TRAGIC CRUISE OF FANATICS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 10958, 26 December 1911, Page 1

TRAGIC CRUISE OF FANATICS.

WORLD-HLKSSING MISSION OF '•HOLY GHOSTERS."

Of the many strange talcs of the sea, none is more remarkable in its setting of media?val religious fanaticism upon the broad Atlantic, amid modern surroundings, than the story of the dreadful missionary cruise of the schooner Coronet, the flag-ship of .the "HolyGhost and Us" sect. The vessel arrived at Portland', Maine, a few days ago, completing a ten months' journey iip\ and down the African and American coasts, with her fanatical sectarians, men,- women, and children, emaciated by. starvation,' and with a list of eleven deaths asj.a- result of.'the voyage; The leader "of .the -Holy Ghosters, Erank W." Sandford, who declares liimself to be the reincar-' nation of- Elijah and David, is now under arrest, charged with being-acces-sory to the casualties aboard ihe Coronet, because he refused to provide proper Tations for his unfortunate followers. In the long story of the adventures of the Coronet nothing, is so able as the fantastic "enthusiasm "of:the. Holy Ghosters, which caused Sandford's. followers to remain, loyal: to . him\ amid. the most pitiful treatment to. which they were subjected'. The.' 'Holy.. Ghost, and Us" ford twenty.'. years ago, whenhe. was t'wenty-nihe... It numbers, "about five hundred persons; irho/dwell together at Shilob, near Durham, Maine. ■ ' —A Bad Start.— The central belief, is that the Second Advent is.near at hand, and the,fol-r owers are compelled to subordinate: jverything, including family, ties,' to preparing theriiselv,es by constant religious observations, for the. imminent end of the. world. "''/ Sandford, who is of a-roving disposi- ' tion, has owned; for. several years: two sailing boats/'tlie. Coronet: and/the Kingdom, the une a schooner, the other . a barquentine. Last December, he. decided to start on a mission cruise. The missionary efforts of. the" Holy Ghosters consist not in endeavoring "to;gain converts, but in visiting various lands, and conferring a blessing from sea upon the foreign countries. ' The ceremony, performed by the whole company, is noisy, and conduces to a frenzy of religious feeling. The Coronet, with Sandford and twenty-five others aboard, started from l'ortland, Maine, a few. days-before last Christmas, and" joined' the Kingdom, with forty other Holy Gfhosters, in Chesapeake Bay. More than half the entire company were, women and children. On December,"2s, 1910, the Corpnet left Chesapeake for Africa, followed a few days later by the Kingdom. The latter was left.behind to obtain mail. Six sailors tried "to. row ashore in aheavy sea, and two were drowned, but the bodies were recovered. Fearing the I shore authorities would start an in- I vesigation, ho landing was made, nnd ' the bodies were brought back to the' Kingdom, where they received a sea burial. Under these inauspicious circumstances the.start was made. The two j vessels met off the Canary Islands', and continued the voyage together. At the end of January the.African coast was sighted, and the rite of purification was performed. Then, skirting the coast, the fanatics reached the Oro River Spanish settlement. The Spaniards, astonished at their visitors, prevailed on them not to land, fearing disquiet, among the natives. So the voyage continued down the coast. They came upon an old French warship wrecked on the sands, and they stopped long enough to secure from it a,,quantity of rigging,'screws, old~cbpper pipes, j and like articles of doubtful usefulness. —The Ordeal-by Tliirst— | Then came a journey to the Cape Yerd Islands, and after that the vessels set a course for Bathurst, the capital of Gambia. The Kingdom, relying on the religious inspiration of her captain instead of. charts, ran aground, and became a total wreck. The Holy Ghosters all reached shore twenty-five miles above Bat-hurst, and made their way to the settlement. A few days later they were picked up by the Coronet, which had become separated from the other ship. • The real hardships of the voyage then began. There were some sixty people now on the Coronet, which measures a length of 110 feet. The. little newcomers made it impossible; to permit any comfort at all.

