ii

in in aa

inin the spring of 1906 Jack

Mrs. London and Capt.a relative of tho lat-

ter, were spending a day at thoashore. From tho bench they were

watching some sloops that wero hav-ing a hard lime with the wind. Thewater was very rough and the sloopswere bobbing up and down like so manycorks.

"Those boats arc really too smal! forseafaring purposes," said Capt. Barnes,who was on seaman1."TheJrVe taking chances venturing outon a. rough sea."

"Oil, I think they're safe enough," re-marked Jack London.

"You're wrong there, Jack," correctedCapt. Eames. "Now look at that little

loop over yonder. It can't bo over45 feet. Do you think It could standthe strain of a rough sea? I should sayMOW. "Tush," replied Mr. London. "I'llwager I can clrclo the globe and bravo '

any kind of sea In a ship no bigger thanthat."

"Bet you can't," challenged tho cap-tain.

"Bet I can," answered the author.And right then and there originated

one of the most daring andattempts to circle the globe undertakenta modern times. The voyage of theCnark covered a period of two years I

and two months and Included thrillingzperlences with South Sea savages and

cannibals who had never before seen awhite man. Several times It was re-

ported that the little craft had beenwrecked and that all aboard had eitherdrowned or fallen prey to the man-eati-

races of the South Seas, hut eachtime the Snark would turn up with anew story of hair raising adventures.

Jack London has thecruise of the Snark In six books andsaany short stories which he wrote dur.tag the voyage. The adventures re-

counted are so startling that manyreaders have come to the conclusion thatthe facts must be very greatly

There Is one man, however, who Insists that Jack London does not

and he ought to know, for heIs the only living person who accompa- -Bled Mr. and Mrs. London on the en- -'

tire voyage of the Snark. Martin John-son Is his namo and he declares thatIn many cases London was compelledto suppress the actual facts so as tomake his stories acceptable to civilizedmen and women. To prove his conten- -

many kinds. The narrative of thocruise of the Snark, as recounted to a

of Tub Sun by Mr. John-son, Is an Interesting and thrilling re-

cital."I was always mad for

aid Mr. Johnson, "and In some re-spects my boyhood was very much likeJack's. I ran away from home whenI was fourteen and wandered about theface of the earth In quest of adven-ture. I crossed the Atlantic four timesby cattle ship de luxe and visited everycountry In Europe.

"I was just returning home from atrip' to England when I read In thepapers that Jack London was

a trip around the world In alittle craft that he had specially builtfor the purpose. I at once wrote tohim, asking If I would be permitted toJoin In any capacity. I told him whatI had done and expressed ato work at anything.

"It so happened that the cook Lon-don had engaged got cold feet and

I also learned later that Jackwas Impressed by my letter because, ashe said, any man who crossed theocean In a cattle ship once and thenhad the nerve to repeat the stunt threetimes was game enough for anything.He thereupon sent me the followingtelegram:

"Can you cook? Also take a trick atthe wheel? Salary $25 month.London.

"I wired back at once: 'Can cook.win lane wick at wheel. Salary O. K.

- ao ieu me iruin i aian't Know a

'

,

thing about cooking, but I wanted totake that trip and I made up my mindto learn. I reported on board the Snarkat San' Francisco a few days before wewere scheduled to sail. She was aketch rigged vessel, 45 feet long, with

beam of 14 feet 8 Inches. She wasquipped with a 70 horse-pow- er motor

and had a five horse-pow- er lightingplant

"We set out from San Francisco onvAprll 28, 1907. On board were Mr. andMrs. Jack London, Capt. Eames, Bert8tolls, a Japanese servant and myself.

llimti. Stoltz and the .Inn lift in atHonolulu, and I didn't blame them a.4t The fact Is, we were the sickest

of adventurers you ever saw.1tae Snark was thrown about by the

' hves like a piece of driftwood and atfht 1 had to strap myself to my

tak.BOt to be thrown out while asleep.irWa were twenty-seve- n days reach- -Ins; Honolulu, we each took two hourwatches. Mrs. London did her turn of

luijr jui lino ilia ii-s-i ui un. one Droveain excellent sailor: In fact she was

test sailor among us all. often

.OIK at tne wncel to save the boat.

