In the year 1821, the Blendenhall, free trader, bound from England for
Bombay, partly laden with broadcloths, was proceeding on her voyage with
every prospect of a successful issue. While thus pursuing her way
through the Atlantic, she was unfortunately driven from her course, by
adverse winds and currents, more to the southward and westward than was
required, and it became desirable to reach the island of Tristan
d'Acunha, in order to ascertain and rectify the reckoning.
It was while steering to reach this group of islands, that, one morning
a passenger, on board the Blendenhall, who chanced to be up on deck
earlier than usual, observed great quantities of seaweed occasionally
floating alongside. This excited some alarm, and a man was immediately
sent aloft to keep a good look-out. The weather was then extremely hazy,
though moderate; the weeds continued; all were on the alert; they
shortened sail, and the boatswain piped for breakfast. In less than ten
minutes, "breakers ahead!" startled every soul, and in a moment all
were on deck. "Breakers starboard! breakers larboard! breakers all
around!" was the ominous cry a moment afterward, and all was confusion.
The words were scarcely uttered, when, and before the helm was up, the
ill-fated ship struck, and, after a few tremendous shocks against the
sunken reef, she parted about midship. Ropes and stays were cut
away--all rushed forward, as if instinctively, and had barely reached
the forecastle, when the stern and quarter-deck broke asunder with a
violent crash, and sunk to rise no more. Two of the seamen miserably
perished--the rest, including officers, passengers, and crew, held on
about the head and bows--the struggle was for life!
At this moment the Inaccessible Island, which till then had been vailed
in thick clouds and mist, appeared frowning above the haze. The wreck
was more than two miles from the frightful shore. The base of the island
was still buried in impenetrable gloom. In this perilous extremity, one
was for cutting away the anchor, which had been got up to the cathead in
time of need; another was for cutting down the foremast, the
foretop-mast being already by the board. The fog totally disappeared,
and the black, rocky island stood in all its rugged deformity before
their eyes. Suddenly the sun broke out in full splendor, as if to expose
more clearly to the view of the sufferers their dreadful predicament.
Despair was in every bosom--death, arrayed in all its terrors, seemed to
hover over the wreck. But exertion was required, and every thing that
human energy could devise was effected. The wreck, on which all eagerly
clung, was fortunately drifted by the tide and wind between ledges of
sunken rocks and thundering breakers, until, after the lapse of several
hours, it entered the only spot on the island where a landing was
possibly practicable,--for all the other parts of the coast consisted of
perpendicular cliffs of granite, rising from amid the deafening surf to
the height of twenty, forty, and sixty feet. As the shore was neared, a
raft was prepared, and on this a few paddled for the cove. At last the
wreck drove right in: ropes were instantly thrown out, and the crew and
passengers, (except two who had been crushed in the wreck,) including
three ladies and a female attendant, were snatched from the watery
grave, which a few short hours before had appeared inevitable, and
safely landed on the beach. Evening had now set in, and every effort was
made to secure whatever could be saved from the wreck. Bales of cloth,
cases of wine, a few boxes of cheese, some hams, the carcass of a milch
cow that had been washed on shore, buckets, tubs, butts, a seaman's
chest, (containing a tinder-box, and needles and thread,) with a number
of elegant mahogany turned bed-posts, and part of an investment for the
India market, were got on shore. The rain poured down in torrents--all
hands were busily at work to procure shelter from the weather; and with
the bed-posts and broadcloths, and part of the foresail, as many tents
were soon pitched as there were individuals on the island.
Drenched with the sea and with the rain, hungry, cold, and comfortless,
thousands of miles from their native land, almost beyond expectation of
human succor, hope nearly annihilated,--the shipwrecked voyagers retired
to their tents. In the morning the wreck had gone to pieces; and planks,
and spars, and whatever had floated in, were eagerly dragged on shore.