Sandford and his family of five occupied three cabins in something like comparativ.c luxury, but the others were huddled everywhere. The women and children, were crowded- in the yacht's saloon, and most of the men had to sleep on deck. At the time of leaving Bathurst, all were in"good health. The.only casualty had been the death of the Coronet's cook, who had died of dropsy, not due to.'privation. • On leaving port, the Coronet was short of water, but fairly -well stocked with food" ' Sandford- refused to consider any. suggestion's about.starting for home. He.pe'rsisted-in.-following.out his original firograinme*" <sf'' saying Africa for the Judgment-day: by. "blessing it, and the overcrowded"craft started for Sierra Leone. " '.'•'.."?

Sixty "gallo.hs of w'ater. was the total supply, on the. Coronet. Sandford refused' to take any aboard at," Bathurst because he had developed" a horror of having anything to do with "landings. The water dwindled, until finally three niouthfuls a. day'was the limit. Once, a day, two.'of the crew passed among the people,' holding a bottle to each mouth) and permitting ' billy, three gulps. The boat, began to leak, necessitating constant Use of the , pumps, which had to be continued, throughout all the rest of' the voyage. —and by Hunger.—

A tramp steamer. was, sighted, and was asked for water. She could spare only a. single cask. Before it w;as gone, the Dover Castle was encountered, and from her 500 gallons "of : water were secured. Sandford immediately ordered a religious service, declaring the water had come iix- direct answer to his prayers.- " , Provisions now began 'to grow short, and coincidentally Sandford' changed the Coronet's, course towards: Trinidad, instead of towards Sierra Leone. It was the end of May,' and when, the new moon arose on the 28th Sandford ordered a religious fast,'.to continue, during the lunar month'. Meals were cut down" to one a day. It was very slim fare, consisting of gruel and biscuits, with a" little fish, for animal flesh is abhorrent to tho. Holy Ghosters. There' was- a protest from one or two 6f-the: sailors; when. Sandford ordered the Coronet to leave the African coast: and start .across the Atlantic for Trinidad with •no adequate food supply.' ;,,Y '.'.'.. But nearly, all. the fanatics loyally upheld their leadeiv. He declared.alLthcy needed to secure food.-yya^/ and he prayed openly for the; Deity "to make a slaughter: pe.u. of, the" .'Coronet', unless - the '.people' continued: their faith." The women and; children were treated by Sandford I'tlian . the tnen,'and were allowed two mean meals ai day, but, the men were held; rigorously to the lunar fast.y '

Once a fruit.ship, laden with bananas, wasencountered, and gave, some of her fruit to the Coronet, which eked out the ever-shortening supply of provisions. " When Trinidad was sighted Sandford decided to change his course again, and the Coronet put about for Hayti. It was now absolutely necessary- to land, for all the food was gone. So "two small boats put off at- Anse d'Hainault. Immediately the- fifteen Holy Ghosters disembarked the Haytians arrested them as .suspected filibusters. Later they were released, and pity was taken on the onwe-iated people by a French j trader and his wife living in the settle- * ment. They provided a banquet for the prophet and his followers. and •though the lunar fast had still a- few

days to run Sandford ordered that the fast be broken. Then he secured, a quantity of mangoes, bananas, and corn, and wiiii this diet for her people the Coronet started off again. For several days the Holv~ Ghosters gorged themselves, with the result that many became ill of dysentery and fever. . Sandford thought it was cholera, and huddled the sick together in an. improvised isolation hospital on the ship. He refused to permit the use of medicine from the. ship's chest which port requirements necessitate! she should carry! He said only faith could cure the patients, and declared the illness was a visitation of God because of disobedience.

Port after port was passed amid the Antilles. Sandford refused to allow any landing, and his band; though ill and suffering from the overcrowding, said no word of protest. ■ They puriked place after place from the sea. At one island they halted," there w r ere no port authorities, and secured a, supply of fruit. Then, by error, they put into San Salvador. A port officer boarded .them, *and so frightened Sandford that he ordered the Coronet to be headed for sea once more. One of the sick men was the first mate of the Coronet. His wife and their two-year-old child were aboard. Sandford told the wife' she could not nurse her husband, and the only way to 6ave him was for herself and the baby to fast for twenty-four hours. They did so, and the baby died, though the mate, later, recovered. Then came another death, that of Benjamin Cook. He was a retired English, taxidermist, who had given' all his money, £3OOO, to, the Holy Ghosters, and, was highly esteemed by Sandford.' He was sixtyseven years old, arid his death, apparently, was due to,, the food he had to eat. ' ■;

