A TALE OF THE SEA.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 381, 3 July 1889, Page 5

A TALE OF THE SEA.

I entered the service of the United Company when only fourteen years of age. The United Company was an organisation o* English and Chinese capitalists at Shang. hai which exported teas and other commodities. It had ac one time eleven vessels, eight of which were small schooners and brigs,' which were employed in visiting poi'ts along the coast and various islands in the China Sea and Pacific Ocean. It is of my first trip I am going to toll you about. I had run away to sea on a vessel bound from Liverpool to Shanghai, and had left her on arrival. I found that the captain of the Silver Crown, one of the Company's traders, was an old friend of my father'?, and so it came about that 1 took service in the Company under him. with the rating of cabin boy. The Crown was a fine new fore-and-aft schooner, carrying a crew of eight men, all told. She had a native cook, but all the others were foreigners. The captain, mate, and myself were English, two of the men Americans, and the other two were Swedes. While I rated as cabin boy, I had to assist in sailing the vessel, and was asort of clerk to the captain. The schooner carried a dozen muskets, a lob of boarding pikes, and half-a-dozon cutlasses as an amusement, but everything was boxed up and stored away, if not forgotten. Captain Wharton had been in the service for six years, and had never met with any trouble. When we got away it was with orders for the Philippine Islands, among which the Company had many resident agents who collected products. Our course was to the south-east, to pass between Formosa and the Loo Choo Islands, and we had made the run thus far without incident, when one day about noon a junk-rigged native craft, which doubtless came from some port in Formosa, intercepted us to the eastward of that island. We were about thirty miles off shoi'e when she hailed us. She claimed to be short of water owing to an accident ; but this, as we afterwards came to know, was only an excuse. When she learned that we were bound to the Philippines she had three passengers to transfer. They were three natives of Formosa, who were going down there to found a colony, and would pay liberally for a passage by the schooner. They claimed to have contracted with the junk for the round trip, but she had sprung a leak and must return to port. I am only giving you the gist of what was urged in excuse. W r e lay to for a couple of hours, and I heard only a part of what was said. It did not seem to strike Captain Wharton or Mate Williams a&. queer or suspicious, and after haggling over terms for a while the three natives were transferred to our decss and the vessels separated. Then I had time to look the strangers over, I was not long in concluding that I did nob wish for an intimate acquaintance. They were a tough - looking trio, and the cook had scarcely set eyes on them before he declared that we had made a great mistake in taking them aboard. We had no accommodation for them affc, and as the schooner was in ballast they bad agreed to occupy the hold. Thi& wasn't such a bad place wtth the hatches off, and fchey looked like fellows used to roughing it ashore and afloat. I took an early opportunity of communicating my suspicions to the captain, but he lauehed at me in a good-natured way. I tried the mate, but lie saw nothing to arouse distrust. It was singular, however, that every man of the crew outside of the two officers was satisfied that there was something wrong with the trio. While their excuse was reasonable enough, the looks and actions of the men were suspicious, and it was plain to all that they were sailors. They let us all severely alone except the captain and the cook, and I called it to mind afterwards that while one interested the former the other two were occupied with the latter. I could ' chin-chin ' a bit, and the cook could speak a little English, and so we managed to understand each other pretty well. Three days after the men came aboard, 'Slop-Slip,' as we called the cook, j assured me with very serious face that the strangers were evil-minded men, who had planned to capture the schooner. They had asked him to join them, and he had refused. I posted off to the captain with this news, ami be greeted it with contempt. • If you and the cook have nothing better to do, I'll set you to rubbing the rust off the anchor chain,' he gruffly replied. The mate also laughed at me, bub when I < went quietly among the men, even' one of them was ready to believe. Each one had noticed something to arouse his suspicions, bub in the absence of orders we could do nobhing but waib for wha*i mighb burn up. ( We were gebting well down toward the northernmost island of the group, when something happened which should have opened the captain's eyes. The leader of the three borrowed the glass and went up to the crossbrees ot bhe mainmast and book a long look around. We saw the sailor in his every move, and he had not been down an hour when a nabi\ c craft came creeping up from the south, bows on to us. She had a free wind, while we had been beating down all the forenoon. We were at this time forty or fifty miles to the northward of bhe group, with a beautiful afternoon and a smooth sea. Half an hour after the native craft had been sighbed, one of the natives and the captain retired to the cabin. Five minutes later the native showed his head above the deck, and called to the mate, who had just come on watch. He disappeared down the companionway, and at the same time I entered the forecastle to look for something wanted. I was down there about five minutes. I heard no parbicular row on deck, but when I reappeared I was struck dumb by the spectacle. One of the natives wa3 at the wheel, and was bringing the schooner into the wind to lie to. The decapitated bodies of the two Americans and the cook were lying amidships, while the two Swedes were at the foremast crossbrees. Not a shout had been raised, nor a cry uttered. The work had been done with terrible rapidity and in silence. As I reached the deck one of the natives came forward with a bloody creese in his hand and called me ' good boy ' and said I should not be hurt. He left me sitting on the windla&s so scared and weak that I could not stand, and then assisted his companions bo lower the sails. When this had been accomplished they called to the Swedes to come down. The' poor fellows began crying, and lamenting, and refused to depcend. The natives picked up the bodies from the deck, and tossed them overboard, and thendescendedto the cabin and brought up the bodies of captain and mate and served them the same way. Both had been killed by bhe one native who enticed them down. About the time the last body was flung over the rail the native craft drew alongside. She had thirty men on board, all of whom seemed to know our three passengers and their plans. ' There was a great rejoicing over the capture of the schooner, and for a quarter of an hour no one paid me any attention. Then there was a hot discussion, a part of the ganjr «eeminjjly anxious for my life, but the result was that I was conducted to the cook's galley and eriven to understand that I was $o do the cooking. Although our qook was

