2-979-677 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Rescue of Capt. Baker and a Seaman by the Royal Mail Steamer "England", 1857. '...Archelaus Baker...master of the whaling barque Henry H. Crape, of Dartmouth, Massachusetts...saw a squall arising...[when] a heavy gust from the southward struck the ship, which capsized her, and she immediately filled...he was washed overboard...he succeeded in reaching a small piece of a boat...upon this precarious raft, he remained until daylight, when not a vestige of the vessel could be seen...he [heard] a human voice which proceeded from one of his crew, a Sandwich Islander...they succeeded in reaching each other...[and] found a boat hatchet, and shortly after a small flag...the former proved to be very useful in self-defence against the attacks of a shark; the latter as a signal, by which they were noticed by [The "England"]...having been forty hours in the above perilous situation'. From "Illustrated London News", 1857.