A PARTY OF CRUSOES ON A DESERT ISLAND.

IN the London newspapers of 1823, there appeared a most interesting and affecting account of the wreck and loss of a small English trading vessel in the Indian Ocean, with a narrative of the preservation of the crew on some obscure islets lying out of the usual track of navigation, at the distance of 600 or 700 miles south-east from the Cape of Good Hope. The account presented was in substance as follows:

On the 9th of May 1820, the Princess of Wales smack, of seventy-five tons burden, commanded by Mr T. Beckwith, sailed from the Thames for Prince Edward Island, in the Indian Ocean, with a crew of fifteen men, for the purpose of catching seals and other cetaceous animals for the sake of their skins. The voyage was every way prosperous; the vessel arrived at its destination, where the seal-catching commenced on the 1st November, and remained till the subsequent March 1821. Having, as it would appear, exhausted the objects of pursuit in this quarter, the vessel proceeded further to some desert islands, called the Crozettes, situated 47 degrees south latitude, and 47 degrees cast longitude. This proved a fatal adventure. On the 17th of March, on reaching the Crozettes, a party of eight seamen was despatched in a boat to one of the islands, there to remain some time seal-catching, while the vessel proceeded to another island, to land a party for the same purpose. In the course of the day, after reaching the second island, a heavy swell began to set in towards the shore, and the captain, in order to gain an offing, was obliged to slip the cable, and endeavour to stand out to sea. Such, however, was the strength of the current, and the unmanageableness of the vessel, that the most serious apprehensions were entertained for its safety. In this condition the crew continued in hourly expectation of striking on out

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lying reefs until midnight, when, to settle all doubts on the subject, the unfortunate bark struck with tremendous force.

The striking of a vessel, whether on sand-banks or rocks, particularly the latter, is ordinarily the signal of destruction. On the present occasion, the crew instantly expected such a catastrophe, and proposed to get out the boat and try to gain the island; but the captain, who knew its desolate condition, and believed they could only linger out a few days there in dreadful want, opposed the proposition, and he chose rather to close his sufferings by a speedy death as the less horrible alternative. The crew, however, considered that there was still hope, and, under the circumstances, assuming the right of acting for themselves, they got the boat out over the gunwale, and threw into her a few things which they were able hastily to collect. Still, however, they refused to leave their captain to perish, and, after some entreaty, they prevailed upon him to commit himself to the boat with them. The night was dark, rainy, and boisterous, and the sea dashed over the rocks by which they were surrounded. They found the shore to be much nearer than they expected, but could not land, as it was bounded by a perpendicular rock. After rowing about for nearly four hours, they came into a sort of cove, where they got on shore in safety, but the boat was swamped. How they escaped the rocks in that darkness and heavy sea, was afterwards matter of astonishment to them. They hauled up the boat, turned it over, and got under it.

When the day broke, they perceived the vessel lying on her beam-ends, with a large hole in her lower planks, which proved that from the instant she first struck she could not afterwards have lived. The sea was washing over her, and it was evident that she must soon go to pieces. They were unable to launch the boat to save anything from the wreck. Amongst the articles put into the boat was a tinder-box, and with a few materials which they picked up on the shore they made a fire, and caught a few birds, which they dressed.

On the next day, they succeeded in launching the boat, and proceeded in her to a cove at about five miles distant, which was nearer the vessel. They succeeded in reaching her, and getting out the captain's and the mate's chests, landing them, and in picking up a number of planks. The next day they picked up a try-sail, and some casks of bread which were spoiled, but a gale coming on, prevented them from putting out in the boat to visit the wreck, as it blew furiously. The next day they saw, to their distress, that nothing was left of her but the masts, which had become entangled by the rigging among the rocks, and these soon disappeared. They then hauled the boat up, to live, or rather to sleep under her, and this was their only shelter for three weeks, during which time they subsisted chiefly on birds, and the tongues and hearts of sea-elephants. They had got some of their hunting implements on shore, and were able to kill this animal with ease, whenever they caught it, and its great importance to them will appear in the course of the narrative. The weather was so rainy and inclement, that, until the end of three weeks, they were unable to begin to erect any commodious shelter. At the expiration of that time, they collected all the timber they could find, for the island did not produce a shrub. With a part of these materials and some stones, at the end of a few weeks they completed a house or shed. They covered the top with sea-elephants' skins to keep out the rain, and the weather at the sides, by means of turf. They made their beds of a soft dry grass, with which the island abounded, and over this they had coverlets of sea-elephants' skins, and on the whole, they made their shelter tolerable. Knowing that it was useless to repine, they soon organised a settled course of life in their little community. Their chief occupation consisted in foraging for the means of subsistence within the limits of the island. Seals and seaelephants were the game which they principally depended upon, and these they daily went in quest of. The seaelephant was their grand mainstay, for it yielded not only some parts fit for food, but a large quantity of

