USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Salem > Salem vessels and their voyages; a history of the "Astrea", "Mindoro", "Sooloo", "Panay", "Dragon", "Highlander", "Shirley", and "Formosa", with some account of their masters, and other reminiscences of Salem shipmasters > Part 3
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CAPTAIN CHARLES H. ALLEN JR.
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BY GEORGE GRANVILLE PUTNAM
"As soon as we were clear of the breakers, the wind died out altogether. We then went to work and got a hawser up to use as a drag astern to keep the ship stern to the sea, but it was not used, as almost as soon as the wind stopped blowing from the northeast, it sprang up from the southwest. Braced yards around on the star- board tack, head to southeast, ship still under lower maintopsail and foretopmast staysail, and every minute the wind increasing in violence; got tackles on the tiller in rudder head and hauled the rudder so that it would keep the ship head to the wind. At midnight the wind was blowing with typhoon force, and the men were hard at work at the pumps. I went up in the mizzen-top ,to keep a lookout, for we were afraid we would be driven back on the roof. Before going up, sounded, but got no bottom. The leak was gaining on the pumps, and wo thought our only hope was, to keep ber afloat until day- light, if possible, and then, could we do no better, try it with the boats.
"About half-past one the weather looked lighter to lee- ward and we knew that meant breakers. I did not shout, but pushed myself down the weather mizzen rigging as fast as possible, the ship being nearly on her beam-ends. Found the captain standing by the mizzenmast on top of the house. I asked him to come up in the rigging and take a look. He followed after me, but did not go far before he was satisfied there were breakers under our Jee. He told me to run forward and let go both anchors, and I should judge by the sound there were about ten fathoms. of water under us when the anchors touched
bottom. About 45 fathoms of chain ran out before the ship came to the wind, and before she did so, we felt her touch the rocks. We tried to stop her from taking chain, but it was impossible, as it would jump the wild cat with that strain on it, and so, of course, the ship went into the breakers.
"As soon as I found that I was of no use forward, I went aft, when the captain ordered me to cut away the masts. The ship had then begun to pound heavily on the bottom. We got axes to work on the rigging and
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soon had the main and mizzen masts over the side; started on the fore rigging, but they had the backstays cut be- fore I had the lower rigging, and the foretopmast. carried away in the sheave hole, the topgallant mast with all attached went over the side all right, but the upper fore- topsail yard came right down. The carpenter was cut- ting with me, and I told him we would better leave before we were crushed. We went aft as best we could and sought the top of the after-house with the rest of the crew.
"I stopped there a minute and then crawled aft, down the after-way into the cabin; I had to crawl along the cabin floor, as it was impossible to hold on to anything and walk; I took my watch off the hook and put it in my pants' pocket and crawled back on deck again. Here I found the crew in a bunch, trying to shelter themselves from the wind and rain and salt water as much as pos- sible. I stopped there until I was nearly frozen, and the ship had swung broadside on to the reef and had com- menced to break up. We went into the cabin to try and keep ourselves as comfortable as possible what little time we had to stay there. We had not been there long before I think the ship broke in two in the middle, for above the roar of the wind and sea I heard a crash, and the partitions commenced to fall down. All made a rush up the afterway, and got on the starboard quarter. As fast as we could we put a turn of rope around our bodies and held on there for a while.
"The beams that propped us up gradually broke away, so that we were lowering all the time, and the sea was having a better crack at us. At last we were so low that almost every sea washed some of us down over the bottom of the ship, and we would crawl up between the seas only to be washed back again by the next one. Some of the men's clothes were washed or torn clean off them, and their bodies were terribly cut up by the broken cop- per on the ship's bottom. There were eighteen men of us on the outside. The Chinese cook and steward stopped in the cabin and were drowned when the sea washed that away.
