Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1892-11-11

| the port of ZamOoanga, the residence
of the governor, 10 whom and to whose
subordinates Capt Willis first applied
for information of any vessel wrecked
on the coast of Mindanao, but so far as
the Spanish authorities were concerned
they reported that no such disaster had
taken place within FIVE years
But these reports did not cover the
independent portions of the island in
habited by savages against whom the
charge of cannibalism had been sub
stantiated and who would naturally
make every effort to conceal the facts
of any such disaster on their coast.
Many of these Malays follow the avoca-
ton of corsairs, and are ready to pursue
any luckless merchantmen driven into
their waters to escape the gales. Whom
they capture they destroy, and whether
sucn na.i been the terrible fate of Capt.
| John and his companions was some
| thing which would never come TO the
ear of the governor. Capt. Willis didn't
| hesitate to penetrate into these Won
derful forests of tamarind, bamboo,
mangrove, ebony, mahogany and iron
wood in order to reach the interior vii
lagos in the hope of finding some bit or
shred of proof that the Dreadnaught
had gone to pieces on these reefs or
that some one or more of her crew had
fallen into the hands of these islanders.
| The exploration of the Philippine
archipelago lasted two months and
half, after which Willis made a search
through the Bassilan group to the
south of ZaInboanga, and then sailed
I for the Sooloo archipelago. which he
reached February %, 1880.
| This is a veritable nest of pirates, and
| the jungles of the many islands lying
between Mindanao and Borneo are alive
with savages- But one port is ever fre-
| quented 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 a lavish hand among the inhab-
itants of these islands, but nothing 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 ap-
parently enough left to enable her to
cross Lne OeIGDtS sea anu make Inc pOIb
of Banjermassin in the southern part
of Borneo
In spite of the fact that the Celebes
sea is shut in like lake, it is visited by
terrible wind storms. and in the night
of February 2s to 90 gale of great i'm
petuosity overlook the steamer, rolling
up violent sea and emptying hundreds
of tons of water upon her deck and
flooding her hold, but her compart-
ments resisted the strain and kept the
water from reaching her engine rooms,
a piece of great good fortune, for her
fires once extinguished and screw rem
dered useless she would have been pow
erless to make head against the gale.
Neither captain or crew lost their
self-possession for moment during the
long hours Of this terrible night. On
the morning Of March the staunch
steamer, Molly's Hope, sighted the Mar
atoubas islands off the coast of Borneo.
A fortnight was devoted to ransack-
ing these waters for some proof that
the Dreadnaught had perished in just
such gale as had overtaken the steam
er; but although rich presents were dis
tributed among the chiefs nothing was
forthcoming.
"It is very possible" said Capt. Willis
to his mate one day, that the destruc-
ton of the Dreadnaught was due to
sudden attack of number of piratical
craft, 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 a YES
sci 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 Wig
lance in passing through Macassar
strait
Every true" answered Willis, but
there's no chance of their being able to
overtake us. Not so 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 shall have nothing
to fear. Still we can't be too careful"
For two months, from March Is to
May Is, Capt Willis busted himself
making close search of the eastern
coast of Celebes island. The fantastic
outlines of this island have led some
geographers to compare 1t to a huge
tarantula. but the very fact Of this bent
and twisted coast line makes it a favor
ite refuge for pirates
Whenever the ships boats were occu-
pied in searching the coves and inlets,
Capt Willis lay to as near the coast as
possible with steam up, ready at mo-
ments notice to cover their retreat.
Having once traversed the strait, all
danger was at an end, for the southern
part of Celebes Is under Dutch rule,
Macassar being the capital city, and
here under the guns of Fort Rotterdam
the Molly's Hope came to anchor on
May II.
If Capt. Willis had thus far discov-
cred no trace Of John AlIaire and his
crew of the Dreadnaught, he was now
destined to get at last some positive in
formation on the subject of the route
which the Dreadnaught had followed.
1t was this: On May 8, 1875, that clipper
ship had been signaled ten miles out
from Macassar, heading towards 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 Capt. Willis was called upon
to continue his search, not relaxing
his efforts until Singapore had been
reached.
In report sent to Mrs. Allaire from
this extreme point of Celebes island, VIII
lis 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 and the Sum-
da islands.
Willis had fixed the meridian of Sing
apore as the western limit of the ex-
pedition, and on his way home intended
to explore the western shores of Java
sea, and make search among the chap
let of islands which shut it in on
that side, then after passing in among
the Moluccas regain the Pacific and re-
turn to America.
The Molly's Hope left Macassar on
May 2S, and crossing the strait at it's
lower end, made the port of Banner
massin. This is the official residence of
the governor of Borneo. Most scrupu-
lous examination was made of the ship
ping records, but no mention of the
Dreadnaught could be found. There
was but one explanation Capt. John
ho6 ant ont tn ~