"Preparations were immediately made for that purpose. The cutting stages were taken in, the cutting falls unreeved, casks shooked, and the vessels taken to an anchorage south of Blossom Shoals. That on the 11th day of September and days following the shipwrecked sailors were taken on board and the vessel proceeded with them to Honolulu. "The United States by its laws has made provision and assumed the duty of maintaining and transporting shipwrecked American seamen; and your committee think it should do so; that it is proper and just that a great Government like our own should rescue and save its shipwrecked seamen. And your committee can see no material difference in this case than in an ordinary case of shipwreck; and your committee think these petitioners should be compensated fairly by the Government for their services and losses resulting from their humane work in saving these distressed American seamen. "Your committee also find that these shipwrecked seamen were all taken to Honolulu by the memorialists; that they abandoned their whaling voyages entirely, and on the 14th day of September the shipwrecked seamen from the abandoned vessels began to arrive where the vessels of the memorialists were at anchor ready to receive them, and were distributed among the several vessels of the memorialists; and that on or about the 16th of September the memorialists set sail for Honolulu with the shipwrecked seamen from the wrecked fleet-which was an American whaling fleet-and that they all arrived at Honolulu about the 23d day of October, and the men so rescued were turned over to C. S. Mattoon, esq., United States consul at Honolulu. "That when these claimants left the Arctic Ocean the business of taking whales was just commenced; that whales were unusually plenty and available to capture; that the usual period when whales can be captured in the Arctic Ocean commences about the 1st day of September and lasts until the middle of October, or thereabouts, in each and every year; that in consequence of abandoning said whale catching for the purpose of saving these men-these American seamen-the claimants lost the very best whaling season for the year 1871, and the only part of the year that is valuable for Arctic whaling. "That the vessels of claimants were all well supplied with men and their vessels with boats and other necessaries, and there was every prospect of claimants being able to take a large number of whales. "That the said several vessels were all employed in transporting said seamen to Honolulu, and the expenses of the said claimants were very large in provisions for their said passengers, and much property was destroyed and vessels injured and damaged, the whole sum being as claimed— 21,000 pounds whalebone, at $1.75 per pound Loss and damage to outfits and ship; casks destroyed. Sails destroyed Tubs, strainers, whaling gear, cordage, cutting falls, etc.. fixtures pertaining to spars Spars, boards, and shooks burned for cooking at try works and loss of Anchor and chain lost in getting away from ice 51,033.25 28,350.00 36,750.50 1,000.00 3,000.00 1,900.00 500.00 500.00 71,100.00 LOSSES OF BARK MIDAS. 900 barrels whale oil, at 75 cents per gallon. 16,000 pounds whalebone, at $1.75 per pound Loss and damage to outfits and ship. LOSSES OF THE BARK PROGRESS. 900 barrels whale oil, at 75 cents per gallon. Loss and damage to outfits and ship.. 21, 262.50 28,000.00 156.00 134.40 1,500.00 51,052.90 21, 262.50 28,000.00 168.00 163.80 1,500.00 51,094.30 While the above is an itemized statement attached as a claim in case of each vessel, yet your committee find from an examination of the affidavits of George F. Marvin, master of the Daniel Webster, Capt. Stephen Swift, master of Lagoda, Capt. Thomas Mellen, master of Europa, Capt. Charles Hamill, master of Midas, and Capt. James Dowden, master of the Progress, that the reasonable average catch for each of said vessels for the remainder of the season of 1871, after having to abandon their work and rescue the crews of said stranded vessels, would have been for oil and bone, at the prices above stated, which we find to have been the home market prices at said time, the sum of $50,050. Your committee find from the evidence that the number of officers and men rescued by each of said vessels was as follows: A favorable report, numbered 908 was given claimants at the second session of the Forty-sixth Congress, and from said report we quote the following: "These five vessels had sailed from New Bedford and Edgartown thoroughly equipped for a four years' whaling voyage in the northern Pacific Ocean. They had a large and expensive outfit of men and materials and provisions. Their position in all respects as to equipment, losses, and the value of their services in rescuing the shipwrecked seamen was much different from that of merchant vessels. As has been shown by the memorial and other testimony, their whole year's work, so far as gain is concerned, must be prosecuted in the six weeks succeeding September 1. All their year's gain must be made during that time, and if for any reason the prosecution of their business during that time is broken off, all they can do is to return to San Francisco or Honolulu and remain in idleness and at great expense until the succeeding