"We had hung outside so long that we were getting
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BY GEORGE GRANVILLE PUTNAM
nearly exhausted, when a sea broke and washed some of us off, myself being among the number, and carried us away from the wreck so that we could not get back. As soon as I rose to the surface and caught my breath, I started to swim with the sea, and had not taken more than a couple of strokes when my feet struck something like a rock, and I soon found that I was where I could touch bottom. I stood up and found the water only up to my waist, but before I had time to look around me, another sea struck me and I went end over end with it, and felt myself strike bottom twice. When I reached the surface again, I stood up, and seeing a piece of the wreck near me, I went and got on it. Shortly, two men came along, clinging to a spar, and I called to them to come to me, and they did so. I told them there was land ahead and we were drifting to it, and that we were inside of the breakers and were all right. We sat there a few minutes, when one of the men said that he did not believe we were drifting, and he jumped overboard and found we were tightly jammed in the rocks. All then took to the water and started for the land. The men having no shoes on, the coral cut them terribly at every stop. I had the good fortune to have on a pair of slippers that did not get washed off. We were soon on the beach, where we found others of the crew.
"We found that thirteen of the ship's company had . made their way to land. Some were naked, others had on only a shirt, and some only pants. I had on a suit of underflannels that saved me from a great many bruises, but the legs of my pants were torn in shreds. I thought of my watch, and found, by putting it to my ear, that it was still going, having been under water for two hours. I could not see the time, but I judged it to be about four o'clock when we got ashore. The men soon began to complain of the cold, and tried to keep warm by run- ning about, but soon gave that up as they were so terribly cut about the feet with the copper on the ship's bottom and the coral on the reef they could hardly move.
"Our cargo being mostly of straw goods it got ashore long before we did, and the tide having fallen consider-
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ably, it was up out of the water. We took a number of bales and piled them and used them for a shelter. I told the men to make themselves as comfortable as pos- sible, and I would keep watch in case any of the rest came ashore, to lend them assistance. They all turned in in a bunch, and I covered them over with straw mats and such things as I could find to answer the purpose.
"As soon as they were quiet, I sat down near them on a bale of goods, to think it over and to wait until daylight to see what that would bring to view; but it seemed to me as though it would never come. The wind and rain were so heavy I could not look to windward, and the night was pitch dark. I judged that what was left of the ship would be dead to windward of where I was, but of course I could not tell how I got ashore. I sat there, thinking that the captain, second mate, cook, steward and three sailors were drowned, as there were twenty of us all told aboard the ship and but thirteen were then ashore. I did not know what kind of an island we were on, nor whether there was anything to be had there to çat or drink.
"Daylight at last came, and I could see about a third of a mile distant what looked like rocks, but a little Jater I made it out to be pieces of the ship. I called the men up. As soon as we could sce, one of them called out, "There are others coming ashore." I looked in the . direction he pointed and saw four heads moving in the water. I thought at first they were seals, and was about to say so when one stood up, and I saw there were four more saved. Those of us who could, ran down along the beach abreast of where they were coming in. I, having shoes on and being all right about the feet, went out on the reef to assist them ashore. The first two were get- ting along all right, so I passed them by, but the third was a man 50 years old, who, as soon as he saw me, gavo up and called to me to save him, and fell down in the water. I soon got him on his feet and helped him ashore, and then turned back after the other, who was some distance out and coming towards the shore very slowly. It proved to be my captain, but if I had not been looking
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BY GEORGE GRANVILLE PUTNAM
for him I should never have taken him for Captain Reynolds. He was as white as a ghost and his face was terribly cut up. When I reached him I found that he had no pants on, and that his legs and hands were cut up worse than his face. When we got out of the water, some of the men brought coverings for him and then helped him up to where we had piled the bales.
"As soon as he could speak, he told me that at the time I was washed off, fourteen went with me, as there were only four of them left after the sea had passed away. He supposed we were all drowned. The sea that washed us off, washed him where he found better shelter than we had been having, and he managed to get the other three to come to him, and there they held on until day light, when they found they could get ashore. The second mate, Walter Clinton, was next to me on the wreck and was washed off with me, but he never got ashore and I never saw him after that sea struck us.
