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SUPPLEMENT TO THE DAILY BULLETIN.
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HONOLULU, IT. I., SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 188a.
AMERICAN ROBINSON CRUSOES.
The Italian bark Vcro F. arrived
in this port ou Friday, after a pas
sage of about two months from
Capo Town, South Africa. She
brought as passengers the cook arid
two seamen of the whaling schooner
Pilot's Bride, which was wrecked on
Desolation Island on the evening of
October 2, 1881. They were John
Thompson, the cook, and Edward
Carroll and John Edwards. John
Thompson told the story of the
wreck to n reporter.
April 27, 1880, the Pilot's Bride
sailed out of New Londonbound on
a Wo years', cruise in 'the South
Seas, beyond the Cape' of Good
Hope,- hi search, of whale and other
oils, and sealskins. She kill a sperm
whale, lost three boats, and stove,
the. other in a storm, and reached
Fuller's Harbor, on Desolation
Island, about August 17. The 1st
of September found the schooner at
Three Island Harbor, Desolation
Tslsinrl. and on the 7th she was off.
Cave Beach. Mr. Grey, the, third
mate, and five men were in a boat
lying off the beach preparing to
take some blubber on board, the
schooner. Mr. Grey, Seamen E. B.
Cole, and two Portuguese were
drowned by the upsetting of the
boat.
The first misfortune was soon
followed by another. On the morn
ing of October' 1, 1881, the crew got
up anchor, and started for Port
Harbor, on the same island. Late
in the afternoon the schooner, with
everything set snug, was caught in a
sriow squall, ' and about dark" was
driven hard aground. Both anchors
were let go. She pounded during the
night, and in "the morning ,it was.
found that the rudder was gone, and
that she was hard on a reef known
as the Rocks of Despair. After
dinner there came oii such a heavy
blow that the captain ordered all
hands into the boats. The men
managed to secure some of their
clothing. Then they pulled away
for Pot. Harbor, six or seven miles
distant, and in three or four hours
were all safe ashore. At Pot Harbor
a quantity of canvas was found.
"VVhen the weather cleared two days
laier the Pilot's Bride had disap
peared. 'The bark Trinity, afterward
wrecked on Hurd's Island, had some
time before this deposited a lot of
provisions at Pot Harbor, and Capt.
Fuller determined to remain there
during the warm weather. The men
were kept at work improving the
shanty, searching for game, and,
incidentally, at keeping their scant
supply of clothing in repair. For
food they had an unlimited supply of
flesh and birds' eggs. The llcsh of
the sea elephant, when young, tastes
much like beef, but it is coarser in
texture. There were, plenty of rab
bits on the island arid ducks and sea
fowl in abundance. With a sufficient
supply of hard-tack 'and flour there
was no suffering whatever for food.
For cooking' 'utensils they had a
single frying-pan, and this was sup
plemented by pieces of broken pots.,
Later a pot was brought from Nor
ton's Harbor Every boat was pro
vided with a shovel, and this was the
most useful inplcment on hand. The
shanty was made with it, sods .being
cut a piled up in shape and the whole
roofed over with boards from the
wreck and with canvas.
The first part of the men's .clothing
to give out was their boots. These
we're difficult to repair and the. men
substituted moccasius'm'ade from the
hide, of tlic sea elcpliant'. This hide
is about three-quarters of ah inch
thick, and -is covered with short hair.
The men dried the skin and then
shayed'it down thin for' use.-t Later
they invented a clog, which consisted
of a wooden sole fashioned from
pieces of deck plank, over which
they nailed pieces of the thinned
elephant hide, witji the hair out.
This made a very comfortable shoe,
protecting the -feet from sharp rocks
and from the wet also.
It. got to be March, 1882, and,
tliey moved to Norton's Harbor,
and there established themselves
permanently. Three shanties were,
made there,.one for the officers, one
for the men, and one for a galley.
It had .been noticed meantime
that the cask of sealskins had been
removed from the place where it,
had been secured by Capt. Fuller,
and.search failed to reveal it or the
persons who had hidden it. In
April, Seamen Timothy Reardon,
John Melrose, Charles Fink, and
three Portuguese took one of, the
boats one night and disappeared.
They were not seen again until a
month, when one night the men
heard some one prowling around
the Norton's Harbor beach. Going
down to the water's edge they
found the missing . boat. The run
aways were thus' captured. For
punishment they were lauded on
Atlas Island, off the coast, and left
there, being provided with a spade,
apiece of a pot for a frying pan,
and one-third of 'the flour and hard
tack." Some time afterward the
sealskins were found in Pacific Cave
Harbor. Thompson believed the
skins had been, concealed with a
hope of stealing them. .
On Atlas Island the runaways were
unable to agree. Having made a
boat of barrel staves and a sea
elephant's hide, Reardon and a Por
tuguese escaped in it one night and
came to Norton's Harbor. They
asked Capt. Fuller to take thcin-back
similar mission,
eventually sent.
