Brazilian coast, but took ad vantage of his questioner's ignorance 0 the language to avoid explaining why h had put to sea on so frail craft. Tn

 contents of black bottle found on thu

 raft in measure answered the question and accounted for his unwillingness to b

 more definite. In it was magistrate

 commitment of felon, presumably Fran cisco, to eight years penal servitude fo

 some small theft. The date of the com

 mitment showed that the prisoner ha

 served three years. The Brazilian pena island of Fernando Noronha, situate three degrees below the equator an about 400 miles from the main coast, wa

 within few hundred miles from wher

 Francisco was pick up, and it was COT

 iectured that he had escaped from there

 This conjecture was confirmed when tn Carrie B. Long arrived at Matanzas an the customs officer came on board. A