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THE LAST CRUISE OF THE SAGINAW




    [Illustration: LIEUTENANT-COMMANDER MONTGOMERY SICARD]




    THE LAST CRUISE OF
    THE SAGINAW

    BY

    GEORGE H. READ
    PAY INSPECTOR, U.S.N. (RETIRED)

    _With Illustrations from Sketches by Lieutenant
    Commander (afterwards Rear-Admiral)
    Sicard and from Contemporary
    Photographs_

    [Illustration]

    BOSTON AND NEW YORK
    HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
    The Riverside Press Cambridge
    1912




    COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY GEORGE H. READ
    ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

    _Published February 1912_

    ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY COPIES OF
    THIS FIRST EDITION PRINTED AND
    BOUND UNCUT WITH PAPER LABEL




                          THIS BOOK
           IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF THE NOBLE
               MEN WHO LOST THEIR LIVES IN THE
                 EFFORT TO OBTAIN RELIEF FOR
                      THEIR SHIPWRECKED
                           COMRADES




PREFACE

Dear Mr. Read:--

I am greatly obliged to you for letting me read your deeply
interesting account of the wreck of the poor Saginaw and the loss of
Lieutenant Talbot. With General Cutter's approval I shall take the
manuscript with me to Boston, but I will return it carefully.

I leave the two photographs, but I have the curious drawing and
newspaper scraps, which I will safely return.

                                      Very truly yours,
                                                  EDWARD E. HALE.

  Dec. 21, 1880.
    WASHINGTON.

A recent re-reading of the above old letter from a friend who in his
lifetime stood so high in the literary world, has, together with the
suggestions of other friends and shipmates, decided me to launch my
narrative of the cruise and wreck of the Saginaw on the sea of
publicity.

The story itself may be lost in the immense current of literature
constantly pouring forth, but some good friends advise me to the
contrary.

The fact that stories of sea life and adventure have ever possessed
the power to attract the interest and stir the imagination, adds to
the courage given me to set forth my plain unadorned story without any
pretensions to literary excellence.

Some of the first instructions given to a newly fledged naval officer
enjoin upon him the necessity for brevity and directness in his
official communications, both oral and written, and eventually he
becomes addicted to formal expressions that pervade his entire
correspondence. Eloquence or sentiment would probably be crushed with
a reprimand. I trust, therefore, that the reader will consider the
above conditions as they have surrounded me throughout my service,
should he or she find a lack of decorative language in my narrative.

To my mind, as a participant in the related events, there is material
in the story to rival the fictions of Fenimore Cooper or Marryat, and
I think that the heroes who gave up their lives in the effort to save
their shipmates should stand as high on the roll of fame as do those
lost amid battle smoke and carnage.

                                                    G.H.R.

  August 16, 1911.




CONTENTS


I. THE BEGINNING OF THE CRUISE                                  1

II. THE WRECK                                                  12

III. ON THE ISLAND                                             31

IV. THE SAILING OF THE GIG                                     58

V. WAITING                                                     72

VI. RESCUED                                                    85

VII. THE FATE OF THE GIG                                       96

     APPENDIX                                                 121




ILLUSTRATIONS


LIEUT.-COMMANDER MONTGOMERY SICARD                 _Frontispiece_

U.S. STEAMER SAGINAW, FOURTH-RATE                               2

THE LANDING AT MIDWAY ISLANDS, SHOWING SEALS AND ALBATROSS      8
  _From a sketch by Captain Sicard_

THE MIDWAY ISLANDS AS WE LEFT THEM                              8

OCEAN ISLAND AND REEF                                          14

VIEW OF OCEAN ISLAND, REEF AND LAGOON AS SEEN FROM THE
  SOUTH                                                        16
  (The island is at the lower edge of the circle)

OCEAN ISLAND AS VIEWED FROM THE NORTH                          16
  (The arrow shows where the Saginaw struck)

THE SAGINAW IN THE GRIP OF THE BREAKERS                        24

THE CONDENSER MADE FROM A SMALL BOILER AND SPEAKING-T