HOW WE LOST THE SHIP.

Evening Star, Issue 7093, 23 December 1886, Page 3 (Supplement)

HOW WE LOST THE SHIP.

The heading of the following narrative will naturally suggest storm and tempest, tlie shattered spar and riven canvas, fire or a dreadful leak; yet by none of those did our good ship, the Iron Duke, come to grief. She was a smart aud handsome vessel, with lines like a yacht, and at the same time she was as strong as wood and iron could make her. Captain Adams was part owner, and had taken good care that every part of the vessel’s outfit was of the best. Her cargo of general merchandise was very valuable, but neither ship nor cargo was insured to anything like its full value. I supply the last item of information at this point, in order to guard against the inference (very natural under the circumstances), that the vessel was wilfully stranded. We were six weeks out from London, and, as far as we in the forecastle could judge, everything was going smoothly, the only drawback being that the winds we got were very unfavorable ; instead of nor’-east trades, nothing but moderate sou’-westers and fine weather. The knowing ones in the forecastle speculated a good deal as to our latitude and longitude ; they surmised that we must be inside the Cape de Verdes, and prophesied that we should get into the doldrums directly and be becalmed for weeks. Still we stood to the eastward, and, as was usually the case a quarter of a century ago, kept no look-out unless when we were supposed to be in the track of some homeward bound ship. The Iron Duke was under all plain sail, braced sharp up, and doing about eight knots, requiring so little steering that the man at the helm was nodding over the wheel. The second officer, who was in charge, was asleep on the grating over the wheel chains; in fact no soul on board fully awake. In a moment a terrible shock was experienced, and the vessel stood still. The astonishment and consternation of every soul onboard can be more easily imagined than described, and I will not attempt any description. Up to this time no one imagined that we were within a hundred miles of the land. Yet here we were, without doubt, hard and fast on some shoal. The water was so smooth

that no surf or break was perceptible. The ship stuck fast just where she struck, recovered herself to an even keel, settled a couple of feet aft, and lay as steady as when she was on the stocks. But, alas, the water was soon over the ’tween-deck beams, and at high tide right up to the combings of the hatches. The Iron Duke had floated for the last time. At daybreak we discovered a flat, sandy beach about four hundred yards ahead, backed by a low-lying country, with dense vegetation northwards and southwards as far as the eye could reach. In short, we were in the Gulf of Guinea, and the land under our bows was a wild enough part of the coast of Africa. “Bosh!” I fancy I hear some nautical reader exclaim. “It is impossible that a vessel could get there in the way you have stated.” Bosh it may be, but there without any doubt lie the remains of as fine a little barque as ever sailed out of the North of England, and there they got in the manner I have narrated, though how we actually got there I never could fully understand, and I don’t know that ever our good old captain could. The chronometer was said to be at fault, and to those who may think such an explanation inadequate for the production of such a startling result I can only say : Build up your own theory, whilst I explain how we got away. We had land ahead, and very soon we learned that the region was not uninhabited. A few Natives soon appeared on the beach, and by noon the number had increased to hundreds. We had also a visit

from the crew of a Liberian palm-oil trader, which was at anchor off the coast a few miles from where we lay. These rascals professed the most friendly interest in our welfare, and pretended to give reliable information as to our exact position. At their suggestion one of our boats was manned with the pick of our crew, and proceeded southwards in search of a place which they reported as twenty miles off, and where a British Consul was said to be stationed. This we very soon learned was a dastardly trick intended to disable us and render any attempt at holding possession of the ship impossible, although they might have saved themselves this trouble, as we had for hours been hopelessly outnumbered, and really our only chance had been lost as soon as the Natives were allowed on the ship’s deck, or even to come alongside. Captain Adams was a humane man, aud in carrying out his principles violated the first law of nature —namely, self-preservation. So, at least, most of us thought; but who can tell ? We might have slaughtered a few score of these savages, and yet plenty of them would have been left to pick our bones. As it was, no bones were picked, and no one was slaughtered. The Kvoomen had the ship and we had the boats, the only difference being that they were allowed to keep their share, whilst we were speedily deprived of ours. We were allowed to take ourselves ashore and haul our boats up on the beach. At night we were allowed to shelter in a Native hut, which we found very comfortable ; but in the morning our floating capital

