A SHIP FROM BOMBAY ATTACKED ON THE HIGH SEAS.

Waikato Times, Volume III, Issue 111, 21 January 1873, Page 3

A SHIP FROM BOMBAY ATTACKED ON THE HIGH SEAS.

(From tlio Boaiihy G\/r.TTE. October 11 ) The ScWe&ische Zeifuiiij prints the following extract from a letter of a young Silesum, who is now sailing on board the «* Bremen barque Coriolan :—: — On Monday, the 39th February, 1572, at five a.m., ire raised the nnchor a*ul left Bombay harbour with a moderate breeze blowing. The pilot left us sit three p.m. Our passage over the 10 degree- winch separata Bombay from the lino lasted one and a-half months, as for weeks we had the most tedious ctlms. We kept alwaysy s about one degree from the coast, and had reached the tenth degree of latitude, when one night ourjattention'was attracted by thro "DcchuuL.cn," which Jooked somewhat suspicious. The captain at once took them for pirates. As, however, there wns ii steady bree/r blowing, we hoped to effect our escape. l 7 ufortii'iatoly, in the morning the wind died away, but of (lie three boats only one remained within sight, which, howe\er, gradually crept up to'us, and weooujd see it was moved bv Ion? oars. It then became apparent that a fight would be tmavoid ible, and our captain made at once the necessary preparations for it. As we had come via Monte Video to Itombiv, we had no cannon, not even a single gun, the captain's small six-barrelled revolver being the only thing in the shape of arms we possessed. As we numbered all hands told, only eighteen, and each of the enemy's boats contained four times as many, our prospects were veiy gloomy indeed So far wo tould only j «cc one boat, the other two being out of sight. It was about Iwo o'clock p m. when the first boat came within distance, .md kept astern of us, c\ idently w aiting for the two other boats to come up. They had not long to wait, for through the glass we could thnt one was coming tip in front of us and the other from the starboard side. The one that had kept astern now opened fire upon us, which, however, did us no harm, except that our compass»box was damaged, cnJ a few shots went into the rigging. In the meantime the boat ooming nearer and nearer, the captain had ordered the deck to b© covered with boiling tar, and while this remained liquid, we had studded it w ith broken glass ; of course we had then to put on boots ourselves to avoid having our feet cut. What the captain foresaw happened; for when after the first boat had come alougside.the pirates hoarded the ship, prying "Allah, Allah" find came rushing towards us, they broke down as they had their feet lacerated by tho glass. When the captain put his head over the side to see how many might bo in the boat, quite a shower of spears went over our heads. Ten of in. amongst whom I wai, had hatchets, while tho others h: d hand axes ; we had divided our force one half forward, the other amidships. In the next moment we were right amongst them, and the horrid butchery commenced. In tho meantime the second boat had como near and placed itself under our bow ; from tho cries we heard, we knew that there, also, a hand-to-lund fight had commenced with our men. Of our division only four were left standing, and of the one fichting forward, only six ; all, however, more or less dan porously wounded. I was suffering from a spear wound in the left shoulder. Slowly, and fighting for every inch of ground, we withdrew towards the stern, where we made barricades of our boats, while the Malays cut off tho heads of the dead, tied them together by the hair, and hung them over their shoulders. Tho captain was sending shot after shot inlo the crowd We were well nigh despairing, for what would become of us when the third boat would arrive? Then, when tho cloud of smoke was driven away by a sudden gust of wind, we were delighted to see a steamer coming up, which, a moment afterwards opened fire upon the third boat, w Inch sunk after a few shots. The pirates lumped into the water, and tried to save themselves by swimming; but we saw that the boats from to steamer were lowered and began a cha*e after them, while the steamer itself came on full speed towards us. As soon as we saw this we picked up courage aga'n, and, w ith a thundering hurrah, we threw ourselves once more upon those of the pirates who still remained on board, and cut down whoever came in our way. I then received another wound m my right arm. The steamer (which turned out to be an English gunboat carrying (5 guns) had overrun the boat, lying under our bow, tho same having been left unguarde 1, and then went alongside the other one, the occupants of which were all mostly on board our ship. The few that were left in charge tried to row off with the boat, but a tow well-aimed shots from the steamer soon despatched them. The surgeon from the steamer attended to our wounds, as all of tis, with the exception of the captain, were wounded and ten dead, amongst the litter the first mate. After we had rested a little, we threw the dead bodies of the pirates oicrboad (about fifty!) The prisoners were all (ondemned by a court martial to be hanged, and the crew of the steamer made the necessary preparations to carry out the sentence. Ropes were attached to the steamer and our <onp, the nooses were put round the necks of the prisoners — one pull, and ten bodies were hanging high in the air. Our eantain engngod twelve sailors from the steamer, as we were all disabled ; nnd about six o'clock, a breeze sprung up, we left the battle-field behind us. The steamer kept near us during, the first night, and left us only r.fter providing us with arms and ammunition, and Lmdlv giving up her surgeon to us. Tho next morning we huried our dead, viz, the first mite, the first carpenter, Re- en sailors, and one boy. I remained disabled for about ex. h' weeks, ns the spear had gone clear through my shoulder. Eight of the bodies of our comrades were without heads, which some of the pirates had taken with them when they jumped overboard ; howevpr, they can hardly have got far wiih them, as the boats of tho Bteamer|and also some sharks followed the swimmers, and finished them off rapidly. The I odicsof the pirates were horrid to look at, as most of them had their skulls broken

