The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1892-12-17
CHAPTER XIII.

direct a route as possible to the Torres
strait and so into Arafoora sea.
The Molly's Hope not having any
reason for touching at the Gilbert or
Salmon islands, after an uneventful
voyage of three weeks. sighted first the
high land of the New Guinea coast and
then the most northe:ly point of Aus
tralia known as Cape York
Torres strait, lying between this
point and the New Guinea coast, enjoys
the repute of being an extremely dam
gerous passage, partly due to the vio-
lent current which sets in from east to
west and partly to the shoal water
Only for certain part of the day while
the sun is in such position as to make
the breakers plainly visible, is it at all
safe to venture into this narrow water
lane.
WAS it quite as far up as Melville
island that the Golden Gate picked up
the fragment of the wreck?" asked
Capt. Willis of Boatswain French.
"Quite," replied Zach.
"It must be five hundred miles be-
yond the strait"
AT least, captain" replied Zach,
Nsbh uLoCioOduu youi
For, knowing as we do the existence of
these strong westerly currents, 1t would
seem from having found the piece of
wreck off MeVifi> y island that the
Dreadnaught must have been lost at
the entrance to Torres strait"
Precisely, Zach, and we would De
forced to conclude that Capt. John had
made choice of this dangerous passage
to reach Singapore. Now, that never
can admit! Unless something happens
to change my opinion ! shall stick to
my belief that he crossed the eastern
archipelago, as we did in our first ex-
pedition, for the last time he was seen
was to the south Of Celebes island"
"And as there is no other conclusion
possible for us to reach," remarked the
mate, ''it follows that if Capt. Allaire
entered Timor sea he did SO through
one of the straits separating the Sunda
islands,"
ut can't be otherwise" replied the
captain, "and can't understand how
the Dreadnaught was ever carried to-
ward the eastward. Now either he was
dismantled or he was not. If he was
dismantled he should have been carried
hundreds of miles to the west of Torres
strait. If he was not, why should he
have returned towards this strait, when
Singapore, his port of destination, lay
in the opposite direction?"
''I don't know what to think" an
swered the mate. "If the piece of
wreck had been found in the Indian
ocean it might be explained by assum-
ing that the clipper ship had been
wrecked on the Sunda islands or on the
west coast Of Australia"
"While the fact is," replied Capt. Will
lis, "that the bit of wreck was found as
far up as Melville island, which would
go to prove thnt the Dreadnaught had
been lost in Arafoora sea near Torres
strait or in the strait itself"
'It may be-" said French, "that there
are counter currents along the Austria
lian coast which may have carried the
piece of wreck towards the strait. In
that case the ship may have gone to
pieces in the western portion of Ara
foora sea-"
ut will come out in good time" an
swered Captain Willis; meanwhile, let
us work our ship as If the Dreadnaught
had gone to pieces on the reefs of Torres
strait"
"And If we work her WE'LL" added
Zach, "we shall find Capt. John"
This was the best thing that could
be done, and this was what they did do.
Torres strait is about thirty miles
wide and swarms with reefs and inlets.
nine hundred or more, and most Of
them on a level with the water. The
natives are very skillful in the manage
ment of their light pirogues and have
no difficulty in crossing from one shore
to another. Therefore, il Capt. John
and his companions had taken refuge
on one of these inlets it would have
been easy enough for them to reach
the Australian coast and then make
their way to some little settlement on
the gulf of Carpentaria or on the
peninsula OF Cape York, whence they
would have had no great difficulty in
reaching home. On the other hand, the
moment it was assumed that Capt
John had never entered Torres strait
then arose the question of the fragment
of wreck and how to explain its presence
off Melville island.
Capt Willis ran the Molly's Hope
boldly into this dangerous passage.
keeping close to the Australian coast
Upon nearing Murray island the ap-
proach of q number of dugouts was sig
nailed, but the natives who manned
them as well as those who gathered on
the shores as the Molly's Hope steamed
slowly by contented themselves with
uttering wild war whoops and brandish-
ing their battle spears.
For a whole month, up to June 10,
Willis and his interchangeable searchers
continued TO ransack the coasts Of the
islands lying between the gulf of Car
pentaria and New Guinea. Not bit
or shred of rigging, not broken spar
or piece of wood was picked up by Capt.
Willis to lead him to think that the
Dreadnaught had gone to pieces on
these reefs.
After another month spent in 'oast-
ing along from Arnheim bay To Van
Diemen's gulf the Molly's Hope ON July
IL sighted Melville island. 1t was ten
miles to the north of this coast that the
fragment of the wrecked Dreadnaught
had been picked up. As it had got no
farther than this point it became
necessary to assume that it had only
been detached from the wreck short
time prior to the arrival of the Golden
Gate. 1t was therefore possible that
they were at that moment in close
proximity to the scene of the wreck.
With the coming of November, Willis
asked himself whether he was to con-
slider that the campaign was at an end
at least SO far. as the Australian coast
and islands lying off it were considered
Should he return. home after he had
made search among the Sunda islands
lying in the southern part of Timor
sea? In plain words, was he conscious
of having done everything that it was
possible for a man to do?
The brave sailor hesitated to look
upon his task as ended even after he
had secured the Australian coast.
Something happened to rescue him from
this state of indecision.
On the morning of November 4 he
was engaged in conversation with Zach
French when the boatswain pointed at
some objects hoating in the water