Using a rough map for sightseers, which I got at the airport, as a reference, we went south along the east coast. A small signpost caught my eye on the way and we stopped by at a tiny fisherman's port. Walking on the small path, I found a monument describing the half-abandoned wooden house behind the monument as the house in which local people took care of crew members of the Bark Cashmere. Immediately I looked for information on Bark Cashmere on the net and found a historical fact. The ship was involved in a severe storm in September 1885. American Bark Cashmere was washed ashore at this village. People on the island got together and took sincere care of them. Consequently, all crew members and passengers were able to return their hometown.
Thinking of the times of the incident, they would have encountered the typhoon. Tanegashima island is on the routine route of typhoons from early summer to fall.
(Vocabulary)
bark バーク船（3本マストで前2本は横帆）
カシミヤ号遭難
空港で見つけた簡単な地図を頼りに最北端から南下していて小さな看板を見つけたので左折して海岸に出てみた。写真は車を駐めて海岸に出る道の途中で見つけた記念碑。その場でネット上の情報を探した。今から１３５年前の１８８５年９月、種子島の沖でアメリカの商船・カシミア号が嵐にあい、乗組員が西之表市の立山海岸などに漂着した。集落民全員で救助に当たり、手厚く介抱した結果、乗組員は無事帰国することができ、海岸には、救助の石碑が建てられ、その史実を語り継いでいる。とのこと。
９月ということは恐らく台風に遭遇したのだろう。前に書いたポルトガル人のみならず、多くの船がこれまで漂着したのだろうなあ。
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