Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1885-04-23
The Malay Proa.

Inc Malay fr0a.
During the spring of 1867, the English
merchant ship Gazelle, hailing from
Liverpool and commanded by Captain
William Babson, crossed the China sea
on her way from the Philippines Il
Singapore. She was loaded with an as
sorted cargo of great value, besides car
rying large amount of money, which
had been consigned to her care at Ma
villa.
Lying at Manila, with the Gazelle
had been the Yankee ship Minerva
commanded by Captain Charles P
Heustis, and it had been planned tina,
the two would sail together, as a meas
ure of safety; for it was known that the
China sea, at that particular time, was
infested by the most desperate and dan.
gerous piratical gangs that had ever been
known in those waters. But when the
time had come for the English to sail
the Yankee was not ready, being forced
to wait for an owner whose business had
called him away to another island. Bah.
son would have waited day or two, but
he could not waste more time, so he sail
ed alone, bidding adiou to the Phillip.
pines on the 9th day of May.
On the evening of the Sd of June, hav.
ing run very nearly 1000 miles on q
southwesterly course, Captain Babson
deemed it proper to lay his ship to until
morning. During the four and twenty
hours last past he had met strong ocean
current that had so far perplexed him as
to shake his confidence in his reckon.
ings; and, as he knew that he must be
very near to the most northerly of the
Great Natuna islands, he did not care to
rush on in the dark. For two days he
had been able to take no observations,
and the night before him promised to be
unusually dark. So as the night closed
in, he brought his ship to the wind, and
lay his main top sail back.
With the dawn of another day Babson
found cause of thankfulness for the pre-
caution. During the night strong
current had been setting the ship to the
southwark, with the wind in the same
direction; and now, with the breaking
of the day, he discovered land not more
than five miles distant The ship was
heading due south, and this land was
directly on the starboard beam, and it
required no consulting of the charter to
tell them that it was an island of the
Northern group of the Natunas.
Upon going aloft, with his telescope,
Capt. Babson gained good view of the
island, which he judged to be ten miles
long; well wooded, its shore free from
socks, and indented, about midway, by q
deep bay, the northern headland of
which was high bluff, wherein he dis
covered something that had the appear
ance of q beacon. He was upon the
point of lowering his glass, for the pur-
pose of closing it, when the fancy struck
him to take one more look at the summit
of the headland. He did so, and plainly
discovered human being there, stand
ing close by the beacon. He watched
him, and saw that he gesticulated with
his arms, as tho signaling to some one
on the shore of the bay below. Pretty
soon q second man appeared to the bea-
con and the two were evidently in ca.
ger conference. 1t had now grown to be
80 light that Babso could distinguish
objects very clerely no the island. He
could see that these two men were saw
ages-probably Malays and that they
held conferences with others below them.
This upon the promontory. Then the
captain turned his glass upon the deep
bay, and was able to discover short
stretch of its shore, where, plainly he
saw other savages, carrying long spears
in their hands, running swiftly towards
q point beneath the headlands. He
counted at least a hundred of those ma
ked islanders-all Malays-making for a
point beyond the reach of his vision;
then he decended to the deck, where he
gave his glass to one of his most reliable
top-men, and sent him aloft to keep
watch, and to report what he saw.
This done, the captain turned to his
chief mate-Tom Delaney-and told him
what he had discovered.
The situation was not q pleasant one.
With the first break of day, the light
breeze that had held through the night
had entirely died away, so that the ship
now lay in q dead calm, under the inf1u-
ence of current that was setting her
nearer and nearer the shore-a shore
then not more than four miles distant,
where horde of blood-thirsty piraters
were making reaky to come down upon
them.
As soon as Babson had told his mate
what he had seen, the crew were muster
UHoN Vic duoi va uCSh, ouu Az
formed of the probable situation. On
board the Gazelle, were five and twenty
able men, including the captain, the cook
the supercargo, the mates, and the men
before the mast. For weapons they had
four muskets, twenty-five large boarding
pistols, and about q score of common
ships cutlasses. These were brought
out, and while the firearms were being
loaded, the lookout in the main top re-
ported that large proa was in sight.
Captain Babson feft the work of pre-
psrinS the weapons to his mate, and
sprang aloft. He was an experienced
hand in those seas, and knew every
sign and signal. Taking the glass from
the hand of the topman, he levelled it
upon the bay. and saw the
headland. It was one of the largest he