The Sandman: His Ship Stories  by Willliam J. Hopkins

The Castaway Story

NCE upon a time there was a wide river that ran into the ocean, and beside it was a little city. And in that city was a wharf where great ships came from far countries. And a narrow road led down a very steep hill to that wharf, and anybody that wanted to go to the wharf had to go down the steep hill on the narrow road, for there wasn't any other way. And because ships had come there for a great many years, and all the sailors and all the captains and all the men who had business with the ships had to go on that narrow road, the flagstones that made the sidewalks were much worn. That was a great many years ago.

The river and the ocean are there yet, as they always have been and always will be and the city is there, but it is a different kind of a city from what it used to be. And the wharf is slowly falling down, for it is not used now; and the narrow road down the steep hill is all grown up with weeds and grass.

Once, in the long ago, the brig Industry  had sailed from that wharf on a voyage around Cape Horn. And she had had a rough passage around the Cape, but a smooth passage everywhere else, and she had stopped at the last city that she would stop at for a very long time. For she had to sail many thousand miles through the South Seas before she would come to the far country where she was going. It was the same country that she generally went to, but she hadn't gone the usual way. The southern part of the Pacific Ocean is called the South Seas, and not many ships sailed there then, so that there weren't any very good maps of it. And there are many small islands in those seas and many coral reefs, and there the tide runs swiftly to and fro, so that it is very dangerous. Captain Solomon didn't know that ocean, for he had never sailed in it before, and he was rather anxious, though he didn't let the mates or the sailors know it. And he would be glad when they got to that far country and to the oceans that he knew.

It was hot in the part of the ocean where the Industry  sailed, so that the sailors didn't feel like doing much work. There wasn't much for them to do for a long time, for the wind was fair and it was steady; but Captain Solomon kept two men in the crosstrees, to look out, so that if the Industry  was coming near any of the islands or any of the coral reefs he would know it in time. For most of the coral reefs come pretty near the top of the ocean, so that the waves break over them, or the water has a different look from the rest of the ocean about.

So the Industry  sailed along, and the sailors didn't see anything but one or two islands, and those islands were so far away that you wouldn't have known that they were land at all if you hadn't been told, for they were far off on the horizon where the sky and the ocean seem to meet, and where it is all misty and indistinct. Then, one morning, just as the sun was getting up, one of the sailors in the crosstrees saw something.

"Land, O!" he called.

"Where away?" asked Captain Solomon.

"Dead ahead!" answered the sailor.

And Captain Solomon took the long glass and looked, and he could just see the tip of that island from the deck. So he changed the course of the ship a very little and the Industry  went on; and the island seemed to get bigger and bigger as they came nearer to it, until they could see the whole of it. It was pretty high,—just a high hill with a rounded top, and it was covered with trees. And, as they looked, they saw a smoke rise from the very top, and the smoke got thicker and thicker, so that neither Captain Solomon nor any of the mates or the sailors knew what to make of it.

Some of them thought that it was smoke from a volcano; for the whole island looked like a volcano. But Captain Solomon didn't think it was that. And some of the sailors thought that it was a fire built by cannibals; for cannibals lived in some of the islands in that part of the ocean. But Captain Solomon didn't think that was likely, either. And some thought that the smoke was made on purpose to attract the attention of the men on the Industry. For sailors might have got shipwrecked there, and if their boats had all been broken to pieces on the reefs, they couldn't get away. And Captain Solomon thought that perhaps it was that, and perhaps it wasn't; anyway, he would find out.

And he had some of the sails changed so that the ship wouldn't go ahead, but would just stay nearly in one place. And he told the mate to have out the long-boat, and ten men to man it, and to arm the sailors with cutlasses, which are little swords. For it might be that cannibals made the fire, after all, and Captain Solomon didn't mean that they should eat any of his crew. And the sailors got out the long-boat, which was kept tied up high over the deck, and the mate picked out ten men to go in it. Then they lowered the boat and the crew got in, and the mate got in after them. And they let go of the ropes that held them to the ship, and they rowed off.

