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Survival

Although the weather continued to be difficult, by September 16 the last of the men, women and children from the abandoned ships were safe. They had been taken aboard the seven American whaleships as well as The Chase from New Zealand, captained by Pelly Gilroy. Built to accommodate no more than forty men each, the ships now had over 1200 men, women, children and at least one baby in arms, to divide and add to existing crews. The Europa was assigned 280 of them, including Captain Jernegan and his crew.

By November 22, 1871, the last of the seven surviving ships of the splendid fleet of forty that had left Honolulu less than a year before, returned to that port with their crews and the 1200 refugees. Only one of the 32 ships abandoned, the Minerva, ever came back. Captain Thomas Williams went to the Arctic the next season and brought her back to Hawaii.

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image of arctic_receiving_crews

Martha's Vineyard Museum