The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-01-21
= A FEMALE CRUSOE.

On the 26th day OF October, A. D.
1871, the trading schooner Little King
sailed out of the port of Singapore,
bound for the Kinderoon Islands, to the
north, and only one of her crew was ever
again met with. For five years before
the schooner had belonged to and been
commanded by Captain Ezra Williams,
an American from San Francisco. He
traded between Singapore and Sumatra,
Java, Borneo and the smaller islands of
the Java Sea, and in May, 1871, died at
Singapore of fever. He had then been
married for three years to an English
woman, whose maiden name was Dan
forth, who had been a domestic in an
an English family in Singapore. She had
accompanied him in all his voyages, and
had secured much experience and infor-
nation. As she could not readily dis
pose of the schooner, she determined to
continue in the business, acting as her
own supercargo.
Mrs. Williams secured an Englishman
named Parker as captain, another named
Hope as mate, and with three Malays be-
fore the mast and Chinese cook, and
with about $1,000 in specie in the cabin,
she sailed away on her first voyage, and
it was four years later before she was
again heard of. The purpose Ct this
narrative is to chronicle her ad7ec
lures in the interim, as had it from her
own lips.
While it was bit queer to start on
voyage with woman virtually in COM
mand of the craft, Mrs. Williams had
nothing to fear from her crew. The
officers were good navigators, and the
men willing, and all were anxious for
profitable voyage. She had no complaints
to make until the islands had been
reached. The group lies between the
Malay Peninsula and the island of Bor-
neo, about 100 miles off the coast of the
former, and from $50 to 800 miles from
Borneo. There are nineteen islands in the
group, covering length of 120 miles by
about forty broad. There are only seven
or eight which are inhabited, and at the
time of which write the people were
lawless sci, and share of them out-and-
pirates. The products were dried fish,
sea shells, cocoauuts, dye stuffs, various
herbs and roots for medicinal purposes,
and several sorts ofspices. The schooner
had been there once before and made
profitable trip of it. She had clothing,
powder, shoes, axes, and great variety
of notions, and where more of these were
wanted she paid cash.
s On the trip the schooner worked to
the northward and made her stop at the
Island of Quewang, being the third one
from the northernmost island of the
group. She met with cordial reception,
and at once began bartering for and re-
ceiving cargo. She was anchored in
sheltered bay, within 500 feet of the
beach, and had been there five days be-
fore anything occurred to arouse Mrs.
Williams's suspicious that all was not
right. She then observed that the entire
crew we're drinking deeply of g native
liquor which the natives were supplying
in liberal manner, and that some of the
fellows were becoming impudently
familiar. When the Captain was spoken
to he laughed at her idea of trouble and
promised better things, but the drinking
continued. On the afternool-e the
seventh day several women came off in
the canoes--Gne of them, who could
speakCEnglish pretty fairly, was pre-
se1ted with some ornaments by Mrs.
Williams, and in return she hinted to her
that it was the intention of the natives to
capture and loot the schooner that night.
They had discovered that there was a
large sum of money on board, and they
had found the crew an easy one to
handle. The native woman hadn't time
nor opportunity to say much, but no
sooner had the crowd of natives left the
schooner at dusk, as was their custom,
than Mrs. Williams set out to sound the
alarm. Imagine her feelings when she
discovered that every single man on
board, from Captain to cook, was so
much under the influence of liquor as to
be unable to comprehend her words. She
doused them with sea water and pounded
them with Delaying pins, but oil to no
purpose. The entire lot we're stupidity
drunk, just as the natives had planned
for.
It was a perilous situation for the
woman to be placed in. If the natives
captured the schooner they would
murder every one of the crew as a natural
sequence, and the first step toward
capturing her had already been taken.
The step she took showed sound judg-
ment. The schooner's yawl was down,
having been in almost hourly use. The
native village wGs about forty rods back
from the beach, and as the schooner
swung to the ebb tide she presented her
broadside to the village. When the
yawl was pulled around to the port side
she was out of sight. Mrs. Williams's
first act was to step the mast; her next
to supply the craft with provisions and
water. There were an unusual number
of flights burning in the village, showing
that something was on foot, but she had
no fear of an attack until later hour
The natives would wait until certain that
all the people were helpless.
Mrs. Williams had determined to slip
away from the doomed craft in the yawl,
although she had no experience in the
management of small boat. After
water and provisions she brought up all
her money, which was in boxes she could
handle. Not penny of it was left be-
hind. There was a rife, revolver and
double -barre!ed shotgun belonging to
her husband. These she took, together