40 REPORT ON INTRODUCTION OF 



Having arrived Thursday, June 14, at 10.30 a. in., in the neighbor- 

 hood of the camp, the ship lay " off' and on" while Lieutenant White 

 and Captain Huntley were sent in charge of two cutters through a 

 heavy sea to rescue the men. 



Upon reaching the shore and entering the hut, they found nine men 

 gathered around the fire with a pot of human flesh on cooking, which 

 they had cut from the body of the man who had died and been buried 

 two weeks. Upon perceiving the rescue party they gave a feeble hur- 

 rah, and, laughing and crying by turns, remarked that they were sorry to 

 say that they were cannibals, but that starvation had stared them in the 

 face and they were compelled to resort to that food. They reported 

 that Gideon had died June 7 and they had eaten him. When he was 

 gone, they had dug up Pena, who had been buried on May 30, and 

 were now (June 14) eating him. When they reached the ship they 

 Avere so weak that some of them had to be carried and all of them 

 helped to the forecastle, where the clothes, swarming with vermin and 

 reeking in filth, were cut off of them and thrown overboard. They 

 were then thoroughly washed and hair cut. When stripped of their 

 clothing, their emaciation showed their suffering. 



It has since been learned that the wrecked men in the hut were within 

 G miles of a small Aleut village. But they knew nothing of the exist- 

 ence of the village, and the villagers saw nothing of the sailors. At 

 12.40 the ship started for return to Unalaska, reaching there at 4.20 

 a. m. on June 15. 



The mail steamer Crescent City had arrived during our absence. At 

 3 p. m. the U. S. S. Alert came in. 



On Saturday, June 10, at 7.30 p. m., the Alaska Commercial Com 

 pany's steamer Bertha arrived from San Francisco. Schooner Carrier 

 Dove anchored just outside of the spit. At 9.50 p. in. U. S. S. Concord 

 came to anchor in the harbor. 



On board of the steamer Bertha were Rev. John W. Chapman and 

 wife, Miss Bertha W. Sabine, and Miss Mary Glenton, M. D., for Anvik, 

 Yukon River; Miss Margaret F. Macdonald for Church of England 

 Mission, Buxton, Yukon River, and Miss Home for the Swedish Mis- 

 sion at Goloviu Bay. Among other passengers were Mr. Fredericks 

 and Mr. Wilson, Alaska Commercial Company traders at St. Michael. 



At 11 a. m., June 17, fourteen of the rescued sailors were sent with 

 Capt. Arthur Huntley on board the Crescent City, Captain Healy 

 having arranged for their transportation to San Francisco. 



After they had gone, in cleaning up, one of the sailors found a piece 

 of human flesh in the pocket of an oilcloth coat which the shipwrecked 

 men had left on board the Bear. At 12.15 p. m. the Crescent City went 

 over to Unalaska for the mail, and in the afternoon went to sea. At 

 9.10 p. m. the Hawaiian steamer Alexander, Captain Green master 

 (whaling), dropped anchor. Captain Green reported the loss of the 

 whaling bark Abraham Barker, of New Bedford, Gifford master, in the 

 ice off Cape Navarin about the middle of May. All hands saved. 



