The Sun.
London, England, 1842-01-11 00:00:00

TAB; SETN, LO

CAPTAIN PAGE'S INTERESTING
NARRATIVE OF A CAPTIVITY IN BORNEO.
At 9 r.m., on the 4th of January, the Sultana was
under double-reefed topsails in a fresh north-easterly
grle, with heavy sea and rain, when her main topmast
and mainmast-head were shivered by lightning, and seve-
ral of the crew in and on the forecastle being knocked
down, made me conclude it had passed from the ship by
the chain cables. At 1 lb. 30m. smoke was discovered
issuing from below, fore and aft, and the decks we e
found to be much heated. We endeavoured to get at
the gunpowder, but found it impossible, and, being of
opinion that the firo was generally below, the ship was
hove to, and with much difficulty we succeeded in hoist-
ing out the longboat, the flames forcing themselves up
the main hatchway, and the vessel pitching heavily. On
this occasion, as well as on all throughout, the greatest
credit is due to the officers, gunners, and seacunnies.
The boats were dropped astern, and he small quantity
of biscuit, &c., in them was nearly all rendered useless
from the salt water. At lb. 30.1). A.M. on the sth,
not knowing how soon she would blow up, the chief
officer and myself joined the boats. At this time every-
thing was rapidly burning on deck, and about 15 minutes
afterwards the masts fell, when the poop became a mass
of fire and wreck.
We remained near the bill until nine, and then made
sail in the long-boat, with,a top-gallant studding sail,
taking the other boats in tow, for the wreck of the
French frigate Magicie one, which was lying in three
feet water on the soutb-cast extreme of the Bombay
Shoal, bearing south-west about 40 miles, intending to
fit out from her, and proceed to Singapore. At day-
-I.ght, on the 6th, went within a few feet of the wreck,
but could not effect a landing ; the wind increasing,
and the boats falling to leeward, we made sail for the
land of Palawan, then in sight. Served out for three
days I.6th part of a biscuit to each person, which was
our entire stock, and two wine glasses of water. Had.
,fresh north-easterly winds with a most scorching sun.
l'-0a the 9th the longboat was with great difficulty kept
afloat. Lost sight of the cutter pulling in for the shore.
Balaback Island north-east, distant ten miles. On the
10th ran our boat on one of the IVtaugoak Islands, where
we stopped some of our leaks, and procured very bad
water and a few shell fisb. Found there two Malay
huts with fires in them. On the 11th, expecting an at-
tack from the Malays on the opposite shore, we lighted
our fires and left in the dark, and from that time to the
16th had light variable airs with strong currents, when
we arrived at the entrance of the Borneo River in the
extreme of misery, with the wind and tide setting us
in, and no means of bringing up. Many of us had been
twelve days with 'nothing more to eat than half a bis-
cuit. There were in this boat Mrs. Page and her et-
tendant, Mr. and Miss Da Souza, Mr. Gill, the chief
officer, Mr. Young, A. Goise, the Nakhoda, myself,
and Lascars. We determined on applying to the
Sultan for provisions to enable U 3 to reach Singa-
pore, and took in a pilot from one of his boats. This
man informed us that a ship had left the roads for
Singapore two days before, and that three prows were
preparing to start by the next moon, in which, no doubt,
the Sultan, whom he described to be au excellent old
man, would order us a passage, as he repeatedly did the
same with others in our situation. When is ithin a few
miles of the Sultan's house we were boarded by a heavily
armel boat, which directions from the Sultan to take
us and our eff.cts. before him, and would be reipon-
sible for all. To this we submitted, and were landed
in Borneo at an outhouse of the Sultan's, where we
were detained and most of our clothes, Sce., taken and
examined by him. My butler had a box of trinkets
of Mrs. Page's, which was forced from him by one of
the Sultan's people, anal given to the Sultan, whom
I requested to see, but was told it was impossible.
as he was too great a man to be disturbed. At that
time be was seen by the officers examining our parcels.
He sent me a message by the gunner, the purport of
which was, that if we did cot give up all we had to the
person be had appointsd, Pangeran Momain, his son in-
law, the people around us, who afterwards proved to be
his private attendants, would take them and our lives,
and if we did not wish to die, we had better entrust
everything to his care, which should be returned when
we left. An account was then taken in our presence,
and all, valuables delivered to him accordingly, it being
evident he was determined to have them. We pointed
out the man who stole the trinket-box, of whom they
took no notice. They gave us some rice and fruit, and
we were removed to a small room belonging to one of
the Rajahs, and being thoroughly exhausted went to
sleep. Immediately on awaking 1 went to look after
our boat, but only found part.of her hull remaining, the
Sultan having taken everyti..ing from her, even to the
ironwork, which we saw repeatedly afterwards in his
house. On returning I found a disgusting looking
Malay, who told us he was the Sultan, and we must
always address him as Patik 'foonkoo, and that we
were truly fortunate in having fallen into his kind care,
as any other Raj dr would have taken all we brought and
then killed us. He then, without waiting a moment,
started off, accompanied by a train of armed men and
