Stories of the present day.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XXII, Issue 3070, 19 January 1894, Page 2

Stories of the present day.

AMtJ*nNT AT SEA, AND THE BETBIBUTIODTTOAT FOLLOWED IT.

'""To We iiorth-west of the Sandwich Islands group a chart of the north Taeific Ocean shows Bird, Necker, Gardner, and various other islands and many shoals. These ialana«mbd shoals are really a continuation of the Sandwich group, tho»gh but few of the islands are inhabited. Some of them are little better than a great mas? of rock heaved np out of the sea, without verdure or fresh water, while others are so difficult of approach that navigators give them a wide berth. Midway Island is almost exactly have the distance between the ports of San Francisco and Yokohama, but 300 miles south of the track of vessels making that voyage. The noon observation taken on board the barque Harvest Home of San Francisco had given us the latitude of Midway Island when a man aloft reported a ship's boat dead ahead. We were then south-south^ west, but not making over four knots an hour. The boat had neither mast nor sail, nor was the man sitting in her sheets making signals. I had him under the glass while he was yet two miles away. The boat was a Captain's gig, provided with a single pair of oars, and the man was taking things with astonishing coolness. He was a castaway, of course, though he acted more like a man who was drifting about with a fish line over the, side. In ninety-nine cases out of one hundred the man in ' the boat would have stood up and gestured and shouted, fearful that we might pass him by even by daylight, but as I watched thia man I saw him bite off a fresh chew of tobacco and survey the barque in a critical way, A Hoe was got ready, and as we passed him within twenty feet it was hove and caught and made fast, and directly he was alongside. Everybody wa« astonished to find the boat well stocked with food and water and to see the man come aboard as calmly 48 if be had been lying in harbour, fie was About thirty-five years of age, dark faced and sinister, and gave his name as John Williams. He claimed to be an American, born and reared in Bcuadrf. The story told by Williams was not an improbable one, but none of us gave, him credit for truth. He claimed to he Captain of an English brig, The Swallow, which had been chartered to convey 200 natives of the Bonin Islands, off the coast of Japan, to Cnre Island, next to the west of Midway. The island was safely reached, he said, but the natives were not pleased with it and demanded to be returned to the Bonins. There was a row about 1 6 in which one man; was killed, the two mates sided with tW natives, and he was put ashore to shift for himself. They left him the boat and provisions and sailed away, and instead of stopping on the island he had pulled away to the north to get into the trick of ships!.. The story was fishy from Rtart to finish, and out of our entire crew no man had a favourable impression of the stranger. We/ had, of course, to accept his story, or to pretend to. J would give a month's wage| : to4sJpw the facts in the case, but have no hope of ever solving the mystery. 'Ther^ was no English brig on the Ja panes? coast called the Swallow. N<<ne of the residents of the Bonin Inland*; had been taken away by any craftl The Captain and I puzzled ovfr tht> matter for some time, and finally decided that Williams had been Capf tain of some craft, and the crew had mutinied and sent him adrift. Either! that or he had pulled away from a craft on fire or about to founder] leaving all others to take care of themselves. From the look of things m the boat we were satisfied thai he had not been afloat over three or four days. . Courtesy demanded iftat the stranger, being an officer, should become a guest of the ship, we having our full complement of officers, but after a day or two he insisted on doing duty as an abje seaman. This was a surprise, but no objections were made, fle was placed in 'my watch, and a boy who was of little use was turned over to the cook as assistant. The man brought us ill-luck from the start. He had not been aboard two hours when it fell calm, and during the next thirty hours we did not gain a mile of westing. When the breeze came again it was foul for us, and the obseivation on the sixth day of his coming aboard pn* us 130 miles to the west of where we picked him up. Williams had shown himself a thorough Bailor, and though ourjistrust and di alike of him} abaft ihe mast were noUessened lie socp struck up a friendship with the men forward. Mutiny is Such a rare thing at sea that officers never worry over it. On a dozen different occasions I caught Williams yarning with the men of his watch, and I wouldn't help .but observe that he had become the leader of the fo'castle, but there was nothing to call for reproof. We had a full crew and a willing one, and there was no cursing and knocking down aboard of the Harvest Home. While discipline was strict, the sailors bad the beßt of grub and fair treatment This being so, it may surprise you when 1 relate what finally happened aboard of us, but you should remember what a sailor is. He is, as a rule, uneducated, childish, superstitious, easily led, and always inimical to hii officers, no matter whether they treat

