AN EXTRAORDINARY TALE OF THE SEA.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 316, 14 November 1888, Page 3

AN EXTRAORDINARY TALE OF THE SEA.

F vkticulak.s of an extraordinaiy tale of the sea have been iurnished by Captain Evans, of the British barque Mona, which arrived oti:' Queenstown harbour fioni Rangoon lor oidevc Soon after leuving Rangoon, on Sunday, April 27, in hit. 6.43, long. 9.30, a boat was sighted flying signals of distress. The Mona bore down upon the craft, which was found to contain six men, four Italians, one Malay, and one Englishman, named Allied Hamilton, of Bristol. All were in a most emaciated and exhausted condition, having been thhtyKye days at sea in an open boat, and they had to be hoisteu on board the Mona by means of ropes. With pioper tieatment they soon recoveied, but their conduct soon , aroused suspicion, as they would not mix with the Monas crew, but conveised with each other id mysterious whispei?. Finally they agreed upon a tale, and informed Captain Eians that they belonged to the Italian barque Frate'lenze, of Genoa, Ironi !Sourabaya for Queenstown, for orders. They stated they abandoned their vessel in a sinking condition at the end of Maich, in two boats, and that, soon after leaving, the chief mate btabbed a Malay seaman and thiew the body o»erboaid before lite was extinct, and that the ocher boat, containing the captain, chief mate and seven men, deliberately desetted tliem dm ing the j night. While questioning one o) the men, C-tptain Evans lio'ieed ii single baud of an iron handcuff on his wiist, and that one of the links had been tiled off not very long previously. This and other suspicious circumstances induced Captain Evans to belie\e that a mutiny had occurred on boari the Italian vessel. But he did not feel himself competent to keep six men in irons on the long voyage to Queenstown, and he also doubted whether his provisions would last out. He therefore detei mined to put the suspected mutineers some whet c. The Monas course was altered, and when near Auger, one of the Micobar Islands, piovisions and water and a compass Avere put into a boat aud the suspects ordered to leave. They made some show of resistance, but Captain Evans armed himself with a revolver, which he threatened to use. The men then entered the boat muttering curses and threads, and when last seen the boat was heading straight for the island mentioned, which is uninhabited. Captain Evans is confident that the men are mutineers.