THE ROYAL TAR. TERRIBLE SUFFERINGS OF THE CREW, TOOTHLESS FROM SCURVY.

North Otago Times, Volume XXXV, Issue 7272, 21 October 1891, Page 4

THE ROYAL TAR. TERRIBLE SUFFERINGS OF THE CREW, TOOTHLESS FROM SCURVY.

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malarial fever, and i caught it fmro them. After we left New Guinea, I got better, and w«i able to do my work ; but at the end of a month I wai Uken down again, and had to quit. Third Mate Young was itrioken with the fever a month and a half out from New Guinea. He bad great difficulty in breathing. The cook wai next taken down with the ague, and then hie 14-•year-old boy. We wore making bat elow progress with (he handful of well men on board, and that wu bad enough ; but when we had been out two months we bad woria luok. The provision! were •hort, nod we had to go on only a pound of meat— salt beef — a day, and a little tsa, with all the bread we wanted to eat, We didn't oire to eat much of that either, beoauso the flour got damaged on board ship by pure oarleoineflBi It was left too near the tanks, and the ateam from the tanki •poiled it. Mate Rogers, who took Oapttin Franklin's plaoe, died off Cape Mendooino, and we buried him there in the ooean. Then MoOall beoamo mate and took charge, when we sighted Cape Mendooino. Thomas Peart, an unfortunate fellow *ith gangrened legs, stated that at New Guinea, Captain Franklin sold ft oase of meat and some tins of fruit and milk to the missionaries at that place. Ho did not explain to the orew why ha did so, and they made no proteofa be* cause they thought they had enough food on board. "After having lived on a pound of meat a day we were without any meat for «bout three weeka," laid Peart. " We even had to eat a oaee of rotten meat, for wo were bo hungry that w« would tako anything that looked like food. It would have been some help to ua if we had good bread, but the flour waa spoiled." Charles Young and John Harris are very feeble. Harris was so weak that he could talk but little. Ho said that he was bo eiok that be had not eaten anything for two months. He wai Uken witb the fever three weeks after the Royal Tar left New Guinea, and recovered so no to bo able to go to work again. His constitution, however, had beoame so enfeebled tbet a relapse followed. Not one of the sufferer* hat safncleot strength remaining to raise his head from the pillow. Gaunt, hollow-* cheeked, and gUeey*eyed, with huiky voices interrupted at short intervals with choking ooughs, these unfortunate men told their pitiful story manfully and without tears.

From San Francisco detailed accounts are to hand concerning tho fatal voyage of the Sydney-owned barque Koyal Tar, on which tho officers and crew suffered terrible hard • ships from scarcity of food, and tho ravages of foul diseases bred by tho filthy state of the ship, aided by a sojourn in the malarial climate of New Guinea. An American exchange states : I he old wooden barque Royal Tar has for two or three years been engaged in carrying lumber between Eureka, Pugot Sound, and Australia, where she is owned in Fydney by Alexander McLean. She is a highstaiioned, old type of sailing vessel, and shows parsimony on tho part of her owner, in the condition of her ligging and outfitting generally. She flailed fiora Fiederick William Haven, in New Guinea, on June 5th last, for Eureka, having on board the captain, T. A. Franklin, two mates, eleven seamen, and a boy. As soon as the voyage had well begun and tho ship worked a little in tho heavy seis which were at once encountered, mos 1 , abominable stenches were found to issue from belov. She was a foul and d lty ship, her lower hold and bilge being full of decaying vegetable rnat"jer. The vessel was in ballast, and could easily have been cleaned while in dock before starting, but with tho small crow and heavy weather it was suicide to attempt to Rhift ballast mid purify the ship while en voyage. The captain and crew were compelled to keep long watches and work very hard, ind within a few days of sailing they all began to complain of lassitude and languor, accompanied by sharp, shooting pains, headaches, loss of appetite and prostration. Ten days after leaving Captain Fr.mklin succumbed to the dread influence which affected the whole ships company and took to his buuk. 1 hfii the medicine chest was resorted to, only to find that it had not been tilled. Tho captt.in soon developed a malignant form of typhus fever. Without medicines, he could only toss abcut in bis narrow bunk and slowly burn up as the fever reached his vital organs. On August 31 ho died, and was given a sea burial. Then the mate became unable to do duty, and an experience as terrible as that with tho captain was again undergone. The male was idieved in some degree bv the fact that he soon became deliiious, and remained so until death supervened. On the death of tho mate, tho second mute, John McCall, took command, and was lucky enough to carry the crew through without loss, although all of them were laid up with the fever. Mato most serious troublo was with scurvy. In July all tho stores were gone, exceptteaand flour, and upon that spare and innutntious diet 1 he hard-worked crew wero compelled to starve, suffer, and one by ono give way to scurvy. No dried fruit, no fresh or canned vegetables, not even lime juice or quinine, had been furnished the ship, and until 12 days ago the men grew worse. 'Jhen the German barque Hydra was seen, and 12 cans of fiesh meat, together with a little quinine, were prociued. I ho fiesh meat served the ciew, a can a day for 12 persons, until they reached port and received much needed assistance fiom Dr*l awlor, who chanced to have a little wine and other things on his quarantine boat. Some were too'hless from scurvy. Others were pitted, scarred, and marked by the gangrenous disease until they were loathsomo to the sight. Others, still, showed tho t.iint of typhus in waxy faces, lost hair, and foul emanations from the Bkin and lungs, Tho doctor immediately put the ship in quarantine, and will exercise the utmost care in disinfecting her. Those of the crew that were totally disabled by scurvy were as sisted over the Bide, two of them being lowered away in slings, and were sent to the hospital, where it is believed that rest and proper care will save their lives. Charles Henry Goddard, one of the crew, said that when the Hoyal Tar left there were eight sailors forward, namely, Charles Young, John Harris, I horuas Peart, Albert Parson, Charles Friend, Williim Lane, Horace Cou6tantine, and himself. The officers were Captain Franklin, First Mate Itogers, fiecoud Mate McCall, and tho steward. The cook and his assistant, a lad of fourteen years, completed tho crew. Al Port Frederick William a good many of the coolies wero down with

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