The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1890-01-16
Grave MRS. ALDRlcH.
An Old Salt Tells Of m Encounter with
Arab Pirates.

ASsSS~AAAsOA
Arab Pirates.
One season back IN the COS I shipped
aboard OF British ship, tho Swallow,
to make . voyage from Bombay up tho
Persian Gulf and back, writes an old
seaman in the Boston Commercial Bull
ictin. She was an old craft and poor
sailer, and her crew Of twelve men was
maze up Of four or Ave nationalities. !
there were two Kanakas, or
Sandwich Islanders, one Lascar, negro
or two, and the others werc American,
English and Dutch. We had scarcely
left Bombay when the captain was taken
sick with fever. His name was Aldrich,
and his wife, who was woman Of thir-
ty, always sailed with him. She now
took command in q general way, and
this to the satisfaction of the mates,
though both were thorough sailors. /
heard one of them say that she could
take an observation or work dead
reckoning, and / saw from orders she
gave that she knew all about ship.
We had good weather and made good
progress until after we were above Mus
cat, in the Bay Of Ormuz. Then, one
forenoon we got squall which did not
last ten minutes, but which brought
down our fore and main to'gallant masts
and carried away sail or two. There
was only light breeze after the squall
had passed, and we were lying to and
hard at work when an Arabian dhow Of
about two hundred tons burden came
- ~ -
within four miles Of the rocky and
shore, but she was two
miles inside Of US. She was no sooner
made out than the first mate became
anxious, and Mrs. Aldrich was sent for
% come on deck. She took good look
ut the stranger through the glass, and
IS she turned away she queried Of the
mate:
''can we depend on the crew to fight7''
81 hope so, ma'am," he replied.
"Have them come aft"
All moved aft, and I can remember
through all the long years just how she
looked and every word she said. She had
. worried, anxious look, and no wonder,
and there was trembling in her voice
as she said:
men, you know that your captain Is
sick. Yonder comes pirate II there ever
was one. IL he captures us, those who
live through the fight will 60 into the
interior Is slaves and worse. II we are
oil agreed We can beat him OF. What
do you say?"
"We'll fight to the last!" shouted one,
and the cry was taken up by all.
.Thank God!" she fervently ex-
claimed. ''Give them brave fight and
no one can be blamed il we are defeated.
Sooner than fall into their hands will
blow the old ship sky high and all Of US
with her."
We had no cannon, but we had fifteen
muskets, lot OF cavalry sabers, and the
captain had not lodged about those wa
tiers with his eyes shut. He had two or
three years before purchased dozen
hand-grenades or stink-pots, such as
are used by the Chinese. These were
brought up with the rest and found to
DO fused and in good condition. They
weighed about two pounds apiece, and
each was inclosed in . net, SO that 1t
could be tossed quite distance. We
loaded our muskets, took our stations,
and were IS ready as we could be. The
captains wife alternated between the
deck and the cabin. He was out OF
his head, which was the better for him,
and she had his revolver ready for use.
Down came the dhow, foot by foot,
with never q cheer from the crowd Of
,ut-throats on her decks. There was .
menace in their silence, but it had no
effect upon us. We were determined to
fight, and to fight to the last. got the
first shot and knocked over q man In
her forecastle, and then all began to
blaze away. She did not fire in return,
but forged upon our quarter, and could
see fifty Arabs, each ono armed with
crease. crowding against tho rail to be
,s:suy to board.
Now, heave," yelled one Of the sail
ors with tho bombs, and both lighted the
fuses and heaved away.
Before We could tell what damage had
been done the dhow was alongside. She
threw her grapnels, but they did not
catch, and she rubbed our whole length
and went ahead: As we saw her failure
we blazed away again with the muskets,
and every ball found man. She sailed
like . witch, and before she could be
checked was . cable length ahead. She
had just put her helm over when there
was an explosion, followed by . great
sheet Of flame, and we saw that she was
hard hit. Confusion reigned from stem
to stern in q moment, and we added to
1t by pcppering away at fair range. All
ablaze within i've minutes, sho fell Of,
headed for shore, and was run on . reef
about mile away. We saw some save
themselves by boats and RATS, being
swept upon the shore by the tide, but it
was afterwards learned that upward Of
forty-fve men were killed or drowned,
and that the loss Of the dhow broke up .
bad gang Of pirates.
Mrs. Aldrich was on deck through Il
all, emptying the revolver into tho
crowd Is the dhow passed US, and when
all was over she went down to her hus-
band with . face only Q little whittier
ind . mouth moro firmly iset. She did
not betray her womanly weakness until
she came to thank 10. Then she broke
down and cried like s-well, just like Z
woman.
Railroad Ties Of Eire.Clay.
Adams =. Hopkins Of West Fridge
water, Pa, has 'died,a cavsAs upon. an
Improvement" In tho form Of posts and
railroad ties made Of burned fire-clay.