"When we had made the captain as comfortable as we could, I started with one man to see what there was on the island in the shape of water. I tried to get into the bushes with which the island was covered, but they were so thick it was hard work to force our way along. We gave it up and came back to the beach and started around the island on the outskirts of the bushes. Wher- ever I saw a thin place I would go into the bushes as far as I could, but we made a tour of the island without finding any water, excepting one place where it was dripping through the rocks very slowly. I had on a "son'wester," and I put that under, and in about an hour we had caught enough to give us both a drink. Before I got back to camp, my right hand became disabled, and I found, upon looking, that something like a spike from a deck plank had been driven into it between the thumb and forefinger and had made a very bad wound. Upon our arrival in camp I had to tell them we had found no water. While we were gone, however, one of the men had found a small beaker that had belonged in one of the boats, and it contained two gallons; but that would not last long with seventeen men.
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SALEM VESSELS AND THEIR VOYAGES
"I called the island about six miles in circumference, and it was covered with bushes as high as my head. A little way from the beach these bushes were covered with "boobies" (a booby is a bird about the size of a crow and web-footed), so tame you could knock them down with a çane.
"During our absence the men had made a little clear- ing in the bushes and had made a tent from a sail. They had opened one of the straw-braid bales and taken the braid to strew on the sand to lie on, which was nice. We found the captain sound asleep, under a nice Chinese puff, and learned that one of the men had found half a dozen goatskins, each one large enough to cover a man all up. He gave one to me and I lay down beside the captain and was soon asleep. I was pretty tired, not having closed my eyes since half past seven the morning before, and in the meantime I had gone through consid- erable. I awoke about six o'clock, feeling very hungry and so sore about the chest I could hardly breathe. We had about two dozen tins of preserved meats, which we had picked up amongst us that day. We thought it best not to open more than four cans, and so we got only & few mouthfuls apiece, and with some whiskey that came ashore without breaking the bottles, we made a supper. Whilst eating supper, one of the men said that he had found water that afternoon. I asked him how much, and he said as much as we could use in a year. That was good news to us, and then we knew we were on Lincoln's Island, as that was the only island of that group with water on it. Previous to our wreck we had not had an observation for two days, owing to the very thick weather, and we had been driven 100 miles off our course by the current. As soon as our supper was finished, we did not talk much but went to sleep. It was a gloomy night, for when you awoke all you could hear was the roar of the breakers, which was not a very pleasant sound to us.
"All got up at daylight, feeling very stiff and sorc. I found my arm terribly swollen from the ends of my fingers to my elbow. I tried to tie it up and held it in
BY GEORGE GRANVILLE PUTNAM
a sling, as it was. useless; then we started out on the reef, as it was low water, to have a look at the pieces of the ship. She had broken in two in the middle, and had broken short off just abaft the topgallant forecastle, and the bow was lying over on the port side, with the star- board cathead sticking way up in the air. The starboard side, where we had been washed off, and the side of the ship to amidships lay jammed outside of the bow, with the anchor chain binding as taut as a bar right across the starboard quarter where we all were at first, and the anchors off in deep water. Just outside of the bow lay the port side from amidships aft, and about 100 feet farther up the reef lay the largest half of the ship's bottom. The whole of the stern lay about a quarter of a mile away, and the beach was covered with cargo, broken spars, deck beams, etc., for over two miles. It was a sad sight for all of us, as we had lost everything except- ing what we stood in. I had the good fortune to find a small frying-pan, two hatchets, a razor, a pair of scissors, and a shovel. Amongst the cargo I found the steward's naked body, and, taking it ashore, we buried it in the sand above high-water mark. When I. last saw him alive, he had on a lot of clothes and a bundle strapped on his back. The bodies of the second mate and the cook were never recovered.
"Only six or eight of us had been able to get out on the reef that morning, the remainder being too lame to go. Nearly all were fortunate enough to pick up one or more tins of preserved meats, but the contents were sour, as most of the tins had holes in them. We had to eat them for breakfast, however, as we wanted to save the good tins to carry with us on the raft which we thought of building as soon as the weather would permit and the sea had gone down so that we could launch it. We in- tended to build a raft large enough to carry four or five men, and Captain Reynolds was to put to sea on it, and I was to stay and take charge of the men on the island. If the captain never came back, I was to know that he had been lost. We were out of the way of all ships, all
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SALEM VESSELS AND THEIR VOYAGES
sailing vessels giving these islands and reefs a wide berth.