year. These vessels had arrived on the whaling ground fully prepared to prosecute their business of whaling. The whales were plentiful in all directions. Suddenly, while the prospects are so favorable for these vessels, a call is made upon them for succor by 1,200 shipwrecked seamen. These men have no money to promise for the rescue. They are shut up in the arctic seas with an arctic winter before them; and the sure result, if they are not rescued by these whaling vessels, is a slow and lingering death either by starvation or by cold. The masters of these vessels, the owners of which appear here as claimants, have this alternative-on the one hand, of turning their backs on these men and leaving them to die, while they go on in the prosecution of their voyages, and in making money for themselves, or, on the other, the sacrifice of their gains to rescue these shipwrecked sailors. The choice was made without a moment's hesitation. The masters, with the full consent of all the crews, decided at once to abandon their voyages and to rescue these men, entirely regardless of self and without a murmur. They decided instantly to give up all hope of profit and all hope of reimbursing themselves for their expenses, and to convey these men to a place of safety. "If they had adopted any other course a cry of indignation would have gone up from the whole civilized world, which would have justly accused these claimants of a worse crime than murder-that of abandoning these men to a slow and horrible death. "Your committee also find that these shipwecked seamen were all taken to Honolulu by the memorialists; that they abandoned their whaling voyages entirely, and on the 14th day of September the shipwrecked seamen from the abandoned vessels began to arrive where the vessels of the memorialists were at anchor ready to receive them, and were distributed among the several vessels of the memorialists; and that on or about the 16th of September the memorialists set sail for Honolulu with the shipwrecked seamen from the wrecked fleet-which was an American whaling fleet-and that they all arrived at Honolulu about the 23d day of October, and the men so rescued were turned over to C. S. Mattoon, esq., United States consul at Honolulu." These petitioners also received a favorable report in the Forty-seventh Congress, first session. This report appears to be the same throughout as the report of the Forty-sixth Congress, second session. The facts recited appear to be precisely the same, and the conclusions and recommendations are the same. We therefore make no quo tation from it. As bearing upon the matter of the absolutely unavoidable necessity these five whaling vessels were under of abandoning their whaling season and rescuing these 900 shipwrecked men (all the facts in regard to which are so fully and so eloquently given in the above extracts from the several reports of Congress), we make the following observations, to wit: At the time of the disaster to the thirty-two whaling vessels referred to in the above quoted letter, signed "Henry Pease, jr., with thirty-one other masters," the Government had no refuge station in that region, and had not at that period established any patrol relief vessels in those waters. As throwing light upon the condition of things in that regard in the North Seas at that time, at this point in our report we introduce a resolution of the House of Representatives of the Fiftieth Congress, second session, together with a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury in reply to said resolution. (See Ex. Doc. No. 48, Fiftieth Congress, second session.) Letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, with inclosures, in response to a resolution of the House calling for information relative to relief, by the Revenue-Cutter Service and the Life-Saving Service, to American whaling and fishing vessels in Bering Sea or the Arctic Ocean. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, January 3, 1889. SIR: The resolution of the House of Representatives "that the Secretary of the Treasury be requested to inform the House what, if any, relief can be furnished by the Revenue-Cutter Service and the Life-Saving Service to American whaling and fishing vessels wrecked in Bering Sea or the Arctic Ocean, and what, if any, legislation is necessary to make such relief available and effective," has received the careful consideration of the Department. The whaling industry in the locality indicated, employing more than forty vessels and 1,500 men, is entitled to all the practical assistance that the Government can afford, not only from its increasing value and importance, but by reason of the very hazardous nature of the employment. Revenue steamers have taken on board in the Arctic regions since May, 1882, 354 persons, mostly wrecked whalemen, whom it was necessary to land at San Francisco, while during the same period the crews of other whalers in these waters unable to escape the dangers of the ice have perished, with but few and in some cases no survivors. Some legislation has been sought, and a bill (H. R. 1240) to credit the RevenueCutter Service for transportation home by United States revenue vessels of shipwrecked seamen from the Arctic regions or the Territory of Alaska has been favorably reported