A sailor thus describes his experience on horseback :—: — Therefore, arising betimes, J lured a vorv fine horse, and, manning him bravely, laid bis head east and bv south, as near ns might be, according to our binnacle. But though the wind miis abaft the beam, and tide and a'l in his farour, and a bravo commander upon his poop, what did he do but bouse his stem, and run out his spanker-driver, and up with his taffrail, as if I was wearing him in a thundering heavy sea. T lvsohcd to get the upper hand of this uncalled-for mutiny; and the more so because all our crew were gazing, and at the fan- 1 had laid down the law very "tnctly concerning hor«c« I -slipped my feet out of the chains, for fear of any sudden capsize, and tlien I rapped him over the cathends, where his anchor ought to hang. He, however, instead of doing at all that I expected, up with his bowsprit and down with his quarter, as if struck by a whale under his forefoot. 1 1ns was far from true seamanship, and proved him to be so unbuilt for sailing, that I was content to disembark over his stern, and with slight concussions. "Never say die 1 " has always been my motto, nnd ever will be ; nailing my colours to the mast, I embarked on another horse of less than half the tonnage of that one who would not answer helm. And this craft, being broken-backed, with a strange sound at her portholes, could not, under press of sail, bowl along more than four knots an hour. And we adjusted matters beween us so, lhat when she was tired I a^o was sore, and therefore disembarked and towed her until we were both fit for sea a^ain. Therefore it must hnvo been good meridian when I "met Parsen Chowne near his house. Wiut m\y bb.— Tt has recently been held that the Aurora Boreahs is intimntely connected with peculiarities to the solar photosphere. Whenever the aurora is frequent and brilliant, tho black patches, commonly called solar spots, are numerous and active in their changes. This fact would «e<>m to establish a connection between these two phenomena. Within the past month we have had the most remarkable auroral displays that have occurred within the memory of the present generation, while it is a matter" of goncral remark that within the last twenty years the aurora, which, was formerly rarely visible in this latitude, has become yearly more and more frequent. Tf, therefore, there is tho connection between tho sun and the aurora which h now believed to exist, we are warranted in concluding that unusual rolar distmbances have recently been and are now in progress It has moreover, been fully established Hint the aurora is electrical in its character. 'During the week that has just passed (August 11 to 17) not only has the auiora been almost nightly visible, but throughout the ( ountry we ha;e had a scries of thunderstorms unparalleled jn the grandeur of fcheir electrical features. If tho aurora depends upon the condition of tho sun, may we not reason that these remarkable displays of atmospheric electricity haTcal«o a connection with solar phenomena 9 That the pun l* aetunllv undergoing a remarkable chnnge in the const ltution of its luminous envelope is asserted by several eminent European astronomers. Signor Taochini has just (1 1 -covered by the spectro«cope that an enormous quantity of mngnrsium has just mnde its appearance in tho photosphere. Now, we all know that burning mn«nesium produces the most mtonse nnd beautiful light. Will not this unparalleled presence of magnesium greatly inereaso the cun s hent ? Majr not tlio excessive lient of the present Miinmer, ns well ns the auroral and electrical storms of tho Let few days, he due torcefclcss throwing of magnesium into the sun s furnace ? One thing has been established be\ond all question, and that is there has bcon a material (hnngem the constitution of that part of tho buu which is ■risible to u» Ifc i s on ] y reasonable to suppose that this change will be perceptible to us in other wajs than by Iho mere presence of new lines in the spectroscope. Suppose th.it the lolume of solar mngnemnni continues to nici-cme, nnd the solar heat m<-, casing with it comcrts the coming winter into a tropical summer; or suppose that the sun is nbout to share tho fate of certain fixed stnis, which have Middenh bln/cd with unuMinl brillinncy and then finished for evcrfrom sight Either interne hent or intense cold would riMilt if one or the other were to prove correot. In either rase the enrth would becomo untenable, and life on th;s planet would breoinc eitiact.— JS'uic York Time,