Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1890-12-25

1 u.
| south when we last saw her
| Next day at noon we were to the west
of Christmas and running down ON our
course, when we suddenly discovered the
bark on our starboard quarter. standing
out from the southeast end of the island.
where she had been in hiding to let Us
pass. She had not seen Us on account of
wooded peninsula marking out for several
miles, and we felt sure we had her in a box.
| The wind was from the west, and it was a
bit of job to get the brig about, smart as
we were. The bark was about FIVE miles
off to the west nor were there men enough
| aboard to turn her on her heel and beat
her back to the northwest
| Her only recourse was IT, stand to the
| southwest. heading directly for us. or to
fall off and run dead to the west We all
| looked to see her head into the wind and
wait to be boarded, but the rascal had not
thought of it. She suddenly shifted her
course to the west, and hoping to cut her
| off, we shifted ours north. Each was now
he leg of a triangle. 1t was plain from
| the start that we sho I'D be within a cable 5
| length of her at the meeting point, even
| if we did not cut her eff She would have
shore on one side and us on the other.
EACH CRAFT HAD ALL SET SAIL.
When within three miles of the bank
we fired gun for her to heave to, but
not the slightest notice was taken of it,
Our two pieces of ordnance was then shift
ed over to the starboard eide and loaded
with solid shot If the rascals refused to
surrender they must take the conse-
| quences. Each craft held dead to its
course, but again the bark proved her
better sailing qualities. Instead of cut
| ting her off as we hoped for we were still
q quarter of a mile away when she passed
the point. The three Portuguese were
shouting and cheer ,ng, while the white
man was at the wheel. Orders were
given to fire and two solid shots went
| whizzing at her. out to pass over her
without damage. WeIthen fell into her
wake and could not bring gun to bear,
and we had the further modification to
sec her walking away from US. The Portu-
guese ran w the American flag and dipp-
| ed 1t three times, and our crew fairly
danced in their. indignation. The only
| thing we could do was to follow her, but
we lost her early that evening and were all
at sea again as 10 where we should set
| eyes on her again.
Three days later, having had only light
breezes, we raised Enderbury island which
is the eastermost island of the Phoenix
group. The wind had been fair for the
| bark to lay this course, and this group also
offered the pirates good refuge and a
beautiful climate. Weapproached it from
the west, and in to within two miles of
che beach and then worked slowly along
the southern shore. The charts showed
no haven of refuge on either the south or
west shore, but located a bay on the north
We hoped to trap them if they were there
| by making circuit Of the island and COM
ing upon them from different direction
unexpected. As the breeze was light, we
were all day working down tine south coast,
and as the sun went down we anchored in
forty feet of water off the reef.
Next day we had to work up the west
shore against a head wind, and night
came on again before we had fairly turned
the corner and headed to the east. We
came to anchor again, but such was the
| impotence of Mate Cummings and his
aa2-,, u
| to explore the coast in advance. Ten
miles to the east they found the boat
anchored in the bay laid down on the
| chart. She was within 200 feet of the
beech, her sails furled and slowed, ana was
| heard Of before she was seen. The Portu-
guese were drunk as they were singing
and shouting so they could be heard half q
mile away
The mate should have returned ana re-
ported the case but he did not. He be-
| lieved his party strong enough to recap
| ture his craft. and he therefore pulled
down to make the attempt. He did not
surprise the pirates, as he hoped to do,
and when he attempted to board was
driven back to his boat in great disorder,
nearly every man being hurt by blows of
capstan bars. 1t was nearly daylight be-
fore the boat returned to the brig, and as it
was perfect calm we decided to wait un-
til daylight before making any further
move. As day dawned there was every
pros pect of a continuance of the calm and
two boats, each containing eight armed
men were dispatched to get possession Of
| the bark. Our first mate had charge of
one and Cummings of the other, and
was in the first boat. Our instructions
were to board at any sacrifice, but to spare
the pirates for the gallows if possible.
| After row of two hours we came to
the entrance Of the bay, and there was
the bark before us. She had a snug an
COrdSe, anu everything diO1b was DIS tluy
as you please. She wasn't over half
mile away, as it was not deep bay, and
we were no sooner in sight than we heard
cheer from her decks, followed by the
boom of a cannon and the sound of a round
shot over our heads. In rummaging the
vessel the men had discovered an old six
pound cannon which had laid in the hold
for many years. This they had hoisted
out loaded with shot intended for the
feet of dead man. and fired from a CO :
riage so poorly constructed that the gun
dismouuted self. The bark lay stern to-
ward us, as the tide was running out,
and we pulled to board her on either
| bow.
Captain and mate had both left revolv-
ers aboard, and these were now used by
two of the pirates While we were
sweeping up they killed two men and
wounded third and fourth man was
wounded as we boarded. The Portuglese
ran to the cabin for shelter, and we found
the white sailor dead at the foot of the
mainmast, they having dubbed him to
death the night before. While we were
planning to attack them in the cabin,