blubber, which, being mixed with dried grass, made excellent fuel. They likewise hunted a species of sea-fowl which settled on the island to burrow and lay eggs in the sand, and which they seized without any difficulty. In the mornings, they rose about eight o'clock and breakfasted on these birds; after which they went out to hunt, leaving one or two behind to cook dinner. This dinner consisted generally of a sort of soup composed of sea-elephants' flippers, heart and tongue, chopped in pieces. They could find no vegetables on the island, which produced nothing but grass, excepting a plant like a cabbage that was extremely bitter, and this they made use of occasionally to flavour their soup. Great inconveniences were at first sustained for want of proper eating utensils, as there was only the large kettle in which their soup was made. They managed, however, to make some wooden spoons for themselves. They next cut down an old cask, and with it made a kind of soup-tureen, out of which they all ate together.

Their last improvement was to manufacture a sort of wooden trencher for themselves, when they ate comparatively in a superior style of comfort. In the soup they sometimes put elephant-skin, which had the appearance of tripe, but in taste and substance it is described as of a more 'leathery' nature. After dinner, some of them went out again to hunt for 'grub,' some remaining at home, the swiftest runners being chosen to hunt the seal. At 'tea-time,' or dusk, they returned, and partook of a mess composed of penguins' eggs boiled in water. Now and then they killed the albatross, which is rather a strong bird, and roasted it; but as the young ones were highly esteemed, and as the mariners daily began to lose their hope of being delivered, they were afraid to kill the old birds lest they should quit the island, and in this fear they permitted them to live as 'stand bys.' For the same reason they spared the penguins, which supplied them plentifully with eggs. The young seals were considered as the greatest luxury, but they, as well as the old ones, were but too scarce, and their skins were in

high request for clothes; for, at the end of a few months, from their mode of life, their garments gave way, and, indeed, the climate was so cold and wet, that they were not fit to withstand the inclemency of the weather. The men set to work, and made themselves clothes of the sealskin, some using the hair inwards. They made a needle out of a nail. For shoes they made themselves a sort of socks or buskins of the same material, and they constructed various kinds of caps, which, as their beards were pretty long, by no means tended to improve their physiognomy.

We now turn to the history of the party of eight men who had gone ashore on the first island in the group, and from which they expected to be taken up in the course of a week. During the week, for which they possessed a sufficiency of provisions, they pursued their occupation of hunting the seals on the low sandy shores and inlets, and gathered a large quantity of the skins of these animals to carry with them on their return. At the end of the week, however, the smack did not make its appearance, which perplexed them not a little; but their distress may be conceived, when they found portions of the wreck driven ashore by the waves, giving too certain evidence of the destruction of their vessel, and, as they feared, of the loss of their comrades. For six weeks they continued to watch the horizon, with a lingering hope that a sail would present itself to their anxious gaze; but nothing of the kind appeared, and the party then removed to another quarter of the island more productive of animals for subsistence. At the spot selected, the eight seamen stayed during the winter, living on seals and sea-elephants, which they also cooked by means of the blubber. When winter had passed away, provisions were found to be scarce, and there was a necessity for seeking new quarters. As the small boat was left to them, they proposed to sail to the island lying at the distance of ten miles where the smack had been wrecked, and, putting this design in execution, they landed, as it happened, close by the spot where their wrecked shipmates had built their house, and there they