boys, his constant attendants. I followed and requested
to purelm_e provisions' saying we intended repairing our
boat and leaving for Singapore in a few da)s. He re-
p Tied that he was far too good a King to permit us to
leave in so small a boat, Ur:A he had a lirge Govern-
ment prow, which should be despatched in a few days
with us for Singapore, and that, as his most anxious
wish was to gain the favourable opinion of the English,
he bad ordered clothes to be made for us, and we
should be sent away loaded with presents. This I did
not believe, and told him our own boat with a little
provision would answer our purpose much better than
his, and that we would certainly give him a high cha-
racter at Singapore. At this he was much displeased,
and desired me to leave him. This day we were fad
on boiled grass and the heads and tails of small fish, the
bodies of which we had the satisfactisn of seeing the
Malays appropriate to themselves. The same descrip-
tion of food continued ten days, with the exception of
one duck, served so economically that it lasted our party,
of eleven in number, four days, with a piece of tough
buffalo. Amongst other things' he had 340 dollars
of the chief mate's, which I demanded to defray our
expenses, but he would not part with one of
them. He now called constantly, pilfering on all
occasions. Five days after our arrival I demanded
our boat, when he told me if ever I mentioned her
again he should be much annoyed, as he wanted
her himself, and then ordered his people to send rue
away from his presence. I called the following day,
and he said in seven days more the prow would be
ready, as they verb only detained to have cabins made
for 'the ladies. He advised me to be patient, as I was
not a Captain in Borneo, and that he always did as he
pleased. Mr. Da Souza and I, he said, were good
men, and he would give us our lives and liberty; but
the officers (who had not offended him in any way)
should have that, placing his hand in a threatening
manner on his crease.
Pangeron Eucof now arrived, who is next in rank
to the Sultan, and a counsel was hell which consisted
of the Sultan and four Rajahs. We were informed
that its result was that we should be all sent to Singa-
pore in three prows, which the Pangerang would have
r.iady to sail in firteen days. He gave some clothes
and a buffalo calf, part of which the Sultan took with-
out ceremony. I requested a bed for Mrs. Page, and
received a rug instead two months afterwards. We
were now allowed one rupee per day in value, with.
which, and our prospect of leaving, we became some-
what reconciled. The Sultan after this told me he
was sorry to disturb us, but he must have our apart-
ment for a wedding to take place there, as we were to
honour it in our' new clothes. This was the last we
heard of either. The Lascars used to be harangued
by him, and told that the Captain was a bad man,. ace.
This I gave him to understand was quite out of the ques-
tion. I requested the Sultan to permit us to leave in a pri-
vete prow about to sail, but he said.we must go in his.
and asked me which of the things we bad left in his
charge I should require. I replied he might have them
al', and our boat also, if he did not prevent us departing
immediately ; but lie observed he must have his present
as well, to show my heart was pure towards him, and I
had better not attempt to write to Singapore, as God
would assist in getting us there. I said we had lost
everything in the ship, and could not give more than be
already possessed of ours. The next day he offered me
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he feared there was but little prospect of recovering
the trinket-box for me, as the Malays were very cun-
ning thies es, a'l excepting himself ; he was like an
Englishman, as he had never uttered a falsehood, or
stolen anything in his life. Mr. da Souza and I then
accompanied him in canoe up the river, when he amused
himself blowing a boatswain's cell he had forced from
one of the tindals by threatening him with 5,000 lashes.
It was attached to one of Mrs. Page's guard chains,
which he wore round his neck, and was in the trinket-
box when taken. We repeatedly saw him afterwards
with her rings on his fingers, taken from the same
box. An old blind Rajah, his usual compani in, boasted
of their having cut off an English vessel and killed her
officers, without the British Government taking the least
notice of it. The offi:ers' names w ere Dixon, Walker,
Campbell, and Tate, and twenty two Europeans, who
all died about the same time ! We were now ordered
by the Sultan to leave our few remaining articles, and
were conducted through a scorching sun over a pas-
sage of sticks, 70 yards in length, elevated on piles,
10 feet above the mud, most of them either rotten or
broken, a difficult task for an active person. Mrs.
Page had to go repeatedly on her hands and knees,
which might have been obviated, had the scoundrel
allowed me to procure a canoe. We found a
wretched hut for our reception, with one side of it as
a fire-place, without a door ; and when it rained
we might as well have been in the open air. Four
places of a similar description were on the same
platform with us, occupied by the Sultan's slaves. Cu*
few effects were taken to his house and examined by
himself, when he stole several of t;:em. The allowance

daily decreased, and we bad numbers of armed men
and boys continually in our room, who examined our
food, and committed the most disgusting acts. He