The Last Cruise of the Saginaw
()
About this ebook
Read more from George H. Read
The Last Cruise of the Saginaw Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Last Cruise of the Saginaw Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Last Cruise of the Saginaw
Related ebooks
The Last Cruise of the Saginaw Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Japan expedition - Japan and around the world Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTales of Fishing Virgin Seas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Japan Expedition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWanderings in Patagonia; Or, Life Among the Ostrich-Hunters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Narrative of the Mutiny, on Board the Ship Globe, of Nantucket, in the Pacific Ocean, Jan. 1824 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWanderings in Patagonia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Arctic Whaleman or, Winter in the Arctic Ocean Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCaptain Cook's Journal During His First Voyage Round the World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Graveyard of the Pacific: Shipwreck Tales from the Depths of History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Narrative of the Death of Captain James Cook Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Way of a Ship: A Square-Rigger Voyage in the Last Days of Sail Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Englishman's Travels in America: His Observations of Life and Manners in the Free and Slave States Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNarrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia, Vol. 2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCampaigning in Kaffirland; Or, Scenes and Adventures in the Kaffir War of 1851-52 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Shellback's Progress: In the Nineteenth Century Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRounding Cape Horn, and Other Sea Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLooking Seaward Again Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVoyage of the Liberdade Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Ten Hours Until Dawn: The True Story of Heroism and Tragedy Aboard the Can Do Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 'Fan Kwae' at Canton Before Treaty Days 1825-1844 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLone Voyager Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Captain James Cook Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Final Voyage of the Valencia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJules Verne For Children: 16 Incredible Tales of Mystery, Courage & Adventure (Illustrated Edition) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThree Years in the Klondike (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDick Sand Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Classics For You
East of Eden Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Fellowship Of The Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flowers for Algernon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Master & Margarita Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Confederacy of Dunces Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sense and Sensibility (Centaur Classics) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Old Man and the Sea: The Hemingway Library Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Animal Farm: A Fairy Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Little Women (Seasons Edition -- Winter) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Odyssey: (The Stephen Mitchell Translation) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Learn French! Apprends l'Anglais! THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY: In French and English Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Count of Monte-Cristo English and French Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Farewell to Arms Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As I Lay Dying Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wuthering Heights (with an Introduction by Mary Augusta Ward) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Good Man Is Hard To Find And Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Titus Groan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ulysses: With linked Table of Contents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Jungle: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Persuasion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5For Whom the Bell Tolls: The Hemingway Library Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Things They Carried Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Bell Jar: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Canterbury Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hell House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rebecca Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Iliad (The Samuel Butler Prose Translation) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Last Cruise of the Saginaw
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
The Last Cruise of the Saginaw - George H. Read
George H. Read
The Last Cruise of the Saginaw
Published by Good Press, 2022
goodpress@okpublishing.info
EAN 4064066174453
Table of Contents
PREFACE
ILLUSTRATIONS
THE LAST CRUISE OF THE SAGINAW
I ToC
II ToC
III ToC
IV ToC
V ToC
VI ToC
VII ToC
APPENDIX
IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF THE NOBLE
MEN WHO LOST THEIR LIVES IN THE
EFFORT TO OBTAIN RELIEF FOR
THEIR SHIPWRECKED
COMRADES
PREFACE
Table of Contents
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.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Table of Contents
THE LAST CRUISE OF THE SAGINAW
Table of Contents
IToC
Table of Contents
THE BEGINNING OF THE CRUISE
During the winter of 1869-70 the United States Steamer Saginaw was being repaired at the Mare Island Navy Yard, and her officers and crew were recuperating after a cruise on the west coast of Mexico,—a trying one for all hands on board as well as for the vessel itself.
The Alta-Californian
of San Francisco published the following soon after our return from the Mexican coast. It is all that need be said of the cruise. We were all very glad to have it behind us and forget it.
The Saginaw, lately returned from the Mexican coast, had a pretty severe experience during her short cruise. At Manzanillo she contracted the coast fever, a form of remittent, and at one time had twenty-five cases, but a single death, however, occurring.
On the way up, most of the time under sail, the machinery being disabled, the voyage was so prolonged that when she arrived at San Francisco there was not a half-day's allowance of provisions on board and for many days the officers had been on ship's grub.
Our repairs and refitting were but preliminary to another (and the last) departure of the Saginaw from her native land. Our captain, Lieutenant-Commander Montgomery Sicard, had received orders to proceed to the Midway Islands, via Honolulu, and to comply with instructions that will appear later in these pages. (I should explain here that the commanding officer of a single vessel is usually addressed as Captain,
whatever his real rank may be, and I shall use that term throughout my narrative.)