Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-07-19
would never come to the ear of the Gov

/ tamarlnd, bamboo, mangroYe, eDony, ma.
hogany and ironwood in order to reach the
interior villages, in the hope of finding some
bit or shred of proof that the Dreadnaught
had gone to pieces on these reefs or that
one or more of her crew had fallen into the
| hands of these islanders.
The exploration of the Philippine Archi-
! pelago lasted two months and a half, after
| which Willis made a search through the
| Bassilan group to the south of Zamboanga,
and then sailed for the Sooloo Archipelago,
which he reached February 25, 1880.
This is a veritable nest of pirates and the
| jungles of the many islands lying between
Mindanao and Borneo are alive with saw
ages. But one port is ever frequented by
vessels crossing the China Sea and Malaysian
basins, and that is the port of Bevoan.
Here the Molly's Hope cast anchor. Willis
scattered presents with lavish hand among
| the inhabitants of these islands, but moth
ing that was brought to light served in the
| slightest to clear up the mystery of the
Dreadnaught. Although the steamer had
coaled at Mindanao, yet at the end of this
cruise her bunkers were pretty well emptied.
However, there was apparently enough
left to enable her to cross the Celebes Sea
and make the port of Bandjermasin in the
Southern part of Borneo.
In spite of the fact that the Ce1ebes Sea
is shut IN like lake, it is visited by ter
rible wind storms, and in the night of
February 2S to % gale of great impetu-
osity overlook the steamer, rolling up
violent sea and emptying hundreds of tons
of water upon her deck and flooding her
hold, but her compartments resisted the
strain and kept the water from reaching her
engine rooms, piece Of great good fortune,
for her fires once extinguished and screw
rendered useless she would have been
20 bn
Neither captain nor crew lost their self
possession for a moment during the long
hours of this terrible night. On the morn
ing of March the staunch steamer Molly's
Hope sighted the Maratoubas Islands, off
the coast of Borneo
A fortnight was devoted to ransacking
these waters for some proof that the Dread
naught had perished in just such gale as
had overtaken the steamer, but although
rich presents were distributed among the
chiefs, nothing was forthcoming.
'It is very possible" +" said Captain Willis
to his mate one day, "that the destruction
of the Dreadnaught was due to a sudden at
tack of number of piratioaI crafts, and this
would account for our not having been able
to discover any trace of her. These pirates
make no boast of their exploits and when
vessel disappears they have but to lay it to
the fury of the gale
''You are right, Captain" replied the
mate. ''These waters swarm with pirates
and we must redouble our vigilance in pass
ing through Macassar Strait"
Every true" answered Willis, "but
there's no chance of their being able to
overtake us. Not so a sailing vessel With
irregular and shifting winds sailing vessel
is more or less at their mercy But so long
as our engines are in working order we have
nothing to fear. Still, we can't be too care
full"
For two months, from March 13 to May
Is, Captain Willis busted himself making
close search of the eastern coast of Celebes
Island The fantastic outlines of this island
has led some geographers to compare it to a
huge tarantula, but the very fact of this
bent and twisted coast line makes it a favor
able refuge for pirates.
Whenever the ships boats were occupied
in searching the coves and inlets, Captain
Willis lay to, as near the coast as possible,
with steam up, ready at moments notice
to cover their retreat. Having once trav-
ersed the strait, all danger was at an end,
for the southern part of the Celebes is un-
der Dutch rule, Macassar being the capital
city, and here under the guns of Fort Rot
terdam the Molly's Hope came to anchor on
May IL.
If Captain Willis had thus far discovered
no trace of John Allaire and his crew of the
Dreadnaught, he was now destined to get at
last some positive information on the SUBJ
ject of the route which the Dreadnaught
had followed. 1t was this: On May 5, 1875,
that clipper ship had been signaled ten
miles out from Macassar, heading toward
the Java Sea One thing was now certain:
she had not perished in the terrible waters
of Malaysia. 1t was beyond Celebes and
Borneo, that is in the Java Sea, that Cap
tain Willis was called upon to continue his
search, not relaxing his efforts until Singa-
pore had been reached.
In report sent to Mrs. Allaire from this
extreme point of Celebes Island, Willis
communicated to her this important piece
of information, at the same time promising
to keep her posted as to the results of the
search which would now be confined to the
Java Sea aud the Sunda Islands.
Willis had fixed the meridian of Singa-
pore as the western limit of the expedition,
and on his way home intended to explore
the western shores of Java Sea, and make
search among the chaplet of islands which
shut it in on that side, and then after pass
ing in among the Malaccas regain the Pa
ciic and return to America.
The Molly's Hope left Macassar on May
%, and crossing the strait at its lower end,
made the port of Randiermasin. This is the
official residence of the Governor of Borneo.
Most scrupulous examination was made of
the shipping records, but no mention of
the Dreadnaught could be found There
was one explanation. Captain John had |
kept out to sea in crossing this body of |
water.
Ten days later Captain Willis cast |
anchor in the port of Batavia at |
the westerly end of the island of |
Java This is the capital of the Dutch |
possessions in Oceanica The Governor
General was not able to give Captain Willis
a glimmer of light on the possible fate of |
the Dreadnaught. In the opinion of the |
marine authorities at Batavia the American |
three-master had been overtaken by tor |
nado, which had caught her with all her |
sails set and sent her to the bottom with |
every soul on board. In support of this |
opinion, they cited a number Of like cases,
in which no tidings had come from the |
doomed vessels and no bit of the wreck had |
ever been cast ashore.
In leaving Batavia, the Molly's Hope put |
the Strait of Sunda on her port side and |
soon sighted the islands of Eilliton and |
Banlla Formerly the approaches to these |
islands were infested with pirates who fire. |
quently attacked vessels touching here for |
cargoes of iron and tin, but the marine |
police have succeeded in destroying this |
pest so that there was no reason to con- |
clude that the Dreadnaught and her crew |
had fallen victims to sea robbers at this |
point.
Continuing her course toward the north |
west, the steamer kept up her search among
the islands along the coast of Sumatra. On
of @haM o1a