him good or tfcd. GWe J|ck fir a] feather bed,, hotel fare, s|pU aiay. wage*, and only two honwjl twenty-fourftnd he woufpwlii^nif weather, condemn the ship, and cane owners and officers. He would do no mote if of er wolfed, i|nder-fed, poorly paid^jaid HBfodUd-tfewW^wice a day. Jack \n Jack, and that ends it. Williams had no sooner got among the men than he began telling of a Wfimf. Tne amount or money was given at several million dollars, and Willhina claimed to be able to locate $ne exact spot. It probably nefer occurred to one of the men to ask why he didn't go to the Captain with hia story,, and try to arrange for t)be removal of the treaauw, tyit^ if iM'd he had coma answer at * baad. -B He proposed taking possession of the barque, sailing her to the treasuire island, and securing the great wealth, and then using b>r to get to England. Aa to .the officers and such men as would not join, they were to be cast adrift in mid-ocean to take their chances. We had a cargo valued at and I ihipk tbel pan's game was to peddle it out among the Marine, Caroline, and Marshall Islands, get what ]ie could, and then look out for himself . So quietly jHd he do ht« work among the crew, that liof ihe^siighteithint of whaf^was going on was wafted aft. He enlisted eight of the men in his cause, and on the seventh day of his comimr aboard, and :^i%^e Oa|tam^p wek eating dinner, the climax' came. The second mate was aeisefd, bound, : and gagged, and an alarm was raised that be had: fallen overboard. Both of us rushed from the cabin, to be pounced on and made prisoners. It was ja surprise all round, and no insolence was offered any of us. Wheta Captain Holt demanded an explanation WUliamseiUightened him. He said: „.a:v^l i' barque; [fjjfft Mfc pfytfiftti* great trea^urf j " whrehr • .it '- w * %t equally divided b^tweei^ putQ and^man,. It w^-W^nl^^^lPt^fo^ fo**yo)i would have scoffed at my story. It was agreed that none of you should be hurt, and we have kept to the agreement.* _ 2 '?'' 4 What do you intend to do with US?' i 'Send you adrift within an hour* ' Where Is your treasure, island ?' 1 Iwill not tell yon: f ft [ 1 If jq* really Ihioi# o^a Tinriea treasure, #hr not let as sail the ship there and share; with you f f f ' Because that would mean less money for the rest of v?.' The Captaito^pßeiled to tV men, declaring that Williams had no real knowledge of a treasure an,d would lead them a wild goosei chase, and offered to overlook what had hap^ penedif they would return to duty, The fepling of the crew was expressed by tne did boatswain, who took off his cap and stood in humble attitude as.fie .said : " \' ' .' „ ' ... ' ,. .,.. „ , .,. ..- ; . U ;; '"■ * Captai n Holt^ "^yre '""'Sff . JDotbinf j ag^ia !ye t nor the mates^ but fer^^a j chance $or eyeryjSMtn yf us;^) g|t ncn j j and we f feld we must take it.'. 1 There was more argument^ bat the men were stubborn. Those who ba<] , refused to join in' the pldt now cam< ,| forward and gave in their allegiance to Williams, and preparations were!; begun for casting its adrift. One o£ the qliarter-boate was hoisted out, and in it were stowed; water and pr 0 4 9ilions suffic^nt to laet the threi of us. a forjtoight. We got a mast and sail, but neither chart, quadrant, nor com f>asß. Could Williams have had, his way about it . we would have been ; knocked on the. head or sent adrift! without food, but the men were a unit for fair treatment, and he was too crafty to oppose them. As soon as we were in jfche the barque altered K^j course M south-west, I and as we were left behind severaVof the men waved us good-bye. * a pie moon observation lad given us the latitude of Patrocinio Island, distant gome 250 miles, due south, but as to^ weather was fine it was detehnined to remain in the track in hopes of being picked up, bat meanwhile makiog what progress we could to the caM For three we not sight a sail. We e Ha3 run b^er 100 miles to the east, whun at daybreak on the fourth .morning, jw^th ji f res (l breeze froiriHlie aot^^^nl^uiclel?!^ right in the courselof A mg ship bound to the east. <■:■?ss |f»«J?4f 1 4s a f} f o^ ; distress and lay to for her tb comemp. As she neajre^Uß we saT men aloit and knej* ithat w©f were observed. She passed us not more than ftf ty yards away, with tft least six men looking at us oyer the port rail and we, of course, expected tso see her straight on, vm three miles away before we realized that her inhuman Captain had no inten-, itioTi of picking us up. The shfp %k& the Red Prince, owned by an English firm in Yokohama, and iailad by Captain Charles Brown, and was then on a voyage to San Francisco. Had not the matter been commented on in the public press I should not advert to it here, such conduct is tare anM almost past belief. It was not only fully reported in American journals, but when Captain Holt met Captain Brown in Yokohama three years later he sent him to the hospital with broken bones. V We had made 350 miles to the east and were having fair weather of it when we made a gruesome > About three o'clock in the afternoon we sighted a strange object: only a point or two off our course, a^dVrunoing down to it, we iound-oitt old

argue Boating keel upward, with ho of herlmas|f;and a great mass of Wreckage sujftiiUiding her. She had ]oeen a6aj4M^*y a sudden squall with all sail set, and, though the masts had broken off, it was too late to pre. vent her turning turtle. There was but little sea on, and we pulled in among the wreckage, and I scrambled upon the barque's bottom. We had a faint hope that if sound below ihe signteda oraft which woaloTgife xv *ftsJLs|ajwe.^ i he . had probabl^ been m that, powtio^^thraft m Ibur days at the least, but there was still sufficient air to buoy her- up, I bad not vet walked her length whan I beard a knocking, . followed by faint sounds. The captain «ame aboard to see what he opnld ma||B of it, * nd J^^« t no * J l *^i|iwe were satisfied rbat at least two. j|i«n were imprisoned in the cabin. By lying down and placing our earl to toe copper sheathing we could atko oat that they knew some one had boarded the barque, and they appealed to us to cut a hole through which they could escape. We had neither tw nor hatchet, but if we had been fully equipped the chances would have been against us. It was a spot where no one could stand uptight to u«e an axe, and every filth or sixth wave ran right over her. We believed one of the imprisoned men to be Williams and the other the boatswain. We could catch their words pretty plainly, but they seemed unable to make out our replies. We could do nothing for them, but decided to remain by the wreck for a day or two in hopes of aid from some craft. At sunset tht wind died awar, and the night was without a lephyr. At sunrise next morning the first object pur eyes lighted on was an English tramp steamer bound from New jfork to Japan, with coal oil, and dose aboard of us. We looked for on? wrfpk, but it had disappear*!, Tht rnajn^ majt hj floating about, but tht hall and its tangle and its priwwn had gone to tht bottom, • -