A HEROINE OF THE OCEAN. She Conquered Mutiny on Shipboard and Saved Her Husband.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 408, 5 October 1889, Page 6

A HEROINE OF THE OCEAN. She Conquered Mutiny on Shipboard and Saved Her Husband.

January 3, 1885, a little after midnight, and on the ocean nearing St. Helena, was fche good American ship Frank N. Thayler, commanded by Captain Robert IC. Claik. Soon after the midnight watch was changed the captain was roused from a sound sleep by hearing his name called in a tone of alarm. Fearing that all was not well with his ship, he hurried up the companion way in his night-clothes. As his head appeared above the companion way he received a number of stabs' in the faco, neck, and head, but he managed to see that his assailants were two Manila Indians, members of his crew. He fell to the floor beneath, where the Indians followed him and plunged their knives into his side, leaving him for dead. The carpenter, the lookout man, and mate were killed. The balance of the crew were locked in or terrified, and the captain, his wife, and daughter were left to the mercy of the infuriated Manila Indians. The captain, faint from the loss of blood, was assisted to the cabin by his wife. One of the lungsof the officer wasprotrudihg The brave woman, with a nerve as firm as adamant and Avith a care as guarded as that of the skilled physician, forced the vital parts back and sewed up the frightful wound. She then bandaged his face and head and set herself to the task of making their position safe by securing the windows to the cabin, arming hex'self, and placing the wounded captain in a position k to defend or assist in the defence of the cabin. The precaution was taken just in time, for tiring of the vigil they had kept about the captain's cabin, they determined to finish him. But he and" the iritrepid woman 1 at his side repelled' the mutineers, who had broken open the cabin' window. What word 3 can describe the cdurage of this wife,' who stood with firm hand by her husband's side, ready to do or die, hearing meanwhile the tread of the, Indians thirsting for his blood? The skulking crew, by ( the courage of the wife and captain', were at last urged to action. One of the Indiana jumped overboard. The other sought refuge in the hold, and when dislodged it was found that he had set the 1 ship on fire. He jumped overboard and, was lost. ' Then came re: newed' heroism' oh the part of "the wife. Tenderly the loved captain was placed in a boat, and after a long and tedious sail of about 700 miles they reached the island of St. Helena, having been nine days adrifb in a boat insufficiently provisioned, with a man almost cufc to .pieces. „ But the brave woman was the paster spirit of the shipwrecked, and to-day she is pointed put as the brave; wife of. the equally brave Captain Robert K. Clark, : • n'