had disappeared, aud we found ourselves on the African beach in an apparently hcpleas position. The savages in our neighborhood were fully occupied in landing goods from the Iron Duke, and apparently did not trouble themselves about us, probably supposing that we were safe enough and would improve by keeping. That they intended to eat us at their leisure I have no doubt whatever. I should have mentioned that one of our boats and four members of the crew were on board of the palm oil trader, and the happy thought suggested itself that if this boat could be got on shore we might all get on board of the little vessel, and once there seize her and endeavor to save ourbacon. Acting on this notion, one of mir most daring fellows having caught sight of a light canoe lying in a small lagoon near by, launched her, and paddled off unobserved by the Natives. He and a shipmate brought our remaining boat on shore, and soon we were all afloat and on our way to the Liberian Ballahoo. Many of the Natives were by this time in a state of drunkenness, and parading the beach in outrd costumes, made up of clothing and millinery landed from the wreck. We had proceeded about half way to the palm-oiler, and were congratulating ourselves on getting away unmolested, when wild yells greeted our cars, and, looking shoreward, we saw numerous canoes being launched, and one or two already pushed off in pursuit of us. We double-banked our pars, and pulled as only those can pull who know their lives depend on the effort. Meantime our shipmates, perceiving the state of affairs, had stunned one nigger, and were grappling with the remainder of the crew. We gained the deck just in time to assist in overpowering them, and then it was a case of cut cable, make all sail, and out sweeps, We were soon before the wind, and, with the help of the sweeps, making good progress, but the leading canoes were fast gaining on us. Our armament was limited to four old-fashioned horse-pistols, and it was evident we must use them. Two or three shots were tired at the leading canoe, now fifty or sixty yards off, but without taking effect. At length a savage, brandishing a spear in the bow of our foremost pursuer, was hit, and ho falling overboard the canoe was stopped to pick him up. That gave us some advantage, as the next canoe had been twenty or thirty yards astern of the first. Two or three of the other canoes were now comma up fast, and our chance appeared hopeless, when one of the captive crew of the palm-oil trader, who evidently sympathised with the white man in his strait, shouted “Get up de ole shot-gun out do focastle and gib dem volley.” This gun and a bag of shot were speedily brought on deck, and our pistols as well as the gun heavily charged, the charge of the gun being rammed homo so as to scatter the shot well. The hands at our sweeps were ordered to ease a little, and when our pursuers

had come within thirty yards of us we gave them a volley, which proved very effective, nearly hall' the crew of the foremost canoes dropping their paddles and a good number falling into the bottom of their canoes. The pursuit was at once abandoned, and we were safe. Two days later we sighted the schooner Lark, a smart little vessel presented by the British Government to the Republic of Liberia. Captain Cooper, her commander, agreed to receive us on board his vessel, and we released the captain and crew of tire palm-oil trader more cheerfully than wo had deposed them. But a heavy gale arising immediately afterwards

the old box was stranded and went to pieces. We had saved our lives, but laid ourselves open to a charge of something approaching piracy, though no such charge was brought against us. Captain Adams had, however, to defend an action for heavy damages brought by the owner of the palm-oil trader. Ou taking us on board, the Lark made sail for Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, where we arrived two days later. There we found a generous and valuable friend in the acting British Consul, an American gentleman named Boxall, who showed us unlimited kindness, and spared no pains to make us as comfortable as possible. Our crew was here broken up, some joining the American frigate Constitution, others an American merchantman bound to one of the islands, and a few waiting to get passage to England by the mail steamer. This section of the crew of the Iron Duke suffered shipwreck again on their way to England, and three of them then met with a watery grave; but the writer took service under Uncle Sam,