Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 210, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 September 1912 — VESSEL DRIFTS FAR [ARTICLE]

VESSEL DRIFTS FAR

Japanese Fishing Sjmack Driven Off Course by Storm. Five Men Are Picked Up by United States Immigration Inspectors After Being at Sea for Three Months. San Diego, Cal. —A story vying with Homer’s famous tale of the wandering of Odysseus is that told by five Japanese fishermen picked up by the United States Immigration inspectors in southern California. The men were captured on the road from Encintas to Escondido. Their 'clothing was in rags and they themselves were weary and famished. They were taken’ to jail and there, through an interpreter, told the history of more than three months of wandering, beginning with a typhoon off the coast of Japan and ending with shipwreck near San Diego. Last May the men put to sea in their little 50-foot, three-maßted fishing Junk Symiyoshi Maru (Good Luck Boat) from Yokohama. They were headed for Hakodate, 500 miles to the northward, on a fishing trip. The first day out all went well, but on the next day a typhoon came up. The Junk, unable to make headway, was forced to run before the wind and was driven 1,000 miles to the southward. When the wind subsided the boat was found to be badly damaged and the Bteerlng gear demolished, making her unmanageable. There was nothing for it but to drift, and sail as beßt they might, trusting to their good fortune to bring them safe to port. The first land they sighted was Honolulu, but the wind changed as they neared that port and they were driven 100 miles farther south. They sent distress signals, but no ships passed to notice them. A crude compass, such as Is used by the primitive sailors of the Japanese islands, was their only means of discovering their beading. Two weeks out their supply of water was exhausted and they were Just beginning to suffer the agonies of thirst when a tropical rainstorm burst. Rushing on deck they placed buckets to catch the fall and secured enough for a few days, renewing the supply from time to time In the same manner. It was not long afterward when their food gave out. In the extremities of hunger they ate the spare sails, composed of grass matting, and their straw sandals. Down across the equator they sailed, past the Christmas islands and then northward again, toward Central America. Then they were blown out to sea again. Just as they sighted land. More than a month ago they passed the Galapagos Islands, fast in the grip of the wind. Aimlessly they drifted

up the coast pf the continent, nearly always within sight of land, until they finally went ashore 30 miles north of San Diego, ending their journey of more than 7,000 miles.— The five Orientals gave their names as Yas Kamesaburo Yoshida (captain), Takamassu Kono, Zuzidu Shimizu, Kamekickl Worsaki and Shaikanosuke Kono. They are being held injsil here until orders are received from Washington for their return home. They have been visited by hundreds, crowds beginning to arrive as soon as the Btory of their strange adventures was learned.