The Cruise of the Kawa: Wanderings in the South Seas

pany. A patriotic celebration rudely interrupted. In the gri

n Ezra Triplett. (We were sp

a corset,"

. I'l

my captain for what was to prove th

Hop Long's Pearl-of-the-Orient Cafeteria and dawn

nths of our trip and ask my reader to transport himself with me to a corner with which he is doubtl

Fifth Avenue does to the Atlantic Seaboard. More explorers pass a given point in a given time at this corner than

s our ship's company was alone. We had the comforting knowledge that on our right, as one faced the bow, were the Gilbert and Marshall groups (including the Sandwiches), on our left the Society, Friendly and Loyalty Archipelagoes, back of us the Marquesas and Paumotus and, directly on our course, the Carol

ing a stickler for marine etiquette, had conditioned that there should be no liquor consumed except when the sun was over the yard-arm. To this end he had fitted a yard-arm to our

sort of insect, rodent and crustacean in existence. He had had smallpox and three touches of scurvy, each of these blights leaving its autograph. He had lost one eye in the Australian bush where, naturally, it was impossible to find it. This had been replaced by a blue marble of the size known, technically, as an eighteen-er, giving him an alert appearance whic

n: Captain E

Note: CAPTAI

ew Bedford, Massachusetts, receives the recognition which is justly its. For more than ten generat

of this hardy New England family have earned positions of trust and honor. By courage and perseverance the subject of this portrait has work

Frankly, without Triplett the thing never could have been done." The accompanying photograph was taken just after the captain had been hauled out of

d the inlet to a hermetically sealed atoll. When there wasn't any inlet he would wait for a seventh wave-which is always extra large-and take her over on the c

icut are peopled by retired sea-captains who have gone back to the land, which accounts in large measure for the condition of agriculture in these communities. William Henry Thomas had appeared as Triplett's selection. Once

hen roused; Herman Swank, bohemian, artist, and vagabond, forever in search of new sensations, and myself, Walter E. Trapr

at, indeed, bu

ons for years. We had

were working our way

that torrid Fourth o

alee", to which we had

ackbird in

g Ora-l

ney, "a blackbird ... in the

ghed f

phoon met, head on, at the exact corner of the equator and the 180th meridian. We hadn't noticed o

I was caught in an octoroon, one of those eight-sided storms, that spun our ship around like a

he last in, having been in the bow setting off a pinwheel, when the blow hit us. We dragged him

ned down ... tight. At times we lost consciousness-at times we were sick-at times, both. I remember standing on Triplett's face and peering out thro

n: A Bewilde

roughout the Filbert Islands. This tiny floweret is distantly related, by marriage, to the European sensitive plant (Plantus pudica) but is infinitely more sensitive and reticent. An illustration of this amazing quality is found in the fact that its snowy blossoms blush a deep crimson under the gaze of the human eye. At the touch of the h

*

had happened? Oh-yes. "Like a blackbird in the spring." Slowly I fought my way back to consciousness. Triplett was sitting in a cor

" I g

r enough back to squeeze through. Enlivened by the fresh air the others c

pped into his mouth. He'll come to presently." He added in an

ce had been the Kawa. The leathern features of Captain Tr

. Of the chart, which had hung in a frame near the binnacle, not a line remained. All our navigating instruments, quadrant, sextant, and hydrant, with which w

we are!"

pologetically and

t'll be comin' on soon and I

I murmured bl

g, sir," sa

ied. "All hands a

of them pulled out at the least provocation. We persevered, however, and finally completed our task. Nor were we an instant too soon, for just as we had succeeded in getting the oars to stand upright a

t," said Whi

t night with the Double Cross

before dawn that a shiver of exp

sir?" said Captain T

what w

must be near land ..

. the faint, sweet note

the mewing of a sea-puss, e

riplett. "It'll be land."

th. Suddenly, the sun leaped over the horizon and the long crimson rays flashed forward to where, dea

... "we ain't got no yard-arm, but the sun's u

came William Henry Thomas bear

." said Whinney (

mber while the Kawa steered by the faithful Tr