to the House of Representatives. This bill should also provide for the reimbursement of the officers of any United States vessel for the supplies which they may furnish to the officers of wrecked vessels who may be unable to pay for their subsistence while being transported to a place of safety. The passage of the bill above mentioned, with this addition, is earnestly recommended. In my annual report on the state of the finances attention was called to the necessity of providing a suitable amount for the refitting of the revenue steamer Bear, which has been in service for three years in Arctic cruising. The valuable work of this vessel, and also of the U. S. S. Thetis, during the last season in the Arctic can scarcely be overestimated. There can be no doubt that very great help to imperiled whalemen could be rendered by the cruising each year of two such vessels, well found and supplied, on the northwestern whaling grounds of this country, as experience shows that they are likely at any time to become the surest and safest places of refuge upon the occurrence of wrecks. It would be possible for these vessels to remain on the whaling grounds until the close of the season and the safety of the whaling fleet had been assured. This course could be directed with judgment, so as to afford a reasonable protection, without, however, emboldening the adventurous whalemen for that reason to incur additional risks. The attention of the Department has been frequently called, by memorial and petition, to the necessity of establishing one or more stations of refuge upon the mainland to supply, in case of shipwreck, shelter and subsistence. The propositions that have been made differ widely as to the proper method of carrying such a plan into execution. Recommendation was made to the Department in 1884 by Captain Healy, United States Revenue Marine, then commanding the revenue steamer Corwin, that supp ies should be stored at Point Barrow, under the direction of the Life-Saving Service and the Revenue Marine, with a suitable guard of men left to winter there. In a letter to the Secretary of the Navy, August, 1888, writing from the Thetis, in the Arctic, Lieut. Commander W. H. Emory, United States Navy, says: "I beg leave to call the attention of the honorable Secretary of the Navy to the great importance of establishing a life-saving station at Point Barrow. Were it not for the accidental visit of the Thetis and the Bear, there might be great loss of life at this point, and the wrecked men would be left entirely without sustenance." At this time the Bear had on board the shipwrecked crews of the barks Mary and Susie, Young Phænix, and Fleetwing, and the schooners Jane Gray and Jno; in all, 160 souls. In connection with this subject attention is called to a valuable communication from Commodore G. W. Melville, Engineer in Chief, United States Navy, a copy of which is herewith submitted. The expense of constructing these refuge stations in the Arctic and of guarding them, if provisions, clothing, and fuel are to be stored there, would be large and can not be accurately estimated for at this time. It is judged from the interest felt in this matter by the owners of whaling vessels that they could be depended upon to furnish such transportation for material and stores as the Government vessels could not readily carry, and in this way a reasonable appropriation might be made to accomplish a desirable result. The attention of Congress is directed in connection with this subject to the advisability of offering fixed sums of money as rewards for the rescue of shipwrecked whalemen by private parties on the Arctic Ocean. This bounty, if it might be so called, would have the great merit of being bestowed where most needed, and if a plan of this character were put in operation it might prove of more advantage than any other experimental expenditure. The hardy mariners who visit the inhospitable regions of the north are as ready as any other seamen to brave danger and extend succor to the extent of their ability; but as circumstances now are it can readily be seen that when a disaster occurs those nearest to the scene are subject to a trial of no ordinary nature. They might have to abandon all chances of a profitable season if they saved and took on board a large number of shipwrecked men, as then the consideration of their own safety would compel them to leave the whaling grounds and return home, unless they were relieved of those whom they had rescued by a Government vessel or able to transport them to a station of refuge. It is also possible that in certain cases the knowledge of definite rewards, if communicated to the natives of that part of the world, might cause them to make searches and attempt rescues at a time when no other aid could be dispatched to those in peril. Respectfully, yours, The SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, C. S. FAIRCHILD, Washington, D. C. We further observe that immediately after the foregoing letter from the Secretary of the Treasury had been received by the House of Representatives, to wit, on the 15th day of the same month, a favorable report in regard to the matter of establishing a refuge station in those regions was committed to the Committee of the Whole House. (See H. Report