TRAGIC DIARY

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, 10 December 1927, Page 13

TRAGIC DIARY

ADRIFT IN PACIFIC 11 MONTHS' JOURNEY. NO SURVIVORS. Seattle, Nov. 6. A revealing insight into the thoughts of men who taced inevitable death as they drifted helplessly across the .Pacific for eleven months in a disaoled 80-foot boat is given in a diary founa aboard the ill-iateci Japanese fishing smack, Byo Yei Alaru. A translation of the diary, which was discovered in the personal effects of Gennosuke Matsumoto, a member of the crew of twelve on the little “death ship” was copyrighted and published to-day in the Seattle Post-intelligencer. DISEASE STALKS. Disease, the diary revealed, hastened the death ot the starving men on the Byo lei Maru, winch was washed up on the Washington coast bearing Hie bodies ot two of the crew ano the bleacued bones of the others. Evidence ol canniOalisiu was found on the hapless craft. The diary, kept by Sutejiro Izawa until he died three months after the start oi the voyage, and then taken uyer by Aiatsumouj, btgaii wiitii ship put out irom tne port or Mizaki, near lokoliaina, December 5,192 b, on what was to have been a short hshing cruise. Events ot the voyage were recorded in consiuerable utLuil, out not an 01 tne diary was legible, wnen iouuu among one oi uie seamen s personal eliects. Five days after leaving Japan, it was recorded, the cranksuan ot the ship’s engine broke. As the little vessel drilled iartner and farther out to seaj it sighted larger boats on tour occasions, out ehorus to attract attention of the passing ships were futile.

Several times, it is written, fish were caught. Unce the crew snared a “big bird on a tuna hook, baited, with iish. On another day, they sighted a seal, which “must mean we are near Alaska," the chronicles entered in his diary.

The customs men also found on the ship a number of small envelopes containing locks ot hair from ten oi the crew of twelve. The captain ol the ship had preserved the locks for

“burial" in the Buddhist temple at home, in accordance with a Japanese religious custom.

Events during- the months of drifting that eventually carried the 111i'ated craft to the l aeiiic coast of the United States are graphically re corded in excerpts irom the faded diary:

December 20—When the westerly winds were blowing day alter day, the captain began to tuik oi taking big chance and heading tor America. May we not be called upon to suiter too much hardship, especially the men with wives and children. 1 believe the home iolks are worrying very much. It may be everything might have been so fated. Words ot the ancients say the sins of the fathers are rested upon the sons. PRAYED ALL DAY. December 24—From morning to ; ' veiling we spent all our time praying. December 26—Unable to head west, we have at last turned toward the east. \\ e have finally deemed to nsh ail and head lor America. December 2d—Even our deepest prayer do not draw pity irom our angry God. Uh, Konipnu (Japanese sailors’ god), have pity on us or we shall throw away thy charms. No—-no—no—-let us nob think of such heresy. Please pity us and forgive us. For thirteen hours more we have drifted. January 1 (New Year’s Day)—The sixteenth year oi Taishoug. We celebrated this day by mixing nee and red beans and enjoying the luxury of koyu juiu (dried bean cake). ‘ HOARD WATER LIKE GOLD. January 4—Praise be to Kompira. lie lias sent us ram; we gathered n in canvases and shall hoard it as a miser hoards his gold. January 27—A ship! Happy madness seized us as we sight a steamer. We build a lire, we wave, we shout, we dance. But, Oh, Kompira, the stranger does not see us and is gone. Alas, again we are drifting, we know not where. Oh, Kompira, are you without mercy? February 13—Sickness is upon us. Hatuzo lerada has lain in his bunk these past live days and is wasting away. March s—To-day at breakfast we had no food. March 9—Menjiro Hosai this day died of illness (He was first of the ill-fated crew to perish). March 17—There being no wind, we repaired the sails. Sutikiro Isawa (the chronicles) died. (On this date Matsumoto began keeping the diary.) April 19—Yoshirkro Idsura, who was ill, died in the forenoon (He was the tenth of the crew to die, leaving only the captain and Matsumoto). April 29—Praise Kompira. It has rained. We have water again. May o—Being ill. I could no longer stand at the wheel. May 6—Capt. Tokizo Miki became very ill. May S—Ship adrift. Only two of us and both so ill. The ship is now running with no one at the wheel. May 11—Cloudy. Waves high. Ship adrift with rolled-up sails. I am suffering of the captain’s illness. (This is the last entry in the diary written by Matsumoto. His body, with that of the captain, and the whitening hones of the others, was found in the cabin of the ship when it drilled up on the Washington coast).