"Breakfast finished, some half a dozen. men started to find the water that the man had told about. After walking half a mile, he found the mark he had left there the day before. We went into the bushes and soon had the pleasure of seeing a lake about 200 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 3 feet deep in the middle. Each of us had a large vase, and filling these with water we had a nice wash. The sun came out and soon began to dry our clothes, and we commenced to feel better right away. We did not stop there long, for the men in camp, unable to come with us, needed water to drink. I was very hungry and faint, as all that I had eaten since Saturday I could have disposed of at one meal. On reaching camp I went to slecp.
"The sunshine made the men feel better. They tied their feet in straw hats and old rags, and traveled along the beach to see what they could pick up that would be of service, and they managed to find some articles of clothing, all more or less torn, though it came in handily for something; also three barrels of pork and beef, minus the pickle, three barrels of flour, two hams not worth much, and two five-gallon oil cans. That afternoon I started out to see what I could find. I picked up an onion and as that was not worth carrying back to camp, I ate it. I got back at dark, just in season for supper; had for my share a few clams, and, after a drink of water, I went to sleep.
"Next morning (Tuesday) we were all feeling pretty weak, but I thought it best to move our camp nearer to the fresh water. As one of the men had found an old deserted camp about a mile away, with a nice well of fresh water quite handy to it, we decided to go there. All took a little of something, and we started along the beach. I was three hours getting there, and was not the last to arrive. The travelling was so hard we were obliged to stop and rest very often, owing to our weak condition. I rested a short time and then started off down the beach again, as I was not of much use at the
a
CAPT. BENJAMIN OLIVER REYNOLDS
33
BY GEORGE GRANVILLE PUTNAM
camp, owing to my helpless arm. At four o'clock that afternoon I had wandered about two miles and I was get- ting exhausted. I went into the bushes and lay down with the intention of stopping there all night, but as the sun went down and it got cooler, I began to feel stronger. Thinking if I stayed away all night they would be wor- ried about me, I started back again, and was once more just in time for supper. Captain Reynolds sat in the middle of the crowd, giving a slice of raw salt beef to each one. I took my slice, chewed it awhile, but could not swallow it, and this, with a good drink of water, com- prised my mcal. I then went to sleep and slept soundly all night.
"All turned out Wednesday morning at daylight 'and went down to the beach to haul some sails up above high- water mark, in case we should need them for our raft. As I went along I found a tin of corn, but as the tin had a hole in it, the contents were sour. We could not afford to lose it, so we opened it and had a couple of mouthfuls apiece. After securing the sails, we started for the roof to see what else of value we might obtain. We wanted to find a magnifying glass to start a fire with. I had tried my watch crystal the day before, but that was of no use. We knew that if we got a fire we should be all right for a long time, as there were plenty of birds and shell fish to be had without any trouble. One of the men with me found a kind of slow match. I told him to take it to camp and he did so. Another found the binnacle lamp with the "bull's eye" still in it, and between the two I thought we might start a fire.
"I intended that morning to remain away from camp all day and I had been roaming around the reefs ever since. About ten o'clock I started to go ashore, as the tide was coming in. I was halfway there when I found three cans of condensed milk, also a tin of corn that was burst open, but the corn was sour. I carried it ashore all the same, and when I reached the island I saw the carpenter sitting on a bale of goods; he having a knife we soon opened the corn and one of the tins of milk, and by mixing both together we had quite a nice meal.
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SALEM VESSELS AND THEIR VOYAGES
As he was going back to camp, I told him to take the milk and what was left of the corn, as he might find someone who had not eaten a morsel that morning. I also told him to tell the captain not to worry about me if I did not get back that day or night.
"He left me, and finding a good place for a nap. I was soon asleep and slept for two hours. When I awoke, someone spoke to me. I looked up and saw it was one of the men. He told me that a number of men were coming up the beach towards us. I looked, saw there were eight or ten of them, and lay down again. He soon told me he believed one of them was smoking a pipe, and that brought me to my feet in an instant. Upon secing me they all shouted, "We have got a fire in the camp." That was joyful news, for without it we could not have held out many days longer. They had accomplished it by using the "bull's eye" of the binnacle as a burning- glass and with the aid of the slow-match.
