TRAGEDIES OF THE SEA.

NZ Truth, Issue 140, 22 February 1908, Page 8

TRAGEDIES OF THE SEA.

HUDSON AND LA PEROUSE. Martyrs of Discovery. FATES ENSHROUDED, YET FEARFUL Sea Birds Cant Their Requiem.

Dn tb'e tieep is the mariner's danger, On the deep is the mariner's death ; {W3k>, "to fear of the tempest, a ( stranger, Sees the last bubble burst of his breath ? *J.Tis the- seabird, seabird, seabird, Lone looker on despair — TThe seabird, seabird, seabird, .The only witness there. -J A a t Bray., The distinguished naval discoverer • Henry Hudson, whose name is written so largely over various portions of the globe, sailed from London just over three hundred years ago, m a .very small vessel, for the purpose of ttiscovering a north-west passage to China and Japan. Hudson had with him a crew of only ten men and a boy, and managed to reach beyond the 80th degree of north latitude, hut returned to England m September, reporting that, the/ ice to the north of Spitzbergen had baffled; all his efforts (to make headway; The merchants of London, who, had .employed Hudson, were hardly satisfied, and prevailed upon him to make another attempt. !And. m thei following year another .voyage was .with no better, success V this time Hudson landed ' at Nova Zembla, but could proceed no further eastward. In, 1609 he undertook , ; '"''..■•.. THIRD VJOYAGE, ; under the patronage: of I£e Dutch East India Comply.:, Being unsuccessful m -his attempt to find a northeast passage, ,he sailed cfoiv Davis Straits, but struck the .Continent of 'America m 44 ; degrees, rnprth latitude. His moveriients, sgem' ;to have • been erratic, "as', though undecided which course to steer. He. first doubled the North Cape, as thqugh intending to search for".', a. north-east passage ;j next he turned to.- the: coast of' Newfoundland, thence 'proceeding as v far southward, as Carolina ; then nortlrw<ard backward Jo Cape Odd, finally discovering the beautif ul river 'at whose . mouth- New York is now situated, 'and where the Dutch soon made, a settlement. This discovery: by Hudson, who proceeded a cpupleVof hundred miles up the river m a boat, repaid well the cost , 'of the expedition to the Dutch, and the aristocratic families .of New York to-day ought to think kindly of the unlucky Hudson. He deserves a monument m the CENTRE OF BROADWAY, ■ The last voyage' of Hudson was undertaken m 1610, and ended tragically. He sailed on April 17, in' a ship called the Discovery, with a crew of 23 men, and came within , sight of Greenland on June i. Sailing westward-, he reached, m Jatitais 60 degrees, the strait bearing his name. Through this he advanced along the coast of Labrador, to which he gave the name of Nova Britannia, until it issued into the vast bay which is also called after him. Hudson resolved to winter m the most southern i art of it, and the 'crew drew up the ship into a small creek, and tried to withstand the . severity of that dismal climate, m,. which' they endured severe privations. Hudson, however, fitted up his shallop for further discoveries'; but,' not being able to establish any communication with the natives/ or ,to revictual. his ship, withTEARS IN HIS EYES be distributed his little remaining bread to the men, and prepared to; return. Having a dissatisfied and mutinous crew, he imprudently uttered some threats of setting, some of ■fchem on shore, upon which a body of them enteted ,'hds. cabin at night,, tied his arms behind him, and put Mm m his own. shallop at the west end of the straits, , with .'Jus son, 'John Hudson, and seven of the most, infirm of the ; crew. They were then turned adrift, and were never more heard of. A small part of tfoe crew, ; after much hardship, arrived at Plymouth m September, i.6li. The chief mutineers, Greene and Wilson; never lived to, reach Britain, and for all', the information regarding the voyage the public were dependent ■ upon one Pri6Ket, a " seaman, and Ids- cori- * neetion with tire pothers miakes his sreracity dubious." .";.". ••,.-• ; In 1785, Prance, becoming jealous of the renown acquired by British eircumnavigatorsj determined to send out an expedition •" which,' m its scientific equipments, should vie with *hem m every, respect- Two ships were fitted out for tibis purposes, the^ Boussole and the Astrolabe, the form-' «s commanded by La Pcrouse and ,' the latter by M. de Langle, both captains m the , navy, and men of conKideraible attainments, besides being assisted by men of science and artists. ■ ... '.....■ ; ' On August T, : f785, they quitted Brest, and on the 13th reach'Jd Madeira. They saw Teneriffe on -. the 19th, and on October 16 the ISLAND OP TRINIDAD, barren, rocky, and with a heavy surf, breaking on "the shores. Leaving here, the commander steered- for St. Catherine's, on the Brazilian coast, 1 and xm January 14 they were off Patagonia. On the 25th La Perouse took bearings, a league to the southward of Cape San Diego, the west point of the Straits of Lemaire. On Febxuary 19 he was abreast of the Straits of Magellan, and, finding that provisions were running short, made northward to Conception, Chili. On Maroh 17, a light breeze springing up, La Perouse got under weigh . again, ajid on April 8 called at Easter Island. , • ' . - May 28 saw the explorers off O- ; wbyhee, and on the 23rd of the month, ' following they made the land on the north-west coast of America. Here they saw the snow-class chain of Mount Saint Elias, nearly 18,000 feet above the level of the sea. ' Having taken m as much wood and water as required, the navigators esteemed ■•- themselves the most fortunate of men s'"]"- having arrived at a distance from '",< ----^^l^hout' having a .sick person

