Show PUBLIC IS EAGER personal narratives of sailors are particularly in demand at this time OLD TALES ARE READ AGAIN II interest terest in merchant marine responsible for demand for stories of sailors escape of mariners marinero Ma from arabian sands told washington officials of the congressional library which Is in a way a clearing house for all the libraries of the country state that at present there Is a lively demand froni from readers ers for all kinds of literature relating to sen sea lore and especially to tile the adventures of sailors in the american merchant marine personal narratives aties are in greatest demand and are the hardest ardest li tor for the ordinary reader to find there are arc however a good many of them both here and in public libraries and special collections in eastern cities ifancy of these books now being reread with public 1 interest after ninny many years have particular cular point tit at this ume time for their value in indicating the grit with which american sailors face beril find and hardship such as tile the pres plit era of german frightful fright fu buess at ien aea Is apt to impose at any tinie time on american crews A visitor to the capital the other day had in its his grip one of these old volumes of adventure that may b be tied as an example of the kind of literature the american sailors of long ago produced for the benefit of posterity it was written and published in 1704 by one daniel saunders an american es sailor allor and described ills his sufferings and those of its his shipmates in escaping from the arabian desert after being east cast upon its burning shore by shipwreck daniel sounders saunders was a seaman scanlan on the ship commerce of boston which while coasting in the eastern sea seas for a cargo and on a boyr voyage kap front from madras to bombay on the coast of malabar stranded in the night on a beach on the arabian coast the captain having baving lost his bearings on attempting to land on the beach the crew of 34 souls viere w ere menaced by savage natives they therefore manned their boats and coasted along shore on the second flay day out they wore were caught in a gale on a lee shore and obliged to make a landing on tile the bench beach through high surf tit lit making the landing one boat was upset oud and three of its occupants lost their lives among them being nathaniel seaver jun tile merchants eon con in those flays days merchants made voyages arid the father of if this lad stood an unhappy spectator of this melancholy catastrophe III ills grief the author may be more easily imagined imagine than alinn described attacked by arabs wet and weary the sailors lay down to sleep they were roused by the approach ampro ich of a band of 18 arabs mounted en camels and armed with spears cutlasses cut lasses and Ic knives nives lio to attacked them stole all the stores that had been in the boats find robbed then of nil all their clothing even to the shirts oft 01 our hacks backs As the camels could not carry all the plunder the brigands brigande bri gands finally left some old clothes to cover us to prevent the sun from froin bi binning lining our shins one got a pair of trousers ri nother a coat another a shirt but one got only a strip of canvas which lie he wrapped around him thus arrayed the shipwrecked ma inn binem on being left by their plunderers set out for Alu muscat scat which bih they were told was five days journey distant their way lay through fields of burning sands hands and over mountains of rocks find and precipices affording neither food nor water in this scorching desert furnished famished and with tongues cracked and mouths sore the sailors found themselves exposed ox to a sun of incredible fierceness by day and to cold dews tit at night for two days they stumbled on along the seashore with neither food nor water on the third day the party broke up into several smaller groups some sought a shorter route by following paths that led inland saim saunders and three companions tried the inland route and came upon some vines that bore a kind hind of melon resembling seii sem bling ibling watermelon feverishly tasting some of the fruit th aliey ey found it bitter and unfit for food turning back to the beach the wanderers met three arab fishermen who robbed them of some come books and papers p and took from the man with the canvas his sole protection from the he tun sun later that day saunders find its ills party met an aral arab win wh directed them to a well alere they were joined by captain johnson of the commerce and a few of their mates abe next nest day they found food in the form of crabs and cockles cackles taken at a rocky point an on the beach natives were kind the wanderers now be began gan to meet more natives both men and women the latter were kind hind to them giving them from goatskin contal containers ners but robbing then eventually of their shoes captain johnson Ns was as relieved of ills his trousers faring on the next nest day tile captain fell because hla his and nerves had aven airen ho r contracted by the iun bull i un and jews dews that he be found himself unable to 11 arul |