, 1891-01-23
A FEMALE CRUSOE.


On the Goth day Of October, a. ID. 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 Eve years before the schooner had be
longed to and been commanded by Capt.
Ezra Williams, an American from San
Francisco. He traded between Singapore
and Sumatra, Java, Borneo and the small
err 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 aid name was
Danforth, who had been n domestic in an
English family in Singapore. She had &C
c~ompanied him in all his voyages, and had
secured much experience and formation.
As she could not readily dispose of the
schooner, she determined to continue in
the business, acting as her own super
cargo.
Mrs. Williams secured an Englishman
named Parker as captain. another named
Hope as mate. and with three Malays be-
fore the mast and a Chinese cook, and
with about 5000 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 of this narrative Is
TO chronicle her adventures in the interim,
ms | had il from her own lips.
While 1t was a bit queer TO start on a
voyage with a woman virtually in com
mand Of the craft. Mrs. Williams had
nothing TO fear from her crew. The off.
GERS were good n~avigators and the men
willing, and all were anxious for a proiita-
BILE voyage. She had no complaints to
make until the Islands had been reached.
The group lies between the Malay PENN
sula and the island OF Borneo. about 100
miles of the coast of the former, and from
$50 to 300 miles from Borneo. There are
nineteen islands in the group, covering a
length Of 100 miles by about 40 broad
There are only seven or eight which are in
habited, and at the time OF which l write
the people were a lawless set. and a share
Of them out and out pirates.
The products were dried fish, sea shells.
cocoanuts, dye stuffs, various herbs and
roots for medicinal purposes and several
sorts Of spices. The schooner had been
there once before and made a profitable
trip of IL. She had clothing, powder,
shoes. axes and a great variety of notions,
and where none of these was wanted she
paid cash.
On this trip the schooner worked to the
n~orthward and made her stop at the island
Of Quewang, being the third one from the
northernmost island of the group. She
met with a cordial reception, and at once
began bartering for and receiving cargo.
She was anchored in a sheltered bay. with
in 500 feet Of the beach, and had been there
five days before anything occurred to
arouse Mrs. Williams suspicious that all
was not right. She then observed that the
entire crew were drinking deeply Of a ma
tive liquor which the natives were supply
ing in a liberal manner, and tina some of
the fellows were becoming impudently fa-
miliar.
When the captain was spoken to he
laughed ut her idea of trouble and promised
better things; but the drinking continued.
On the afternoon of the seventh day several
women came of in the canoes. One of
them, who could speak English pretty fair
ly, was presented with some ornaments by
Mrs. Williams, and in return she limited
TO her that 1t was the intention of the
natives to capture and loot the schooner
hat night. They had discovered tina
there was a large sun OF money on board,
and they had found the crew an easy one
70 handle. The native woman hadn't time
nor opportunity to say much, but no
sooner had the GROVE of natives left the
schooner ut dusk, as was their custom,
than Mrs. Williams set out to sound the
alarm. Imagine her feelings when she dis
covered 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 be-
laying pins, but all to no purpose. The en-
tire lot were stupidity drunk, just as the
natives had planned for.
IL was a p~erilous situation for the wom-
an to be placed in II the natives captured
the schooner they would murder every one
of the crew rs a natural sequence, and the
first step toward capturing her had al
ready been taken. The step she took
showed sound Judgment. The schooner's
yawl was down, having been in almost
hourly use. The native village was about
forty rods back from the beach, and as the
schooner swung to the ebb tide she pre-
scented her broadside TO the village. When
the yawl was pulled around to the port
side she was out of sight. Mrs. Williams
first act was to step the mast, her next to
supply the craft with provisions and water.
There were an unusual number of lights
burning in the village, showing that some
thing was on foot, but she had no fear of
an attack until a later hour. The natives
would wait until certain that all the peo-
pie were helpless.
Mrs. Williams had determined to slip
away from the doomed craft in the yawl,
although she had no experience in the
of u small BOAT. After water
and provisions she brought up all her
money, whi,h was in boxes she could
handle. Not a penny of it was left behind
There were a rifle, revolver and double
barreled shotgun belonging to her hus-
band. These she took, together with
powder, shot and liked ammunition. Then
she gathered up all her bedding and cloth
ing, took three or four spare blankets, two
suits of clothes belonging to the officers,
and when these were in the boat she took
pots, pans, dishes and cutlery, bundled up
u lot of carpenters tools. secured two axes,
a lot OF small rope, several pieces of canvas,
and, in brief, loaded thu yawl with what
ever was portable and handy, including
the clock, compass, quadrant, sextant and
a lamp and four gallons OF oil. She worked
TWENTY D0II1P cor