I a Chinese they did not spare him. What I saved me was my youth, or they might have , planned to cut my" throat after I had served their turn. When my fate had been settled the Swede 3 were agaiu ordered down. One of them descended, begering and pleading, but he was cut down the moment his feet touched the deck. The other refused to come down, and balf-a dozen natives ran up the foremast shrouds with knives In their hands. Before they could reach him the sailor made his way hand over hand along the triantic stay to the mainmast. His feat wa3 greeted with applause, but othei'S ascended, and there was no longer hopo for him. The poor fellow made the best defonce possible, but they cut and hacked him until he lost his hold and fell to ihe deck. His body was thrown overboai'd, deck and cabins cleansed of blood stains, and about sundown the schooner, with twenty-five men, was headed for the Philippines. The rest of the gang (numbeiing seven or eight) followed with the native craft. 1 boiled a large quantity of meat, and got the best supper possible, and was glad to find that no one gave me any attention. We had a brisk wind all night and during the next forenoon, and about 2 o'clock we reached an anchorage on the east side of the main island and within a quarter of a mile of the beach. The native craft passed us and entered the mouth ot the river. From what I could gather tho was going to bring out men and cannon to the schooner. A hunt was made through the schooner for gun carriages, and the discovery of the small arms seemed to put the fellows in good humour. There was about ?!>2,500 in gold aboard in the cabin, and this was counted out and divided pro rnla or in some other satisfactory manner as wo lay at anchor. Then I was oidered to draw a pailful of wine from a cask in a sort of lazaretto or storeroom, reached from the galley. The cook might ha%e known of the presence of the wine there, but I did not. I had never looked into the place. There was a tin pail, holding about ten quarts, in the galley, and this 1 filled and carried to the main hatch, with several glasses, and everybody proceeded to help himself. Now that we were at anchor, all discipline had ceased, and one man was as good as another. They were prowling all over theschoonei, and perfectly at home. The wine must have tickled their palates mightily, for a second pailful was soon demanded. It was while I was drawing it that I noticed the barrel had no bung in it, and I wondered why the wine had not .=omed. I retired to the galley as soon as I had filled the secot.d order, and for half-an-hour there was a great deal of loud talk and laughter. All of a sudden, while I was reflecting on the sicuation, and perhaps crying a bit in my sorrow and anxiety, it struck me that things were wonderfully quiet. I looked out of the galley, to see half-a-dozen figures lying on the deck, and later on, when I had summoned courage te walk the length in the schooner, I foand every man appai'eiitly asleep. Their breathing was laboured, but I supposed this was the result of too much drink. The night had come down dark and gasty, with the wind directly off shore, and as the sleepers continued to lie quiet some strange ideas came to nio. I ■was tempted to take one of their knives and begin killing, but I doubted my nerve. The yawl was at the davits and I planned to lower it and let the breeze carry me out to sea. I held to this idea for a few minutes and then sui-rendored it for another. I would swim ashore and hide in the forest. I had abandoned thab scheme a^ well, for I saw at a glance that the tide was running; out strong. I was wondering if I should not start a fire in the forecastle or cabin when I discovered that the craft was under way. She had her light anchor out and had been tunning heavily under tide and gust. The chain had ground off against some sharp - edged rock or the pin had slipped from a shackle. It wa a probably the lafter case, as I heard a splash as of the end of the chain falling from the hawse hole. She drove off stern first and then, as she began to swinsr about-. I stepped softly back to the wheel, put it over to get her off, and then extinguished the two lanterns on deck and the lamp in ihe cabin. I am nob boasting of my nerve in stepping over the sleepers to do this work or of my sagacity in getting the idea. I was working like one in a dream, and could hardly have identified myself. What occurred between the time I put out the lights and daylight next morning, I never can clearly remember. The schooner took care of herself for any eflort of mine, and I think I went into the galley and crept behind the stove. At least I crawled out of that contracted space soon after daylight;, in response to a call. I suppose 1 was called to prepare bieakfast for the pirates, but I was no sooner out of the galley than I saw a large ship hove to a quarter of a mile away, while one of her boats, with five men in it, was alongside the schooner. I must have looked and acted like a stupid, for as a couple of men came over the rail, one of them gave me a hearty shaking and growled out — 'You idiot, can't you get your mouth open V There were twenty-five men lying on the decks and in the cabin sound asleep. No ! Dead ! Every one of them dead and cold, and I the only Hying thing aboard. It took some time to explain matters and get all the particulars, but with what 1 could tell them and what they could see it finally became plain to all. Tha*- barrel of wine had been dosed with some deadly drug. The cook must have done it previous to the attack, or the bung had been left out by another, and some poisonous reptile had crept in to die. No one could tell for certain, but the drinkers were all dead, and all had died in sleep. The ship was English, and the schooner was over thirty miles off the land. One ot H. M. men-of-war, assisted by a civil functionary, attempted an investigation, but nothing came of it. Our crew had been slaughtered and the schooner captured, but she had recaptured herself and brought oft twenty-five corpses. Not a living man could ever be found among the islands who would acknowledge that he had ever seen the schooner, much less participated in her capture. — ' New York Sun.'