The Coronet had-now crossed toward America, and was one hundred miles off the coast of Virginia. The suffering of the fanatics was intense, and many wanted 'to land immediately. Sandford rebuked them, and excommunicated several, which restored' the complete faith of the others. The prophet consented, however, to. secure provisions from land. He refused to put in nearer than the hundred miles, and ordered a twenty-foot motor-boat carried on the Coronet's deck to go to Cape Henry for food.' The boat landed safely, but did not rettirh. Sandford had given secret order's to the'commanding officer hot, to come back if he were followed By Customs officials. This occurred, and the Coronet saw the motor-boat no more. —The First Meal for Months "After, waiting a few days Sandford ordered the voyage to continue. It was early, in August, and Sandford called a meeting, at which it • was agreed to observe a. forty-day fast. So" deluded were the Holy Ghosters in the superior spirituality of their leader that they" passed a resolution humbly begging him no.t to fast, for the prolongation of his strength was necessary to their salvation. Sandford graciously agreed to this proposal. The Holy Ghosters now subsisted on a daily diet of one potato, one biscuit, two spoonfuls of salt fish, and three-quarters of a pint of hot water, occasionally changed to one biscuit and one-eighth of a pint of thin soup. Under this regime tho Coronet moved up the American coast. Off Massachusetts they met a fishing boat. From her were purchased a barrel of flour, two bushels of "potatoes, aiid some condensed milk. The fishermen gave the Coronet that day's catch. This was practically all the larder the Coronet contained, but Sandford still refused to end the cruise, and insisted on continuing northward. They skirted Newfoundland, and another fishing boat sent them 600 pounds of hard biscuit. The men were rapidly becoming exhausted, and some of them dropped at their work, but, though they passed many ports, Sandford refused to permit tho purchase of shore provisions. The purification ceremony continued throughout tho journey. Then, on a red-letter day, they sighted the Transatlantic liner Lapland. Sandford signalled that the Coronet was short of food, and the Lapland stopped and sent a small boat to the. yacht. It was laden with three barrels of baked bread, two of hard biscuits, several sides of beef, a large quantity of ham and bacon, three tubs of butter, some oatmeal, cream, and .packages of tooacco. The Holy Ghosters threw back the last with abhorrence. The Lapland refused to accept any money for the food. As she steamed out of sight, the men, women, and children on the Coronet prepared for the first real meal they had tasted since leaving Hayti, some three months before. &, —Home from Sea. —

The meat was eaten as well as the rest ofr the food, despite religious scruples. The food was gone at last, and the Holy Ghosters lapsed into their old condition. They asked food of the fishing Beet, but were told to go to St. Pierre, only sixty miles away, if they wanted any—advice which Sandford declined to follow. Another death occurred, attributed by the prophet to Divine wrath at lessening faith. "Then scurvv made its appearance, and only two men had sufficient strength to man the wheel. Once they picked up a floating barrel. It had contained lard. A little remained -clinging to the sides, and one of the starving'. Holy. Ghosters ate it. •". ' ■•-'• . . ■ Sandford reprimanded him, but the man renewed his offence by discovering a bottle of vaseline somewhere on tho Coronet- and devoured, that, indifferent to Sandford's anathema. Two more men died, and they were followed by a. third. The others could hardlv pull themselves together: sufficient! v to make the sea burials. Then a fierce storm was encountered, ripping some of the sails a way. The Coronet bv this Smu had got down the coast again, and was off Portland, Maine. Sandford at last decided to end the cruise. He put into the harbor, his followers lacking the strength to take, down the sails as. the anchor was dropped. A health officer hoarded the yacht, and, appalled at what he saw, immediately arranged to have the most pressing cases of illness taken to hospital. Hero two of the Holy Ghosters died. The children on the schooner were taken ashore on the orders of the local children's society. " Some went back with their parents to the Holy Ghost settlement at Sh'iloh, where nearly all the adults were conveyed by their fellow sectarians who met them. Scarcely half a dozen have abandoned Sandford as the result of the cruise.'- The faith of the great majority in him remains unshaken, despite•the'criihirfal proceedings initiated against the prophet:.