No sooner was the unfortunate ship broken up, than, deeming themselves
freed from the bonds of authority, many began to secure whatever came to
land: and the captain, officers, passengers, and crew were now reduced
to the same level, and obliged to take their turn to fetch water, and
explore the island for food. The work of exploring was soon over--there
was not a bird, nor a quadruped, nor a single tree to be seen. All was
barren and desolate. The low parts were scattered over with stones and
sand, and a few stunted weeds, rocks, ferns, and other plants. The top
of the mountain was found to consist of a fragment of original
table-land, very marshy, and full of deep sloughs, intersected with
small rills of water, pure and pellucid as crystal, and a profusion of
wild parsley and celery. The prospect was one dreary scene of
destitution, without a single ray of hope to relieve the misery of the
desponding crew. After some days, the dead cow, hams, and cheese were
consumed; and, from one end of the island to the other, not a morsel of
food could be seen. Even the celery began to fail. A few bottles of
wine, which for security had been secreted under ground, only remained.
Famine now began to threaten. Every stone near the sea was examined for
shellfish, but in vain.
In this dreadful extremity, and while the half-famished seamen were at
night squatting in sullen dejection around their fires, a large lot of
sea-birds, allured by the flames, rushed into the midst of them, and
were greedily laid hold of as fast as they could be seized. For several
nights in succession, similar flocks came in; and, by multiplying their
fires, a considerable supply was secured. These visits, however, ceased
at length, and the wretched party were exposed again to the most severe
privation. When their stock of wild fowl had been exhausted for more
than two days, each began to fear they were now approaching that sad
point of necessity, when, between death and casting lots who should be
sacrificed to serve for food for the rest, no alternative remained.
While horror at the bare contemplation of an extremity so repulsive
occupied the thoughts of all, the horizon was observed to be suddenly
obscured, and presently clouds of penguins alighted on the island. The
low grounds were actually covered; and before the evening was dark, the
sand could not be seen for the number of eggs, which, like a sheet of
snow, lay on the surface of the earth. The penguins continued on the
island four or five days, when, as if by signal, the whole took their
flight, and were never seen again. A few were killed, but the flesh was
so extremely rank and nauseous that it could not be eaten. The eggs were
collected and dressed in all manner of ways, and supplied abundance of
food for upward of three weeks. At the expiration of that period, famine
once more seemed inevitable; the third morning began to dawn upon the
unfortunate company after their stock of eggs were exhausted; they had
now been without food for more than forty hours, and were fainting and
dejected; when, as though this desolate rock were really a land of
miracles, a man came running up to the encampment with the unexpected
and joyful tidings that "millions of sea-cows had come on shore." The
crew climbed over the ledge of rocks that flanked their tents, and the
sight of a shoal of manatees immediately beneath them, gladdened their
hearts. These came in with the flood, and were left in the puddles
between the broken rocks of the cove. This supply continued for two or
three weeks. The flesh was mere blubber, and quite unfit for food, for
not a man could retain it on his stomach; but the liver was excellent,
and on this they subsisted. In the meantime, the carpenter with his gang
had constructed a boat, and four of the men had adventured in her for
Tristan d'Acunha, in hopes of ultimately extricating their
fellow-sufferers from their perilous situation. Unfortunately the boat
was lost---whether carried away by the violence of the currents that set
in between the islands, or dashed to pieces against the breakers, was
never known, for no vestige of the boat or crew was ever seen. Before
the manatees, however, began to quit the shore, a second boat was
launched; and in this an officer and some seamen made a second attempt,
and happily succeeded in effecting a landing, after much labor, on
the island.
It was to this island that the boat's crew of the Blendenhall had beat
their course, and its principal inhabitant, Governor Glass, showed them
every mark of attention. On learning the situation of the crew, on
Inaccessible Island, he instantly launched his boat, and, unawed by
considerations of personal danger, hastened, at the risk of his life, to
deliver his shipwrecked countrymen from the calamities they had so long
endured. He made repeated trips, surmounted all difficulties, and
fortunately succeeded in safely landing them on his own island, after
they had been exposed for nearly three months to the horrors of a
situation almost unparalleled in the recorded sufferings of
seafaring men.
After being hospitably treated by Glass and his company for three
months, the survivors obtained a passage to the Cape, all except a young
sailor named White, who had formed an attachment to one of the servant
girls on board, and who, in all the miseries which had been endured, had
been her constant protector and companion; while gratitude on her part
prevented her wishing to leave him. Both chose to remain, and were
forthwith adopted as free citizens of the little community.