Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1892-05-28

S9a-xv VINO was famiIlarl,
- known as Captain
lack, and the log in
which the daily events of the voyage
were written out in his cramped and old
fashioned c~hiography was left behind
him as an heirloom. The two particular
adventures | am to give you are pretty
fully recorded, but 50 far as 1 know
have never been published. Ishall take
the liberty of changing the language
here and there, for Captain Jack was no
scholar, but shall stick to the facts as he
wrote them down in ink which has
scarcely yet begun to fade.
The Hopewell was au English brig,
which had been chartered on this occa-
sion for a voyage up the Gulf of Siam
with two objects in view. One was to
secure the cargo of a vessel partly de-
stroyed by fire at Bangkok, at the head
of the gulf, and the other was to try to
learn the fate of the ship Viking, which
belonged to a trading company at Singa,
pore and had been mysteriously missing
for many months. English men. of-wai
had cleaned out many piratical haunth
along the Malay coast, and so many
pirGtical crafts had been destroyed that
merchant vessels no longer had any fear
of being overhauled, The Hopewell
carried a crew Of ten men, all of whom
were provided with small arms, but she
had no cannon.
The log says that she had a fair run
up the east coast for five days, though
the winds were light, but on the sixth
day, when she was six miles off tho isl
and of Alango, AS it wa then called on
the charts, it fell a dead calm. This was
early in the morning. Before noon there
was cause for everybody aboard to feel
alarmed. The atmosphere was close and
sitting, the sky had a brassy looG. and
hsh were continually leaping o4t of
water around the brig as if terribly
frightened. The water was full Of bub-
bies and many degrees warmer than
usual, and some of the men declared
they could detect the odor of SULPHUR as
they smiled the air. Captain Jack was
satisfied that the state of affairs would
lead up to a calamity, but was perfectly
helpless in the case Some of the men
were for taking the yawl and making for
the island in sight, but this the Captain
would not listen to, though he wishe
himself anywhere else han where he
was.
At about 5 P. NJ, just after what
looked like a cloud of dust had dark
ened the sky, a great sheet Of fame sud
denly leaped out of the sea two miles to
the west of the island. The flame was
followed by a report which was heard
for forty miles around, and then came
such a boiling and upheaving of the sea
that the brig was tossed about like a
chip, and was given up fof lost. She
continued to be pitched and banged
about in a terrible way for half an hour.
and the sea did not grow quiet for more
than two hours. All knew what had
happened. A submarine earthquake had
taken place, and a new island had bccn
created. -Four great waves followed
each other down the gulf, clear to Sing
apore, while the Natuna Islands, of the
west coast of Borneo, was almost swept
clear of inhabitants. No breeze followed
the earthquake, but the night continued
calm, and the crew of the brig were al
most choked with the fumes of sulphur.
When morning came Captain Jack
looked for the island of Alango in vain.
1t had sunk out of sight with all its
thousands of trees, and In place of it was
a rocky reef or key, black and barren,
about three miles long by a mile broad.
At no point was it more than FIVE feet
above the surface of the sea. The island
of Alango was seven miles long by four
wide, and was supposed to have about
500 inhabitants. 1t had disappeared
and not even a dead body was found
floating, though some of the forest trees
were carried 300 miles down tue gulf.
But this was not the only strange sight
which greeted the eyes of the crew
when daylight m On an even keel
in the middle of the newly created reef
was a ship with all ker masts standing,
and when the brig had beea worked in
on a light breeze and a boat lowered it
was discovered that she was the missing
Viking.
Captain Jack boarded her aud brought
off many things to exhibit as proof of
his report. She hal been captured in
those waters, and by pirates from the
island. They had taken out her cargo,
stripped her of sails and running rigging.
and then scuttled her. She had CONC in
water about half a mile deep, and her
decks and sides and masts were encrusted
with shells and fungus. She lay about
half a mile from the waters ige, aud
of course there was no hope of floating
her. Captain Jack left her resting in
her rocky cradle, and during the next
two years she was often sighted by
European ships. For some reason she
was set on fire, presumably by natives,
and thus ended her strange career.
1t was on this same voyage, and four
days later, when the brig had worked uD
against head winds to the group of ISL
ands called the Sang Wau group, that the
second strange adventure occurred. One
afternoon as the brig was steering to the
east of the islands, with the nearest one
about three miles away, the wind fell aad
she was left rolling on a CLASSY sea.
There was no fear of an earthquake on
this occasion, but Captain Jack was wor.
ried about something else. These isl
ands had been Il piratical stronghold. and
he did not feel sure that all the rascaIs
had been driven out. He went aloft
himself to inspect the island with his
glass, and he presently discovered some
thing to bring him down in a hurry. He
reported that he could make out several
huts on the shore, and that a native craft
was evidently making ready to pull out
and pay the brig a visit. He must have
mad a chicken hearted crew with hun,
or the log reports that he had to threaten
some of them with shooting to prevent
them from taking the yawl and leaving
the vessel to her fate. The arms were
brought out and distributed, each man
served with a dram to raise his spirits,
and when the prahu was seen it was
agreed to defend the brig to the last,