Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-08-01
A QUEER REVENGE.
ThE STORY OF A HUNT AFTER
SHARKS.
How n Voyage Began and Ended in Trag
edy-The Man Who Lost His Brother
Through Shark. and Was Finally Lost
Himself in n Similar Way.


In the month of November, 1865, the
Liverpool ship John Hunnewell left Mel
bourne, Australia, for the voyage home
She carried passengers two brothers,
John and Joseph Layton. They were
twins, forty-two years old, and neither had
ever married They had come out to Aus
tralia at the age of twenty, made their
fortunes in sheep and We're now going back
to the old country on visit. The fact of
their taking passage in sailing craft was
due to their intimate acquaintance with
the captain. He was, if 1 remember right,
a distant relative.
We had made fast run of half the dis
tance to the Cape and all had gone well
with everybody on board when there came
dead calm which lasted two days and
nights. On the afternoon of the second
day strange sea bird made its appear
ance and lowered about the ship. None of
the crew had ever seen bird like it, and
its visit caused some little excitement
One of the twins, John, determined to Sc
cure the bird a specimen, and he brought
up fowling piece to get a shot. The bird
was very shy, and after moving about
from point to point the man finally mount
ed the port rail abreast of the mizzenmast
The sea was like glass, the ship steady on
her keel and he had raised his gun to fire
when he somehow lost his balance and
dropped into the with great splash
There was general shout of laughter at
his mishap, and both mates, who were on
deck at the time, ran to heave him a rope
We heard him call out in jovial tones, but
even as he seized the end of a rope flung at
him he uttered a shrek and was pulled
out of sight in an instant. \ shark had
taken him. There was Il swirl of waters, a
few air bubbles rose to the surface and all
was over.
Everything had passed so swiftly that
we could not at once realize what had hap
pened. When we did understand the situa-
ton the surviving brother was so deter
mined on going overheard to search for his
brother that it took four or five men to
hold him. He raved like a crazy man, and
for the next week he had to be closely
watched TO guard against suicide. He was
as badly broken up man who had lost
wife and children. The loss of his brother
under such distressing circumstances de-
veloped a singular mania. | knew nothing
of it until W reached Cape Town. Joseph
had determined 10 revenge his brothers
death. lie ended his voyage at the Cape,
bought an American brig. which had been
the first knew of his plans was when the
captain offered to release me to let me take
the position OF second mate on the brig.
wish to give you some OF the particulars of
our Quitting. because l believe The Re
venge, rs Joseph renamed the brig, was
the only vessel ever fitted out for such u
voyage. When l reported on board he de-
tailed his plans. They were very simple.
We were to cruise for sharks, and to de-
stroy as many as possible until his desire
for revenge was Satiated.
The brig had to be pretty thoroughly
Overhauled, and it was six weeks before
we got away. During this time Joseph
sought to pest himself in every possible
way, and we had chemists, electricians,
carpenters and machinists aboard of US
every day. One Of his ideas was TO use an
electric battery, but the scheme could not
be made to work satisfactorily. We had
a furnace built for heating brick, and we
took ) 1000 bricks into the hold \ portion
of the bulwarks on each quarter was ar
ranged so that it could be taken out at
will. Under my personal supervision n
blacksmith made 100 shark hooks, and
Joseph purchased thirty barrels of pork for
no other use than shark bait. He pro-
vided the brig with four lances and as
many harpoons, and he bought up every
sort of poison which the drug stores had in
stock. y false deck of heavy planks was
laid, a capstan set in the deck just abaft
the mainmast and, in addition to full
crew to work the brig, three big Cape
canoemen We're hired Is extra hands. Jo-
seph must have had fully $4,000 invested
when we finally set sail.
Sharks are of course to be found in every
sea, but Joseph had consulted many sea
faring men and had determined on max
ing for the Sunda islands first. This
group includes Sumatra and Java, and
Al. hoo q,
the east end, at Timor, is distance of
5000 miles. To the south of these islands,
two hundred or more altogether, rolls the
wide expanse of the Indian ocean. One
day, after n voyage of weeks, we spoke n
French merchantmen which had loaded at
the port of Java and touched at the Cocos
islands to leave n colony of twenty-five
| Javanese. We were told that there were
| sharks enough in the surrounding waters
| to keep all hands busy for a year.
Three days later came to anchor on
| the south side of the larger of the four
| islands, which is called Refer island.
| This is the only one with a name. 1t is a
wooded island, about four miles long by two
broad. None of the others is over 100 acres
| in extent. The anchor had not yet been
| let go when the dorsal fins of II score of
| sharks were cutting the water around us.
| We came to anchor about 10 o'clock in
| the morning The Javanese had made IA
| camp just opposite where we lay, and after
| bit three of them came off to us in a sam
| pan When informed of the object of our
| presence they informed us that they had
already lost three of their number through
| the voraciousness of the monsters gliding
| about. A party were fishing in the sam
| pan Just outside the coral reef, when a
| huge shark leaped out of the water and
| fell upon the gunwale of the sampan and
| upset her. The men were dragged down
| at once while the tide carried the craft to
| the beach. The natives remained with us
an hour or so, and when ready to depart
| became so ratified at the number of sharks
| IL, sirrht TINT VIZ. Lowered a boat and rOyyed