"They had come down after some flour, of which we had three whole barrels and a half rolled up out of reach of the water. Each of us took some out of the half barrel in whatever we could find to carry it in, and started for camp. On the way we came to one of the barrels of pork, knocked it on the head and found that there was no pickle in it and that the pork was spoiling. Every man secured a piece of that and carried it to camp and stuck it up on sticks to dry in the sun, and during the day we did the same with all that we could find.
"Two men volunteered to do the cooking. By knock- ing off the ends of the oil cans and boiling the oil out, we had two splendid kettles --- we couldn't have better- one for tea and the other for soup. The ship had 650 chests of tea, which had washed ashore, and after drying it we had a very good article. We soon had a dozen boobies killed, cleaned and on boiling. While these were cooking, by mixing some flour and water together we had a flapjack apicce. About two o'clock that afternoon, everything being all ready, I sat down to one of the best meals I ever ate in my life.
"After dinner the men made pipes of bamboo, the
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1792569
BY GEORGE GRANVILLE PUTNAM
bones of the birds' wings being used for stems. Two bales of tobacco having come ashore from the ship, each one of us soon had a pipe. Everything around us began to have a cheerful look, and we concluded to continue On two meals a day. About four or five o'clock we killed another lot of birds and prepared them for supper, and with some flour and water made dumplings to boil with them. At seven o'clock we sat down to a splendid sup- per, using nice china bowls and dishes that belonged to the cargo.
"We stood guard over the fire at night, dividing the watch up into two hours apiece. The first night I had no watch, but I sat down by the fire until midnight. It was so pleasant and cheerful I hardly dared to go to sleep for fear I would wake up and find it all a dream. We had found a lamp and three cases of kerosene, and. this enabled us to have a light in the tent all night. My watch hung up by the lamp, so we could see the time. Only one drop of water had found its way between the cases, and I had wiped that out before it reached the works.
"Next morning (Thursday) we started off down the beach to haul the top of the forward house up out of the water. We desired to use it for our contemplated raft. On the way I stopped to look at something and thus fell to the rear. Suddenly I heard the men shouting and, on looking up, saw all the men running for an object that was moving on the beach. I thought at first it was a pig, but it proved to be a large turtle, the largest I ever saw. . The men soon captured the creature, turned her over on her back, left her, and secured our raft. That finished, we got a couple of poles and slings, and four men carried the turtle to camp. She had come up in the night to make a nest in the sand and lay her eggs, and in going back was unable to find any opening in the cargo, and that led to her capture. She had 148 eggs in her, all as large as pigeon's eggs, and we divided those equally amongst us. That forenoon we had a stew for breakfast, made from shell-fish, of which there was a great plenty out on the reefs, some weighing from fifteen
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to twenty pounds each. They had a very sweet taste, but as we were beginning to get dainty we concluded not to cook any more of them for a while, but would com- mence on our turtle. For supper that night we had regular turtle soup, with dumplings and onions in it, and a little salt beef to flavor it. It was just splendid.
"I have forgotten what happened Friday. I suppose we worked getting up what we could find. I do know that we had our two regular meals of turtle soup and some good smokes. We had washed our wounds in kero- sene oil and they were improving rapidly. Saturday morning we all started to bring our flour about a mile and a half to camp. We took two barrels, and, by reliev- ing one another, arrived in camp about ten o'clock, just in time for breakfast. I forgot to say that just as soon as we were settled in our camp, we put up a flagstaff, and that we had kept flags flying to attract the attention of any vessel that might hoave in sight. On Friday two men took the glass and slow match and went around on the other side of the island and started a fire there and hoisted flags, one man stopping at the second fire all day and two at night, to keep it burning and maintain a. lookout. Saturday afternoon we got everything done to make us comfortable, so as to keep the Sabbath like all Christians. There were two nice libraries aboard the ship, and one had come ashore without any damage. We found it and put it up in camp.
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