Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1888-01-24
.NO MERCY FOR PIRATES.

"a eoveral times heard my father, |
ms lieutenant aboard of Ii. M. S.
Wi ~ va tell of his adventures among the |
spa'n, Who used to make the coasts Of /
~ and Persia such terror to sea- |
Al" II took many years and plenty OF |
n III knocks to clear the seas or those |
la l,,v and the crews of the war ships re- |
se'rod more wounds than prize money. |
one story in particular, which heard my |
totber tell several times over, had pecu-
nun interest for me, for l had seen the |
lar - snoken of in dock at Liverpool |
'es 1 =; 20 tbe warn in his own language as
neor as can:
p't I've had run across from the Lacca-
,..,, Islands to the Gulf of Alden, and
Nv NV, inst inside the Island of Socotra,
W. we picked up sailor floating on
~ WIZ II was about o'clock in the
Pnnino with little or no sea running
ln Na ,be lookout saw him when he was yet
an raile away. How he was preserved from
a. sbarks has always been matter of
.no to me, When we lowered a boat
~ ,;ck him ND he was fairly surrounded
~ ~ t the hungry monsters. Through the
sb;ns glass counted nineteen cutting the
,rater around his float, and | could not
hslieye that the boat would be able to
roacb him before he was drawn down.
II Providence ever HidkeS speciaI
effort for poor humanity 1t made grand
effort to preserve that sailors Ire ana
.arn,it him to fulfill his mission. He was
ppraryn safely aboard the boat, and when
10 had had a glass of grog we got his
story He had been second mate on
hoard nm American brig named the True
Elao | think she hailed from Boston,
INIT am not sure saw her in Liverpool
tbree years before this incident, and
tainted on her stern was. the first Amer
can flag had ever seen except at a dis
tance This was the reason l remem
hered her above all others.
nThe American had been up the gulf
md into the Red sea, and had come out
with mart of a cargo and was going up to
Mirbat to finish loading, when he was
attacked by three pirate dhows This oc-
cnrred the evening before, and only
twenty miles north of the island. The
attack was made after shutdown, and
while two other merchantmen were in
sirbt The dhows bad been noticed
boyering about, and their evil intention
was suspected, but it was little tfe crew
Of the brig could do to defend themselves.
They had few old muskets and cutlasses,
hut the dhows ran the brig aboard,
poured fifty or sixty men ON to her decks,
and the fight was over in five minutes
The mate, knowing that all was lost, had
gone overheard with plank during the
i confusion. and the wind and sea had
4 drifted him down across our course.
There was no doubt that every man
aboard the brig had been cut down or
saved for captivity and ransom, and that
the vessel had been thoroughly plundered
4 by that time, but it was just such an in
n cident as we wanted to hear of We
81 hadn't had brush with the pirates for
Il several weeks, and were getting rusty for
81 the want of work.
n 1.-THE Spitfire was, of course, a sailing
III ship. She was snug craft of thirty six
"a guns, with strong and ready crew, and
a the first thing done after hearing the sail
ors story was to heaye her to in the light
d wind and transform her from n taught
# and trim man-of-war into a merchant
Il man l had charge of this work, and it
81 was not the first time we had made the
change to deceive the pirates. Inside of
three hours the best glass aboard of a
4 dhow could not have told the Spitfire, of
4 the royal navy, from the Sarah Jane, of
4 New Bedford. And then we beat up to
the north for further news concerning the
brig The wind was light and battling,
and when night came we had seen moth
ing Just at dark. however, a French
bark coming out of Keshin reported see
ing three dhows and a brig standing in
for bay between Mirbat and the latteI
place-a hiding place and rendezvous, as
we had previously been informed. We
N could do nothing going in there in tho
night, but we stood on till pretty well in
II to the coast and then prepared to lag off
and on, After midnight we got sti1lish
land breeze and had to run to sea, and il
was well that this happened So When
morning came we could just make out
n the coast range of mountains through the
d glass, and the breeze was dead against
u.s. 1t was only well into daylight when
the dhows were espied coming out. We
set signal of distress and pointed the
ships nose for the gulf, but we took good
Fl care not to run too fast.
n The success of the evening previous
had emboldened the pirates / don't
know what sort of looking over they
gave us from their mastheads, but they
were certainly deceived rs to our identity
Ihey did not come dead at us on the start
PROBABLY intending to give us bit of in
Sestlgatlon, but no sooner did the sigma
81 Oh distress become plain to them than eacf
h ahoW altered her course and bore straight
uoWn Did not our signal call for help
was 1t not their duty to hasten to oul
Il 'aN' There was but one other sail il
slSnt, and she was well up the gulf The
H pirates had clear coast and a naples!
Nctlm, and they cracked on all sail. The!
uRd scarcely been seen before the Yanke,
mate recognized them as the identica
uloWs OF the day previous, and after tina
4 we mad no fears of making a mistake
our whole crew entered into the scheme
WIN will While we did not beat t.
quarters, every gun was made ready
ammunition passed up, and long enough
i oe4ore The dhows were up we had ever,
Il preparation made. Two-thirds of tn
Men We're kept in shelter behind the bul
Mafks' and the pirates could see nothin.
4 10 arouse a suspicion.
Il me piratical crafts came along in
oulch' They were of about the sam
s4e and burden, and each carried full
rolty men When they had come dow
miVhln cannon shot they separated, having
p.9oaoiy planned to lay us aboard steu
slu stern, but our captain did not propos
" ~ 1t go that far. While he could hav
nououot of our ability to clean out tn
ss1ouhurelly gang, he realized that hun
S doeu determined fellows dumped upon on
S S. with pistols and cutlasses mean
qeath and wounds to some of our crew
uuse as the dhows separated our port
Wy knocked open, the guns run out, an
eA' moment we were giving it to Their
'1 ana heavy. The fellows could nc