CAST UPON AN ISLAND.

Evening Post, Volume L, Issue 42, 17 August 1895, Page 2 (Supplement)

CAST UPON AN ISLAND.

A sad tale of shipwreck, starvation, and suffering was picked up at San Pedro by the officers of the steamer Santa Bosa, which arrived at San Francisco recently from San Diego and way ports. The sloop Crest, which for several years has plied between San Pedro and Pismo beach, near Port Harf ord, left the former place on one of her regular trips on 19th May, but failed to return. When she was a week overdue the friends of Captain Harlow and his crew began to feel some anxiety for their welfare. They continued to hope that all was well, however, until a strange yacht put into San Pedro and sent word ashore that Captain Harlow and his men were on board. They could not be removed from the vessel immediately, because they were in a prostrate condition as the result of a terrible experience they had gone through at sea. One of the rescued seamen, Henry Wilkinson, who appeared to have survived the ordeal better than the others, told the story of the loss of the Crest to the officers of the Santa Rosa. There were but three men on board the sloop when she put out of San Pedro, thoy being Captain Harlow, Wilkinson, and W. Warren. Captain Harlow's setter, the pet of the boat, was also on board. When they were four days out of San Pedro, and about off Point Conception, a terrific north-east gale overtook them so suddenly that they did not have time to prepare the Crest for the shock. The little vessel was immediately thrown upon her beam ends, and the seas began to wash over her deck mercilessly. Before the storm was five minutes old the sloop's jib had been blown away and her mainsail torn into shreds. The enraged seas swept the water cask overboard, flooded, the cabin, and ruined the boat's scanty allowance of provisions. The gale eased off the following day and Captain Harlow and his men set about to see in what condition they had been left. To their dismay they found that they had nothing to eat or drink. Land was nowhere in sight, and. they had completely lost their bearings. For four days the crippled vessel tossed about in mid-ocean without even sighting a sail, and the crew's sufferings from hunger and thirst were intense. In their desperate predicament they decided to kill the dog as a last resort to keep body and soul together. The poor brute was slain, and bis blood drained and drank almoßt fiendishly. Then the carcase was eaten. Three more days the helpless sloop drifted about at the mercy of the sea, and then, to the joy of the almost crazed seamen, they caught Bight of what afterwards proved to be the southern point of St. Clemente island. With the assistance of oars the sloop was graduallys worked toward the shore and finally run upon the rocks about fifty yards from the beach. Captain Harlow and his companions succeeded, after a desperate battle with the surf, in swimming ashore. They found a spring of fresh water near by and drank until they could drink no more. A search in the immediate neighbourhood failed to reveal any signs of habitation, and the castaways decided to tramp into the interior in the hope of finding assistance. The island is a barren and rocky little spot in the ocean, and travel, for the famished mariners, was excruciating torture. For two days and nights the three unfortunate sailors trudged, footsore and hungry, over the rocks, and at last reached the north end of the island. There Attorney Hubbell, of Los Angeles, maintains a summer residence. Mr. Hubbell happened to bo visiting the island at the time, and kindly took care of the castaways, feeding them and giving them such medical attention as was within his power. After several days' rest the sailors were strong enough to be removed, and Mr Hubbell made arrangements to have them taken to San Pedro in his yacht. They had become delirious, and the services of a physician were deemed urgent ; consequently their transportation to their homes was hastened. Arriving at San Pedro, the men were taken ashore after a day's rest from the effects of the voyage, and taken to the Union Hotel, where they were attended by a doctor. Captain Harlow's condition was so serious that it was feared that he would become permanently insane, and, in the hope of saving him, he was removed to a hospital at Los Angeles. Seaman Wilkinson says that when they left the Crest, upon starting out on their tramp across the island, the sloop had begun to break up, and he had no doubt that she became a total wreck within a few hours.