amongst them, or one afflicted Witli scurvy. But A LAMENTABLE MISFORTUNE [now awaited them. At the entrance of this harbor perished twenty of the seamen, through two of the boats I being capsized by the surf. This bay, ; or harbor, to which La Perouse gave ! the - name of Port des Francais, is situated m 58.37 N., 139.50 W. On July 30, at 4 m the afternoon, the ships got under weigh again. At length, after a very long run, on September 11, at 3 m the afternoon, the navigators got sight of Fort Monterey, Central America, and saw two three-masted vessels lying m" the roads. - The . commander of these two ships, having been informed, by the Viceroy of Mexico, of the probable 'arriVial of the two French, frigates/ sent' them pilot? 'm ' the course' of^the night. A small navy had been- established by the Spanish Government m this port, under the orders of the Viceroy of Mexico, consisting of four corvettes of 12 > guns. At that* time, New California, although extremely fertile, could not boast of having a single settler. A few soldiers, MARRIED TQ INDIAN W&MEN, who dwelt 'm the forts, or who wore dispersed among the different missions, constituted the whole Spanish nation m the . -district of America. The missionaries were Franciscans from Europe, and had a monastery m I^.exico. After a stay of thirteen days, the frigates sailed for the open sea, and narrowly escaped . being wrecked on the Isle of Necker on November 3. At half-past 1 m the morning, La Perouse saw breakers at two cables length ahead of the ship. The sea being smooth, the sound of them was hardly heard. The Astrolabe saw ifchem at the same time, though at a greater distance than the Boussole. Both frigates instantly hauled, with their 'heads to the south-east, and just escaped the -rorst danger- to which navigators can be exposed. On January 1, 1787, they were near China, and made Macao two days later. On February -28, the expedition dropped anchor at Oavite, Philippine Islands, of which La Perouse entertained a high opinion. He said that a great nation, without, any other colony than ; the Philippines, which would establish a proper government there, . might view all the European settlements m Africa and America WITHOUT ENVY OR REGRET. In Decemberj the vessels called at the Navigator Islands, where, m an encounter with the natives, La Perouse had twelve of 'his men masWacred, and, after exhausting a lot of ammunition, m revenge, be set sail again. Norfolk Island was caught sight of on January 1-3, 1788, and on the 2&fch of the same month La Perouse let go the anchor at a mile from the north coast ; of Botany Bay, !in seven fa-thorns of water. But they had reached Australia too late .to proclaim it a possession of France. Captain Hunter, . commander of the Sirius, sent a lieutenant and a midshipman on board the Boussole. They offered him, m. Captain Hunter's name, all. the services m his power ; but circumstances-, would not permit j him to supply 0 them with provisions, ammum-tions, or sails. An officer was despatched from the French to the British captain, returning thanks, and adding !that his wants only extended to wood and water, of which ho would find plenty m the bay. La Perouse, according to his last letters ' . FROM BOTANY BAY, ' was to return to, the Isle of France" m 1788. His ships, the Astrolabe and Boussole, left Botany' Bay m ! March, and m. a. letter which, the commodore wrote on February 7, he stated his intention to continue his researches till December, when he expected, after reaching the Friendly Islands, to arrive m France. This waff the last intelligence received of the fate of , the expedition ;: . and M. D'Entrecastearx, who was sent b,y the French Government, m 1791, m. -search of La Perouse, was unable to trace the course he had tdken, or gain any clue to the catastrophe which had befallen him and his unfortunate companions. In 1825, the «attention.o£ the public was excited towards the lost expedition by a notice published by the French Minister of Marine, stating that an American ship captain had declared thai; he had seen m the hands of ONE OF THE NATIVES of an island m the track bietw-een Louisiade and New Caledonia, a cross of the Order of St. Louis and some medals, which appeared to have been procured from the shipwreck of La Perouse. In consequence of this m.- : formation, the, commander of a vessel Which sailed from Toulon m April, ,1826, on a voyage of dlrsovery, . received orders «to. make searches m the quarter specified, m order to restore to their country any of the shipwrecked who might then have remained m existence. OTHER INTELLIGENCE, ' relative to the wreck of two large vessels, on two different islands of the New Hebrides group, was obtained by Captain Dillon, the commander- of a British ship, at Tucopia, m his passage from Valparaiso to Pondioherry, m 1826, m consequence of which he was sent back to ascertain the truth of the matter. The facts discovered by him on this mission were that the two ships struck on a reef at Mallicolo, 1.4 S.,' 169.20 E. One of the vessels immediately went down, and all on board perished ; s6me of the crew of." the other escaped, part, of whom were -murdered By natives. The remainder, built a small vessel, and set sail from Mallicolo, but what became of them is not known . It was not, indeed, certain that these wort the vessels of La Perouse.