St. Landry democrat., 1891-05-30

again. siI" had fired shell plump into
the boat 1t had acted as a solid shot and
gone through her, killing and wounding
and smashing, and when the smoke blew
away only three men were swimming away
on the surface. These we ordered aboard
and made secure at once. The bark dropped
another boat, but after coming half way
it returned. About noon she got rifle of
wind which did not reach US, and made off
to the west to be seen no more.
When we came to question the prison
ers, who were lusty looking cut Threats, we
found that they belonged to the Maldive
islands, around in the Indian ocean, They
made no bones about admitting that they
meant to capture US and were surly and
defiant over their repulse. They would not
give US the name of the bark and even
after she was out of sight they boosted that
she would return soon to release them. At
shutdown we got the breeze and stood away
on our course That night, during the
mates watch, the pirates disappeared. All
knew where they went, but no one asked
any questions. The two boats contained
fully two dozen of them, and their loss
must have sadly crippled the bark and
changed her plans
About three years later than the date
given at the opening of this sketch, l
shipped aboard of British ship called the
Swallow to make a voyage from Bombay
up the Persian gulf and back. She was
an old craft and a poor sailer, and her
crew of twelve men was made up of four
or five natiOnalities. | remember there
were two kanakas or Sandwich islanders,
one L&scar, a negro or two, and the others
were 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 thirty, always sailed with him. She
now took command in a general way, and
this to the satisfaction of both mates
though both were thorough sailors. l
heard one Of them say that she could take
an observation or work a dead reckoning,
and | saw from the orders she gave that
she knew all about ship.
We had good weather and made good
progress until after we were above Muscat,
in the Bay of Ormuz. Then one forenoon
we got Il squall which did not last fifteen
minutes, but which brought down our
fore and man-to' gallant masts and carried
away a 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 stealing down the coast. We
We're within four miles of the rocky and
mountainous shore, but she was two miles
inside OF US She was no sooner made out
than the first mate became very anxious,
and Mrs. Adrich was sent for to come on
deck. She took a good look at the stranger
through the glass and queried of the mate:
Can we depend on the crew to fightr
~ hope so, ma'am," he replied
"Iiave 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 a trembling in her voice as
she said:
"Men, you know that your captain is
very sick. Wonder comes pirate, if there
ever was one. If he captures us those who
live through the fight will 90 into the in
terror as slaves or worse. If we are all
agreed to fight we can beat him Off What
do you say"
"Well fight to the last!' shouted one,
and the cry was taken up by all.
"Thank God!' she fervently exclaimed. |
"Give him brave fight and no one can be |
blamed if we are defeated. Sooner than |
fall into his hands will blow the old ship !
skyhigh and all of us with her."
We had no cannon, but we had fifteen |
Wuskets, a lot of cavalry sabers, and the |
captain had not lodged about those waters |
with his eyes shut. He had two or three |
years before purchased a dozen hand gre |
nadeS or stink pots, such as are used by the |
Chinese. These were brought up with the |
rest and found to be fused and in good con-
ditiOn. They weighed about two pounds |
apiece and each was inclosed in net, so
that it could be tossed quite distance We
loaded our muskets, took our stations and |
were as ready as we could be. The cap
tain's wife alternated between the deck |
and the cabin. He was out of his head,
WI ich was the better for him, as she had
his revolver for use.
The dhow snealed along until nearly op-
poste us. All work had been suspended
aloft, and she must have known by this
that we were ready for her; but she came
on just the same. And no wonder One
Of the men went aloft with the glass, and
ne made out two guns on her deck and a
perfect swarm of men. She was doing |
3 bold thlng-run us aboard in broad |
daylight. She would not use her guns,
fearing that they would be heard and
bring us assistance; but if that mob ever
gained our decks we were gone We lay
with our head to the northwest, SO she
would pass our port quarter first. Here
Two OF the strongest men were placed with
The grenades, and two of us with muskets
we're between them. The others were
placed to fire over the stern.
Down came the dhow, foot by foot, with
never cheer from the crowd of cutthroats
III Ler decks There was a menace in their
silence, but it had no effect upon us. We
we're determined to fight, and to fight to
,he last. got the first shot, and knocked
)ver man on her forecastle, and then all
op@an to hl"zo away. She did not fire in
'eturn, but forged up on our quarters, ana
could see fifty Arabs, each one with a
:rease, crowdIng against the rail to be
eady to board.
Snow, heave" yelled one of the sailors
With the bombs and both lighted the fuses
md heaved away.
Before we could tell what damage had
'een done the dhow was alongside. She
brew her grapnel, but did not catch, and
he rubbed her whole length and went
head. AS we saw her failure we blazed
way again with the muskets, and every
all found man. She sailed like witch,
nd before she could be checked was a
able's length ahead She had just put her
elm over when there was an explosion,
ollowed by great sheet of fame, and we
aw that she was hard hit Confusion |
eigned from stem to stern in moment,
nd we added to it by peppering away at
air range. All ablaze within five min
ties she fell off, headed for shore, and was
IN on a reef about mile away.
We saw some save themselves by boats
nd RATS, being swept into the shore by
be tide, but it was afterward learned that
pward of forty-five men were killed OF
rowned, and that the loss of the dhow
!roke up bad gang of pirates. Mrs Aid
lCh was on deck through il all amDtvinu