Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1891-08-01
Cleaning Out Pirates.

During the year 1868 no less than
three tradin" vessels fitted ont at Singa.
pore for traffic in the Java Sea mysteri-
onsly disappeared. and no trace of them
could be discovered Two more were
added to tle list early in 1869 and about
July ! it was whispered around that a
nest of pirates had been discovered on
an island off the north coast of Java.
If the News WAS trIe the chieftain of the
gang must be Il bold fellow indeed, and
needed looking after at once.
The merchants 1T Singapore we're talk
ING Of fitting out 4 ship to investigate
when IT, NJ cruiser Tnc Shark arrived.
She WIS one OF the old fashioned ten
Gun b.i4s once so numerous, and at that
time was engaged in survey of the
south coast Of Borneo, or about to be.
As | was one Of her crew | can relate
what happened during the next two
weeks first handed
1t seemed that the story Of the pirate
was accepted rs fact, for We over
| hauled our armament, took in :. lot of
ammunition aud strengthened our crew
by fourteen men before sailing. These
men were drafted out Of crew belong
ing 10 a man n-of.war which had been
wrt cked on tn Malay coast, and all
were old hands. The captain got his
bearings from some sofrce unknown to
us, and when we left Singapore the brig
was headed to the east. We logged
| along down the coast Of Sumatra for u
week without finding any unusual Incl
| dent, and though we spoke Il score of
| crafts none Of thcn had any Information
| about the pirate. The crew hal begun
to rilicule the idea when something oc-
Cured to open our eyes very wide
one morning, about an hour after day
light, We came Up with Dutch trader,
which was taking care of herself. AL
her sails had been cat away, ropes were
flying in every direction and she was sc
low in the vat i that we wondered VIII,
she didn't 90 down. When a boa
mllei of TO her it WAS to iud the cap
tain mortally wounded and his wife anC
two sailors still and dead aud horribly
mutilated on the deck beside him. w,
got him of, but had no time to give tht
bodies burial before the little craft wen
down. The captain WAS man abou
forty years Of age, and though hardl.
alive when We foun1 him he rallied
enough to tell his story.
The trader had been tratficAing along
the Java coast and had tiaally complete
his cargo and headed for Singapore
Just AT sunset on the previous evening ht
had been overhaul by a native Graf
carving about forty men. He was thel
about ten miles off the coast and abou
| uEe miles south ol :El lSltni known q
"Queen's Bower He hal no suspicion
whatever Of the natives. and the frs
thing he knew they boarded his Graf
and began to cut and slash. When they
hal finished the crew they began 4
plunder and strip the vessel, and wer
with her until midnight. Before leaviu
they bored her full Of holes, and we hat
reached her Just in time TO rescue tt
captain The first craft was Joined b
two Others later on, AMI the three Cal
ricd at least a hundred desperate fellow:
The captain heard and understood euoug
t. satisfy him tnat the: were an organ
lied gang of pirates aud that they wer
also we'll equipped for their bloody busl
ness.
Hhe island mentioned was not owe
twenty miles away, and as the Java sc
MAS aud is a great highway, il did nc
seem possible that men would take sue