Five Men Against the Sea
Their incredible mission was to sail
1,700 miles across the Pacific in a 22-foot gig
STwftas running
helpesslyf'vvitfi i the VlndyfjFr i-V .''$
coming btpefefs'dd on the breakers.
By HOWARD EARLE
"VT'ou make rr to Honolulu or we perish on this island like
I rats," Capt. Montgomery Sicard of the U.S.S. Saginaw
told Coxswain William Halford.
Halford, a swarthy giant with a walrus mustache and thick
brown hair, was the last of five volunteers to enter the Sagi
naw's gig. It was a decked-over 22-foot boat never built to
sail 1,700 miles across the Pacific in raging storms!
The men stranded on Ocean Island that November, 1870,
were mostly members of a construction party that had been
blasting.a harbor. After the party had sailed for San Fran
cisco, Captain Sicard ordered his side-wheel steamer to the.,
island to look for reported castaways, but the Saginaw
grounded on treacherous coral reefs and broke in two.
The few supplies that didn't wash out to sea sank to the
bottom of the lagoon. They were fished out, dried in the sun,
baked, and 'sealed in tins. The men on the island had been
living for three weeks on brown albatross and seal steaks.
But this diet had the men down with dysentery and mal
nutrition. Their survival depended upon the gig reaching
Honolulu and dispatching aid.
With four others, Halford set sail for Honolulu with the
salvaged can goods, 90 gallons of fresh water, a crude cook
ing apparatus, and a lighted lantern. There were nomatches.
The first night out Seaman James Muir thrust a knife into
a can of beans. There was a sudden pop, a quick wheeze. A
foul odor drifted through the boat. Two more cans of beans,
a tin of rice, and three cans of grits popped, wheezed, and
emitted the same foul odor.. All spoiled!
"We'll have to go back," Muir blurted.
"Never," bellowed Halford. "We'll eat the stuff if it kills
us!" It nearly did, and the remainder went overboard.
Violent storms raked the ocean, making a plaything of
the little boat Halford spent most of his time at the tiller.
The others were too sick to spell him. One day he sighted a "
huge log beyond the gig's bow. He fought to avoid it, but the
wind and waves were too much for him. The gig shuddered
as her bottom struck. She stood fully awash, teetering cra
zily. Then a roller swept in and lifted the boat over.
"We're done for!" Lieut. John Talbot screamed from the
hatch. "The boat's streaming water."
Halford knew what had happened. The crash had opened
seams in the boat's bottom. The sea was rushing in.
Succeeding storms opened more seams. The men bailed
continuously, and the skin between their fingers and toes
1 split. Their joints, continually wet, stiffened and throbbed.
Twenty-eight days out of Ocean Island, Halford scanned
the horizon in the first clear light of dawn. His heart leaped.
"Land! Land!" he screamed.
But the wind and the sea were not done with him. The
wind hauled around to the southwest and blew up a gale.
For three days land lay in sight, but they couldn't reach it.
Near the close of the third dayi Halford went below to sleep
but was jolted awake by the gig's motion.
The boat was running before the wind, close to the outer
line of breakers. She came out broadside on the breakers
and pitched over, catapulting Halford into the sea.
Halford climbed on the gig's bottom and ripped off his
water-soaked clothes. He clung to the boat as the sea tossed
it like a barrel in a whirlpool. He got the boat righted and
steered it into a quiet channel. . ..
A starved, naked skeleton, Halford waded ashore at Kali
chi Kai, Hawaii, after 31 days at sea. He brought the
gig into port dismasted, waterlogged, and stove in at the
bow after a 1,700-mile voyage through fierce storms.
Exhausted and crippled by a- splinter in his knee, Halford
dropped on the sands and slept until a hot sun awakened
him. Then he staggered over the island and found natives
who recovered the bodies of the others. Halford sailed to
Honolulu and reported to the U. S. Consul. All hands were
rescued from Ocean Island. .
Halford was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Years later,' when America entered World War I, Halford
at 75 was recalled to active duty and commissioned a lieu
tenant, senior grade. The Government accorded him a final
honor in January, 1943, when a destroyer was christened
the U.S.S. William Halford.
Still on exhibit at the U.S. Naval Academy are the Sagi
naw's gig and sextant, together with a plaque commemorat
ing the gallantry of the men who sailed her.
IUU5TRATION SY ROBERT SHORE
a
Family Weekly, April 23, 1961