No. 3751, Fiftieth Congress, second session.) S. Doc. 231, pt 335 As showing the imperative necessity which the committee who had the consideration of the matter in charge considered the Government to be under to originate and establish a species of relief for whaling vessels in those regions (a relief, we remark in passing, that did not exist at the time the rescue of these 900 seamen was made by the petitioners in the case before us, nor was there then any relief by Government vessels as has been since furnished by the Thetis, Bear, Rush, Corwin, and Rodgers, so that the owners of these five whale ships supplied vastly more relief than has ever been extended by all the modes of relief ever furnished by the Government, if we count the number of lives saved), we make the following quotations from said report: "With reference to the proposed establishment of stations of refuge at suitable points on the coast of Alaska bordering on the Arctic Ocean there seems to be a unanimous concurrence of opinion as to the necessity for immediate action on the part of Congress. The whaling industry of the United States, representing a capital of over $2,000,000, and furnishing employment to from twelve to fifteen hundred seamen annually, is carried on in the waters of the Arctic Ocean under difficulties of navigation which are magnified by the unknown character of the region and menaced by dangers which are increased a hundredfold by the remoteness and isolation of the scene of its labors. "From statistics gathered from the most authentic sources it appears that no less than 76 whaling vessels have been lost in the Arctic Ocean during the period from 1868 to 1888, or an average of nearly 4 vessels per year. The greatest number of ships employed in whaling during this period was 53 and the least number 16. The average number of vessels employed annually was 32.7 and the percentage of losses was 12.2 per cent. "From testimony of shipmasters who have suffered disaster in the Arctic Ocean it appears that the ordinary resources of the sailor, such as escape by small boats to the shore and communication with settlements, is of no avail in these uninhabited and desolate regions. If by extraordinary exertions they succeed in reaching land, it has never happened that they have been able to transport sufficient food over the rough ice floes to last them any length of time, and the desolate character of the country, trackless and almost entirely devoid of game, would make the building of houses and the procuring of food for a long journey simply impossible. "The natives of Alaska in this region, while being friendly, are few in number, and could not be depended upon to furnish succor to even a small number of shipwrecked seamen. * * * "In the cases of disaster to vessels of the whaling fleet where assistance has been rendered and the lives of the crews saved it has been during the summer season, while the revenue cutter which is annually_dispatched to these waters was in the field. The wonderful record of Captain Healy, of the United States Revenue Marine, in rescuing and bringing back to the United States over three hundred and fifty seamen, is a glorious tribute to the energy and indomitable courage of that officer and the efficiency of our Revenue-Marine Service. But human endeavor has its limits. When the sea is frozen over, no power on earth can reach shipwrecked vessels to render assistance. We only help them, and the only chance of sustaining life through the long winter and until the succeeding year's open water affords a passage for relief vessels is to find some shelter on shore. "From the experience of shipmasters and the recommendations of Government officers well acquainted with Arctic matters it appears necessary that stations of refuge suitably equipped and furnished with clothing and food for the subsistence of at least 100 men for nine months should be established. * * * "It is not proposed in establishing stations of refuge to supersede the employment of Government vessels in the work of relief of the whaling fleet during the summer season, but it is intended, on the contrary, to render more efficient this invaluable service by supplying means whose necessity has long been felt by which seamen wrecked early in the season could be placed on the shore and sustained until the time for the departure of the protecting vessels from the Arctic had arrived. In the absence of such places of refuge the Bear this year was compelled to leave the Arctic a month earlier than usual in order to bring back 106 seamen who had been rescued from four vessels shipwrecked at Point Barrow early in August. "In connection with this subject of relief it is of interest to note the case of the bark Ohio, of New Bedford, which, with a crew of 35 men, is at present missing, and was last seen near Cape Lisburne, in the Arctic Ocean, and has doubtless been wrecked in that vicinity. If any of her people escaped, they are on shore utterly helpless and beyond the reach of assistance until spring. It is earnestly hoped that steps shall be taken at once to put the United States revenue cutter Bear in commission as early in the season as possible, and to dispatch her north in search of this crew of shipwrecked and probably starving seamen. * * * |