The Makah Mariners Who Returned from the Spirit Land
Two sailors picked up 600 miles out at sea by the bark Buena Vista were thought dead, only to reappear at Neah Bay to a hero's welcome.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The bark Buena Vista, Capt. Calhoon, arrived from Honolulu on Sunday last. Capt. Calhoun informs us that the two Makah Indians picked up by his vessel on the outward voyage, 600 miles from land, returned all right. When at Neah Bay their canoe was launched overboard and the happy savages returned to their homes and friends. Capt. Calhoon had kindly painted their canoe yellow within and black outside with bright red ends. In this trim barge the wanderers turned their prow home, amid the shouts of welcome of all the tribe members who long since had mourned them as dead. They were welcomed as if they had come from the spirit land, and for a long time will be feasted and all their improbable romances implicitly believed.
“They were welcomed as if they had come from the spirit land.”
Long-distance maritime survival stories remain a staple of Pacific Northwest folklore, reflecting the region's enduring connection to the unpredictable and often perilous nature of the coastal waters that the Makah Tribe have navigated for millennia.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.