6 1

"It was Mrs. London who really foundHawaii for us. Wo quite lost ourselveson the way, sailing far out of our course,on tho lookout for Island, when onenight In her watch sho sighted themfor us and wo ran safely Into Honolulu.

"Then wo set sail for thogroup and took slxty-on- o days on the

' -

m JT (.A 'J' iHr'KlTt 111

,

I ti Pr i . t"W t-- or aPoI 4 w

voyage. As before we sailed at blindguess, and London found I was as bada navigator as I was a cook. I didmost of my cooking with a can opener.I remember one day. when we had lostour course all three of us tried to takean of the sun. When weworked our out

I found that we'were In the middleof Africa, Mrs. London discovered thatwe were In the middle of the Atlantic.Jack was nearest to being correct. Hewas only a trifle of 600 miles outof the way I

"It was during this long trip that wewere given up bythe world as lost. IfIt were only known whatbad navigators we were the humanesocieties would have got ater us andtried to put a stop to our reckless ven-ture. But we were lucky and pulledthrough alt right.

"We went to Tahiti and thence toPltcalrn Island,, where we Visited thedescendants of the mutineers of theBounty. We found them to be a queer,childish, half wltted people. They livedlike beasts and had no sense of shame.They seemed entirely devoid of memory.You might meet them a dozen times

and they would never remember you.A few yearn ago tho British Govern-ment sent a school teacher over to trynnd reclaim tln'in. They are now mak-ing fair progress.

"From there wo proceeded to Samoa,then to tho rijl Islands and the NewHebrides. It was at tho Solomon lsl- -

iVj(r

mere

7Pnnds that we ran Into the most Inter-esting and dangerous savages.

Is as prevalent there now asever. In most places we did not dareland. There are about 200 Islands Inthis group. A dozen of these have neverbeen visited by white men.

"We found tho natives very tricky.They never did us any harm, but thatwas because they were terribly afraidof a gun. When we first made ourappearance they surrounded us incanoes and tried to find out If wo hadguns on board before they allowed usto land.

"The Inhabitants of these Islandswere quite naked and had straight hairstanding out In huge masses roundtheir heads. When some of them sawus at close range they were the mostsurprised people In the world. Theywere anxious to feel our skins and theykept rubbing them constantly andwondering that the bleach would notcome off. was new andstrange to them. Once we thoughtthey were getting dangerous and Jack

SUNDAY, 13,

JACK LONDON s TRUE TALES OFADVENTURES IN THE SOUTH SEASHis Daring Trip the Forty-fiv- e Foot Snark Originated Wager Was

Himself Saved From Death From Thirst by Rain Storm,Just Like the Sailor Story

EAHLT

experienced

adventurous

Immortalized

exag-gerated.

ex-aggerate,

representative

adventure,"

contem-plating

willingness

jlyllectlon

Marquesas

presented a revolver at one of them.Tho man coolly took It by the muzzle,thinking It was a toy meant as a pres-ent for him. Knowing their fear ofguns this astonished us. Evidently hehad never seen this particular type ofweapon.

"At imp plnep we tried very hard to

iiiilSmitmiSimZ: v''llk' slsssssssssssssssssssssssssss

Sssslltsssssssssss

SvsT HLiHIb .7PJ:.iMX IIH

ic d "Fr fij

observationobservations Individu-

ally

frightfully

Canni-balism

Everything

THE SUN, JULY 1913.

the

of oom.r7 Islandget some spcurs for our collection, butwo could not get the nattvee to partwith them at any price. Thero wereabout fifty of them visiting us on boardand suddenly they began to chant aweird kind of song. We learned thatthis was in honor of their chief, whowas on his way out to us In a magnifi-cent canoe.