Captain Solomon watched the sailors in the long-boat, and he saw them come near the shore, and he saw them go along in the water near the shore, looking for a place where they could land. For there was a great surf all along the shore, although it didn't look like much from the Industry. And at last they found a place where they could get through, and they landed in a little cove that was hidden from the ship so that Captain Solomon couldn't see them any more; and, because he couldn't see them, he was worried. But pretty soon the mate came out on the beach where Captain Solomon could see him, and he waved a coat that was tied to an oar. Then Captain Solomon knew that it was all right, and he wasn't worried any longer.

He waved a coat that was tied to an oar.

It was a long time before the long-boat came away from the island again, so that Captain Solomon had to make the Industry  sail back again; for she had drifted several miles away with her sails fixed the way they were and no anchor down. And Captain Solomon couldn't have anchored if he had wanted to, for the water was very deep indeed, even close to the island. And when the long-boat came away, he could see that it was as full of men as it would hold. So he waited for them, and the sailors that were left on the ship all stood leaning on the rail and watching them.

And the long-boat came near, and they saw that there were ten men in it that had not been on the Industry, and some of those ten men were dressed in old rags of clothes, and some of them didn't have any clothes to speak of; but that didn't matter, for the weather is always so warm at that island that they really didn't need any. And the sailors threw a rope to the men in the boat, and they caught it, and all the ten strangers climbed on board the ship, and five of their own men came, too. And the mate called up to Captain Solomon and said that the men were castaways who had been on the island a long time, and he had to go ashore again for six others and some things that they had to eat. For on the Industry  had been put enough for her crew to eat in all the long time that they would be in crossing that great ocean; but they would not have enough for nearly twice as many men. And the mate said that if Captain Solomon would have the empty water barrels put overboard, he would make a third trip, and would fill them. But he had better not empty out any of the water that they had left, for the water on the island was pretty strong of sulphur, and it wasn't very good.

And Captain Solomon said he would have the empty barrels over the side by the time the boat got back, and the mate went ashore again in the long-boat. And, in the course of half an hour, the sailors saw the long-boat starting out again, and although there were only twelve men in it, the boat was pretty low in the water, as if it was loaded with something heavy. Captain Solomon spoke of it to one of the men that had been rescued.

The man smiled. "Turtles," he said. And then Captain Solomon smiled, too, and so did any of the sailors that heard it. For the turtles that he meant were not the little kind that you know the best, but great sea turtles that were big enough to carry a man on their backs. These great turtles are very good to eat, especially if you have not had any fresh meat for a long time, as the sailors on the Industry  had not. That was the reason Captain Solomon and the sailors smiled.

Then the long-boat came alongside, and the five sailors from the ship got out of it, and when the other sailors had rigged a tackle to the end of one of the yards, they fastened the end of the rope to one of the turtles, and hoisted it up to the deck. A tackle is an arrangement of ropes and pulleys that makes it easier to hoist things. And, when they hoisted, the sailors put the rope over their shoulders and ran away with it, to a merry chanty.

It wasn't early in the morning, but it was about noon, and it was very hot. But the sailors were thinking of the good turtle-soup they would have, and they didn't mind the heat. And some of the men who had been cast away grabbed the turtle before it touched the deck and they turned it over upon its back with its legs waving around in the air. Those men had had more experience with turtles than the Industry  sailors, and they knew just what to do. And when a turtle is on its back, it can't reach anything with its feet and it is helpless.

So they hoisted up the rest of the turtles, and the long-boat went back, with some fresh sailors to row it, and the water barrels towing behind. And, in a while, the long-boat came back towing the water barrels, and with another load of turtles. And the sailors hoisted up those turtles, too, and the barrels filled with fresh water, and they hoisted up the long-boat, and Captain Solomon had the sails changed so that the ship would sail. And they sailed away from that island. And the castaways watched the island growing smaller, as they sailed away from it, until it was only a dim blue peak far off on the horizon. Then they turned away; and one of the men began to tell his story to Captain Solomon.

