The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1891-10-02


to be, and we were piped to breakfast
feeling that our ruse would succeed.
About 8 o'clock, with the wind breez.
ing up lively, three native sailcraft put
out for us. A man aloft with glass re.
ported that each craft was crowded with
natives, and it was now our plan tc
weigh anchor and make little sail and
pretend to be standing away from them
as If alarmed. The object was to draw
them as far away from shore as possible.
and we had added mile or more to the
distance when the foremost boat came
within hail. She hadn't gun of any sort
in sight, but she had 4S desperate look.
ing villains in plain view, and every one
OF them had cutlass and pistol. While
her captain was hailing us in language
no one could understand, she was slowly
edging along down upon our starboard
quarter. AT the same time second
craft was drawing ahead on the port
side, and the third kept in our wake.
Only seven or eight men were in sight
on our decks, and the natives seemed to
have no suspicious of trick. The breeze
was little bit too strong for their ma
neuvering at first, but after we were
about six miles off shore the twosuddenly
closed in to board us. Our captain had
been closely watching them and waiting
for this move, and Of a sudden the drum
beat to quarters, and our decks were
alive with men. ! was captain of No. 3
gun crew and had the honor of firing the
first shot 1t was a solid ball. and il
struck the craft on her port bow and went
clean through her and dropped into the
sea beyond. This opened the fight; the
natives instantly realized that they had
caught Tartar, and they saw, too, that
their only means of escape lay in captur.
ing the ship. Therefore, instead of rum
ming away, as we had looked for, each
craft bore down on us to board. They
were handled as easily as an Indian ma
neuvers canoe, and it wasn't five min
utes after the first gun was fired ere they
were on our quarters like wolves seeking
to hamstring deer. Itired another solid
shot, and then loaded with grape, and
this last charge was fired right into
mass of natives waiting to Chamber up the
side. The gun next to me fired solid
shot, which tore through her bottom, and
two minutes later she foundered right
alongside Of us. The second craft got
near enough to grapple, but the irons
were thrown off, and two guns played
solid shot into her hull until she went
down stern foremost, leaving 80 men
struggling in the waves.
The third craft had forged ahead, sail.
ing five feet to our one, and would have
boarded us at the bows but for the sud-
den destruction Of the others. Their fate
frightened her of, but she had scarcely
laid her head for the island than it was
brought around, as if her crew had made
some desperate resolve. Now occurred
curious thing. She had about 30
men on board, and she came down on us
with every one Of them shouting and
screaming and tried to lay us aboard.
We could have sunk her with one gun
even, or we could have picked of the
whole crew with our muskets before
they had crossed the rail. Word was
passed to give her a full broadside at the
word, and when the smoke cleared away
she was not to be seen. There were over
20 of the pirates hanging to the
wreckage around us, however, and a
boat was lowered to pick them up. You
can judge Of their desperation when I
tell you that every one of them fought
like tiger against being picked up, and
that we got only five out of the lot. The
Others we had to kill as they floated
about with the sharks swapping at them.
Two of the five leaped out of the
boat after being pulled in and were
seen no more, and the others gave us so
much trouble that the captain swung
them up to the yardarm. Thus not one
single man Of the hundred or more who
came out to attack us escaped with his
life. l was in one of the two boats after.
ward sent ashore to see what sort of a
lair the pirates had made themselves.
The only human beings ashore were an
old native woman, one armed Javanese,
and white boy about IA years of age.
This boy was off an English trader capt
ured the year before, and had been held
prisoner ever since. He said there Were
1O7 men in the gang, and we found
enough plunder on the island to load our
oHiP' Ahey hdu CdptuTeu ABOUT q dozen
different vessels, large and small, and in
every case had plundered and sunk them.
They did not always kill all the crew.
Soon after the boy was 'captured they
brought in an American sailor off a spice
trader The boy knew him only by the
name Of William, but remembered that
his home was in Boston. 1t turned out
that they had spared his life to make use
of him as blacksmith, but when they
found he had no knowledge of that work
he was put to death. By order of the
chief he was hung in chains on tree
about quarter of mile away, and
was II days in dying. The boy went
with us and showed us his bones still
hanging.
The one armed man and the old
woman, assisted by the boy, were the
cooks for the gang. They at first seemed
very much alarmed, and protested their
innocence of any completely in the crimes
of the pirates, but when they came to
understand that all the villains had met
their fate, and that we had come ashore
l