Frances Allen,
olation Island
and send for the two other Por
tuguese. This was done, Melrose
and Fink remaining on Atlas Island
alone.
There was no hope of seeing a
passing sail in that part of the world,
and the men settled down to wait
until the owners of the Pilot's Bride
should send out another vessel on a
Such a vessel was
It was the schooner
She arrived at Des-
September 6, 1882.
Such, ot the crew of the Plot's Bride
as wished to do so turned to with her
crew, and she soon had ,a cargo, of, oil
and, skins. On January,. 21 she
sailed for Cape Town, reaching there
February 19. Part of the wrecked
crew remained at Cape Town.- Capt.
.Fuller and the "mates came on to.
America by way of London.
Thompson and his two companions
were placed on the Nero F. reaching
here, just one week less than three
years from the, day they sailed out;of,
New London.' They have gone on
to New Loudon to settle with the
owners of the. Pilot's Bride for their
share in the cargo forwarded from.
Cape Town. NewYork Sun.
AN ABORIGINAL CORROBOREE.
The Logan and Albert correspond
dent of the Brisbane Courier
Xylites: A very large number of
blacks are at present scattered about
ii. this district, principally engaged
in 'ring barking, pulling and husking
maize, &c. The principal cause of
their presence, however, is the hold
ing of a grand corroboree. Having
got a complimentary ticket, I made
my Way to the camp, attracted by
the lights and barking of dogs, of
which there were about 300. On
nearing the camp, I found it pitched
in a circle of about 50 yards circum
ference, a .large and very good like
ness of an alligator, about 14 ft long,
made of bark and painted so as to
resemble one in the minutest 'degree,
near to one side of the circle. Having
arrived some minutes before the
commencement, we could see dark
forms flitting about, some with fire
sticks and spears, while further in
the background in the dark a wild
unearthly concentrated scream of
about a dozen voices would make
your blood curdle, to be answered
immediately in an opposite direction
by a similar scream or shout. The
beating' of a nullah nullahs and
boomerangs, with the accompaniment
of .a few voices, formed the orchestra,
while the lightning of a large fire
near the alligator acted as tlic rising
of the curtain. "When the fire got
bright enough we could see in the
distance a row of women and .girls,
painted in the most grotesque and
ridiculous manner, sitting on a, long
sapling, which was held. up. with
forked sticks. After a lull, the lot
of females, an old and young one in
alternate rows, sidled over to where
the musicians were and sat down,
and all raised their voices in the
chorus. For the benefit of the curi
ous, I may hero state that the ladies'
dresses where dresses were worn
were rather short, and red was the
winning color. At this time .the' liro
was,, 'burning prcfjty brightly, and
looking away in the durkness we saw
emerging a procession of painted
sayages, in single file, each armed
with a spear, with a '.most peculiar
step to one side and back, while
about every ton yards they all would
give forth a yeii;siniilar, to that at
the .commencement. This continued
until, the whohj. of theni were in view,
in a sort of. half circle, but keeping
clear of the alligator, the shouting
and beating of nullahs and the gius,
young and old, keeping up the chant
and beating time, on. their old blank- .
ets. This, was the best view we had
of the, performers in their paint and
feathers, as many of them. had. their,
hair all stuck with parrot feathers,
and .one witha cockatoo's crest. No
two, ofK them 'were painted alike, and
in .some instances they were most,
artistically done up. In.their mouths
they had a. piece of white or. red. stuff
to resemble flowers. In this manner,
they all proceeded round to .where,
there, was, a strong sapling laid across
two .forked sticks, and against this
were laid, up two.Jong poles,, on whicli.
the., foremost began, to ascend,
coming .down; the. nearest side, on his
back, the whole of' the. prosession
following, suit to the most excruciat
ing , screams. I think Dante must
have ,seen, a, corroboree, before ho
wrote Jus "Inferno," as anything
more like, the infernal, regions and. .
the company that are supposed to
reside, there it would-be difficult to
fiud. This 4ended act the first, and
on, again coming into the light the
performers hud au, .entirely-new step,
which chiefly consisted , in, stamping
as if to. discover how. far they could
put their feet through the earth,, but
with most, excellent, time. On.,
nearing the, alligator this round;
they for the first time, appeared .to bo
aware of .its, presence,, as they gam
moned to be awfully frightened,
running backwards and forwards, '
but growing bolder each time until
at last they touched it, when, an
unearthly scream from the lot burst
on the night air ; then followed feats .
of. agility and somersaults backwards
I seldom or never saw equalled.
This continued for sojne time, until
at last one more daring than the rest .
got astride the alligator, and another
put his. hand in, its mouth. The
, audience for whose delectation this,
was provided numbered about twen
ty, all males, who sat at the left of
;'
