The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1890-05-14
AMONG TIE ARABS.

OF Gogho, in the Gulf of Cambria, to
.he port of Alden. in tho gulf of that
name While these waters are part
Of the Indian ocean. they are par
ticularizcd as the Arabian sea- The
brig was owned in Gogho, and her
captain was well known 10 my father.
WHO was an English merchant and
factor there. My eyes had become
weakened from hard study, and
It was decided that should make q
sea voyage in hopes TO benefit them.
could have gone anywhere in those
v sters rs passenger, ind by the very
finest craft, but / preferred TO go Us {.
regular hand on the tight little brig
and have a full taste OF sailors life.
There were two boys of us. captain,
mate, cook and two men. The other
boy was the captains nephew, and
was named Henry Williams. All but
the cook Were English Williams was
a year older than myself, and had
made several voyages.
We had a fair run about half way
down the Arabian sea, when the
ws>ther suddenly changed and we got
Z aestvy gale from the north. AS we
irsad TO lie TO this drifted us a long
ways To the south, or out upon the In
dian ocean; and it was while we were
VI.
in the darkness of night, that a ship
crashed into us and nearly lifted the
brig out OF water. The ship struck US
on the port bow. crushed in a dozen
planks, aud then raked us along the
whole side and disappeared i'm the
darkness astern almost before any one
had raised his voice to give the alarm
II wasn't over twenty minutes from
the time we were struck until the brig
was at the bottom of the sea, and we
were afioat in yawl. We had a
breaker of water and bag of biscuits.
but nothing was saved from the brig.
The watch below did not even save all
the clothing they had thrown off on
turning i'll, and the captain was with
out a hat and the mate without a coat
as we counted noses and compared
notes
An observation taken by the captain
at noon had given our position about
thirty miles To the east of the island
OF Socotra. This island Is 200 miles
OH the African coast peninsula which
pushes out 10 make the gulf. and we
were intending To run between the
coast and this island to make our
port Being without compass.
our course had now to be laid
by guess work. The yawl was pro
vided with mast and sail, and after
we had seen the last of the brig we
sailed away to the west. 1t was the be-
ginning of voyage of suffering and
death. When morning came and the
sun rose out of the waters it was seen
that we had been steering wide of the
course for several hours. a change
was at once made, but the weather
thickened up until one could not have
seen a ship mile away, the wind
hauled to the west, and the island
which we expected to see by O'Clock
IN the morning never greeted our
vision. We passed it to the north,
by now mapy miles no one ever
knew, and at the end of two days
sailing the captain announced that our
only hope was in being picked up by
some of the craft voyaging up and
down the gulf
This gulf. between the island of So
cotra and the Arabian coast, which is
its widest part, is not more than $50
miles wide. Craft were numerous
even at that day, and the chances
seemed ten TO one in our favor. On
the morning of the fourth day, when
we must have been fairly in the gulf.
we sighted two sailing vessels. out
they were afar off. On this morning
the captain was found dead, though
up to 10 o'clock at night he had seemed
To be all right and in good spirits. He
had laid himself down in the bottom of
the boat to sleep, and he must have
died without a word or a struggle. We
were ON short rations of biscuit and
water, but there was no suffering, and
on this morning, too, half an hour af.
ter we had placed the captains body
III the bows and covered it with a sail.
the cook began to rave and curse and
drink his fill. We realized that his
mind had given way under the men.
tai strain alone. He was looked upon
as harmless fellow, and even when
we found him crazy we took no pre-
cautions in his case. This was a Grim
Inal oversight on our part, as, about
half an hour before noon, the sun
beating down very hot, lie rose UP.
drew his knife and declared that he
would kill any one who interfered
with his eating and drinking. He at
tempted to get possession of the water
keg, which was in the stern sheets at
the feet of the mate, and when re-
pulsed he hurled himself upon the Of
ficer and stabbed him to death before
q hand could be raised 10 prevent.
Then new horror came upon US, re-
sulting from the attempts of the sailors
to secure the frenzied native. He re-
treated to the bows, shouting and ours
ing and waving his bloody knife. and
they attempted to beat him down with
the oars. The result was that he
stabbed one of them in the side. and
then leaped overheard, and the wound
ed man died within an hoAr.
The sailor now in charge was named
John Paul. He took the helm and
held the boat as she had been going
until about mid-afternoon, and then.
as no craft was in sight, ordered us to
heave the two dead bodies overheard.
We did this with the greatest reluct-
ance, as you may believe, although il
was a proper thing to do, and the sail
or afterward attempted to cheer us up
with the assurance that another day
could not possibly pass without our be-
ing picked UP. Just before night he
issued the rations, allowing himself
what he gave US, but when darkness
came heard him eating and drinking
his fill. We then had about two quarts
OF water and seven biscuits. Henry
and / crept forward and talked the
matter over in whispers, but we had
no idea OF interfering. We were
cOwed and afraid and tl1a Sa;lor l,od :.