"Soon he stepped on board, a mag-nificent figure, with a nose ring, ear-rings, tattoo markn and other savageadornments. We tried to get hisKing's spear, a beautifully carvedweapon, but we failed.. Finally ho sawa white garment which drew his at-tention. To bo frank, It was Mrs. Lon-don's nightgown. Ho seemed eo Inter-ested that Mrs. London put It on him.That did the trick. Ho was so de-lighted that ho at once gave us hisspear In exchange, and for days afterwo saw him running about the talandIn the nightgown, the proudest man onthe Island and certainly the beat dressednative for hundreds of miles around.

"It was In this aectlon that the party

g ....r .TtiiisHHHI

kattiiai' MsslnHsW iJiJKlfKBKtBSx

fcjjHF "iiJtu. Sir ssssssssssssssssssssbLsKsssssisIH

'fS,,KAikHkijyBt Buying Mony'StruT)j

of Austrlans not long ago lost theirlives. They thought there was gold tobo found on these islands and a partyof twenty-tw- o started out and landed atMalan. They Intended to penetrat6 intothe Interior, but they were never heardfrom after that. Not long after a heapof bones was found on the Island, notfar from the remains of a Are. It isnot at all unlikely that the entire partynaa oeen eaten by tne natives.

"Thero seems to be no morality Inthe South Sea Islands. As some veryaavancsa people might put It, tho na-tives are not Immoral but unmoral.They seem to be entirely devoid ofmoral sense. A man may have, as manywives as no can anora. if ho Is dis-satisfied with one of his wives ho hasthe right to sell her to another man.The women do all the hard work.Woman suffrage has not yet penetratedto this corner of the worid.

"If a man marries a woman In themorning and during the day finds thatshe Is a poor worker he may sell herIn the evening, or If he cannot find a

purchaser ho can get a divorce. Such

v,t

A Common 0cm-n- rt

wues are maao in trade stuff. I haveKnown women to sell for as little asten cents.

"Cannibalism stillislands, but the natives are not movedio me practice because they reallv Ilkaluiuuii neon, iney navo a notion thatIf they eat the flesh of an enomv thnv

acqulro his strength In addition to theirown. Thcreforo they take erent nH,iIn exhibiting the heads of their foes,and they collect them as trophies at- -icsung incir prowess.

"The men grow to be very tall oftenand they seem very powerful, but thoia is mey are entirely lacking In vllumy. Any.aiBease which wouldleave you or me unimpaired would killthem. Measles In the South Sea Isl-ands Is nearly alware fatal.

"The food supply of these savageslunaisiB cnieny or nsh. which theyrarely cook. Fishing Is their chiefactivity. The usual way a nativecaicnes a nsn is by spearlng.lt. Thismay seem no easy task, but tho fish aroso plentiful and swarm so thickly thatif you plunged a spear at random Intothe water you could hardly fall to killone.

"The natives have a singular methodor catcmng nsh In lorgo quantities. ItIs called the shell drive. Several hundred of them go out to tho mouth of asmall bay in canoes. They equip them-selves with a long string lined withthousands of shells stretching from oneena or tne bay to the other. On thomeory tnat small noises under thowater sound deafening there they rattlethese shells while suspended under thosurraco ana tnen they advance Inuno toward the shore. It Is thoughtthat the noise drives the nsh Inland. Ashort distance from the shore stand along line of girls shoulder to HhnuMorand making with their legs a sort ofnet la which to atop the progress of the

fish. When the canoes have closed Inupon the fish It Is an easy matter ingather them up allvo In great quanti-ties.

"Although we had expecteddanger on our cruiso from

the savages and from stormy wenthi rwe wero never put In great peril by

either of these. Our greatest hardshipcame from unexpected sources, as theyusually do.

"One experience I shall never forgetas long as I live. Jack built one of thestories ho wrote around this lnclil-nt- ,

and I'm sure many people accused hliuof exaggerating. Tho story Is ulmonan exact transcription of the eventsas they occurred.