They were Englishmen, who had sailed in a great ship from Liverpool nearly two years before. And they had had much the same kind of weather as the Industry,—all pretty good weather except when they were coming past Cape Horn, and there it is almost always bad weather. And they had sailed through that beautiful, warm southern ocean for a long time without mishap, so that, he supposed, they began to get careless. Then, one night, the ship struck upon a coral reef that is all alone in the ocean. But the reef is hidden, and does not come quite to the top of the water. It was blowing rather hard at the time, so that the ship struck hard and they couldn't get it off the reef, although they tried every way there was. So, when they found that they couldn't get the ship off, they lowered two boats, and the sailors all got into them. Then they stayed about until it was daylight, for they didn't have much to eat in the boats, and they didn't have much water. And they hoped that they could go aboard the ship again in the morning and get some food and some more water, and some things that are used on ships to tell what part of the ocean the ship is in.

But, when daylight came, the great seas were breaking over the ship, and they saw that she had broken in two. So they had to give up the idea of going aboard of her, and they started off in the two boats with what they had. They drifted about and sailed for nearly two weeks, not knowing exactly where they were or where they were going. For they had none of the things to tell them where they were, and they could only tell the general direction they were sailing by the sun. After they had drifted about for nearly two weeks, a storm came up, and one of the two boats was upset and broken to pieces and the mate was drowned. And the sailors got into the boat that was left, and there were too many of them for one boat, so that it floated deep in the water.

Then the food was giving out and the water was giving out, so that they had to measure out the quantity for each man; and half a cracker every morning and half a cracker every evening aren't enough for a man, and the men got weaker every day. But it rained pretty often and they caught the rain in sails and poured it into the kegs and they had enough water if the men didn't get very thirsty. But if the men got very thirsty they had to stay thirsty, for the others wouldn't let them have more than their small share of the water. And at last the captain got sick and the carpenter got sick and after a while they died and the sailors buried them in the ocean.

After more days, they had eaten up all the food they had, and they didn't have any for nearly a week. But, one morning, they saw something that looked like land, and they steered for it, and they came to the island where Captain Solomon had found them. And they had been floating about for a whole month, There was a great surf all around the shore of the island, but they ran their boat into it, for they couldn't wait to hunt for a place where they could land safely. The boat was broken all to pieces, but the men managed to get ashore, although they were so weak that they kept falling down, and they had to take hold of each other's arms so that they could walk at all.

On the island they found some cocoanut palms and some banana plants growing and they ate the bananas and the cocoanuts, and they gradually got their strength back. Then they built themselves a hut, and lived in it. And they caught some sea birds which came there, and they caught a great many of the turtles which come there during a part of the year, to lay their eggs, and they took the turtle-eggs and ate them. And they ate as many of the turtles as they wanted and they put the rest of the turtles that they caught in a little pond of ocean water, so that they could have turtle in the part of the year when turtles do not lay eggs; for then the turtles would not come to the island.

And they got fire by rubbing two sticks together, which is a hard way, but there wasn't any other way to do. They hollowed out one stick with their knives, so that it was like a shallow cup, and they made another stick pointed. Then they put the pointed end into the shallow cup, and all about it they put dried leaves and anything they could find that would burn. And then one of the men kneeled down and put the blunt end of the stick against his breast, and the shallow cup upon the ground, and he twirled the stick as fast as he could between the palms of his hands. Often the first man would get tired out before the fire came, and then another man would take his place; and after a long time the shallow cup would begin to smoke, and the dried leaves and the dust of the wood that was ground out of the shallow cup would glow with creeping fire. And then the man would drop the stick, and would blow the creeping fire and nurse it until it burst into flame.

So they managed to live on that island for a whole year, and no ship came in sight. But at last, just as the sun rose one morning, they saw a ship which kept coming nearer and it seemed to be heading straight for the island. And all the men were very much excited, and they built a fire that would smoke, for they didn't have anything that they could hoist a flag up on, and they didn't have any flag, but they hoped that the people on the ship would see the smoke of their fire and send ashore to see what it was all about. And the ship that they saw was the Industry  and Captain Solomon did send ashore, as you know, which was lucky for them. And that was the whole of their story.

And when the man had finished, Captain Solomon said that he was very glad that he happened to come along, and he would take them all to India, if he had luck, and from India they could get a passage home to England in some English ship. And so they did.

And that's all.