"It happened while we were on ourway from Hawaii to the Marqupsa.We were forty days out of Hawaii, butwo had blundered about a good deal andhad the greater part of the Journiystill before us. We never could tellwhen we would reach land.

"At this time wo carried in our tank800 gallons of water. One morning wowoko up and found that the natlvo conkhail stupidly left open tho tap of tlitank and the entire supply of water haildisappeared. The shock to us was ter-rible, but nothing could be done tremedy tho mischief. We realized tin'wc were up against It nnd Immediate'did what wc could to relieve the situa-tion.

"Tho first thing we did was to hi'up our speed In order to reach ourdestination as soon as possible, thorn:we knew well enough that there couldbe no hope from that course. We wervstill too far away from the MarquesaThen we collected all the water we couldIn every nook and cranny of the SnarkWe were not very successful, beingable to collect only Ave gallons of

liquid. We were terriblyfrightened. Wo realized that only onfthing could save us, rain, and thweather had been and was dlscourai;-Ingl- y

perfect."At this point Jack took the situa-

tion In hand. He decided that we mustbe very careful not to waste a dru'iof the water we had. He allowed c.--

of us a pint bottle of water each morning. This was distributed at 10 o'cliv kwith Instructions that it was to Iaus through the entire tweny-fou- r hnui-- i

for drinking, cooking and all other i"irposes. It is hard enough to get alnnon so little water In our own clima'so you can Imagine what it meant in tithot climate of the South Seas.

"After two or three days tho wat.rsupply was threatening to kIvo ivThero were six of us on board at tivtime. We began to feel the painsthirst and pleaded with Jack to Increase our supply. Ho was firm, however, and continued to limit m n iPint a day.

Soon tho mere pint of water 1.im'to be worse than nothing at all. I

merely Increased our desire for tn rvo wero becoming desuerate. V

walked about the deck with our tong-i-

Hanging out of our mouths. We 1

nothing but scan tho horizon In t'hope of spying a cloud. There wasnone In sight.

All this time Jack was not at a'ldiscouraged. Ho knew ns well as aiof us that with the perfect weatherwero having thero was no chance 'escaping death. Nevertheless ho 1) I

got a great Idea from tho situation wwero in and ho began to work on itory Just as though nothlnir wi n

happening. It was his rule to work f 'two hours every day, no more ana uless, at his literary efforts.

"During all this time ho was w. r .Ing on a story In which a sailor i ,

adrift In an open boat Is threateneddeath from thirst. He continuedwrlto In spite of the fact that the m'might never bo finished. His courwas magnificent. From 8 to 10 o rrmorning as usual he could be foun I 'work writing the story of his life.

"On the sixth day tho wea" --

changed. Clouds appeared on the hornnd In a short time we were Inmidst of a squall. Wo rushed out up ntho deck with our mouths wide o aand caught tho welcome drops of r 'ion our parched tongues. You Itr .v

that tho first drops of rain nro mhitter, but they tasted llko honey toWo realized that for tho timu being tleast we wero saved,

"Tho storm lasted long enough ' rus to bo able to collect nearly 1 J

gallons of water. That storm saved rlives. Wo wero still fifteen days ltho Marquesas, and not another d-

of rain fell in all that time, but omado tho water wo collected last,wo wero Just running out of our sup yagain when wo sighted land. You nImaglno our Joy when wo wero nhlland on ono of tho Islands nnd dr kour nil for tho first tlmo in a month

"Jack finished his story and It mbeen published since. I remember ntho storm first camo along he ill . t

seem at all to realize that it meant irsalvation. When tho rain began to 'i"ho thought only of his story. Thedownpour gave him an Idea. 'I'll " tkill that poor sailor,' he exclaimed. M II

havo him saved by a rain liUo t

That story cost Jack more than nyother he ever wroto in actual suffe' "Perhaps that Is why he regards 1' ihis best effort.

"On another occasion wo had Jut s

Continued on Fifth Page,