The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-12-03

ulguL or the succeeding udN. LOOKING
back TO it is like recalling dream. Hun
ger thirst, fright and exposure kept me
in semi-cOnscious state most of the time,
and it was probably better so. The gale
lasted most of the night and as 10 fined
down next day il still blew from the same
quarter, so that / drove steadily to the
east from the hour of falling overheard.
| was not fully conscious of my surround
ings when | heard the roar of breakers,
and l did not realize that l was being
drifted ashore until was carried in on a
big roller. left on sandy beach for a
moment. and then carried into the foam
again by the undertOw. The next time |
felt the sand under my feet, however. |
made a struggle for it, and after being
half drowned found myself on a sandy
beach beyond the reach OF the waves.
was sick and weak and threw myself
down or the ground, and when | finally
awOke from what was like a troubled
sleep, a full moon was shining in my
face and the night was half gone. I sat
up and looked around and dimly realized
that l had drifted ashore, and then
crawling on hands and knees under the
trees l slept again and did not open my
eyes till the sun was an hour high.
| had made a drift, as / afterward
learned, of about sixty miles, and waves
and tide had cast me ashore on the west
side of one of the Babil islands There
are thirteen islands in this group. which
lies off the coast of Sumatra. distant
about eighty miles. The largest island is
a bout 30 miles long by 10 broad, and none
of them is yet permanently inhab-
tied. Most of the smaller islands are
seward and westward of the big one,
and when | came to look around me |
found l had been cast ashore on a bit of
land comprising not over POO acres. 1t
did not take me over an hour to walk
around it. and | discovered that it was
entirely covered with trees, contained
two or three fine springs, and that | was
six or seven miles Srom any other island.
As for eatableS, there We're oysters
Clinging to the rocks at low-tide mark
wild fruits and berries to be had for
the picking and | made no doubt of find
ing edible roots in the forest if | cared to
look for them. Before night came again
| had constructed a shelter of limbs and
branches under the trees aud | slept
through the night as SOundly as if in my
bunk aboard the bark. / am not going to
enter into particulars of the life | led for
several weeks, for you can easily imagine
there was very little to interest an out
slider. | got up signal staff on the west
shore spent much of my time in looking
for sail, and was cast down and elated
by turns over the situation. ! had no
means of building fire, and my food was
consequently partaken of in raw state.
The weather was warm and pleasant,
and after getting accustomed to the lone
illness of the situation l rather enjoyed
the CrusOe life.
l had been on the island forty-three
days when | got up one morning to find
the sun hidden by haze which | knew
portended a storm. At about noon
typhoon came out of the southwest with
such violence that within an hour | was
driven to seek shelter at the center of the
and as the tide was coming in at the same
time there was fear that the island
would be submerged. At o'clock in the
afternoon and again at about s tidal
waves swept up the beach and into the
forest 200 feet above high-water mark.
and between the same hours the wind
had such fury that at least half the
island was denuded of trees bushes and
plants and left as bare as my hand. For
hours | lay fiat ON the ground, clutching
the roots of a stout bush, and dozen
times over / had all i could do to keep
from beng blown away. The gale began
to blow out at shutdown, and then came
rainfall lasting till midnight and it was
sunrise next morning before l moved
down to the beach TO look around and see
what damage had been wrought About
bAiO III ob OilAAAeS NY yves LCSbCh DIS bIlC
hulk of vessel resting almost ON an even
keel afar up the beach, Both masts We're
gone a few feet above the deck Most Of
her bulwarks had been swept away, and
as | took q second look at the hulk made
her out to be an old derelict in place of a
craft just driven ashore. She had prob
ably been brig rugged, but masts, rigging
bOwsprit ana rudder were gone. AS
went closer, my heart in my mouth, for
fear I would find on ha haa1h
took notice of the seaweed and barnacles
clinging to the wreck, and when ] got
close up to her / found great knots Of
shellfsh sticking out here and there
along her sides. | could walk clear
around her, the tide being out, and it was
not until | had made the circuit twice
that | solved the puzzle of her being there
One of those tremendous waves of which
/ have spoken must have lifted her off
the bottom of the sea, miles away per
haps, and flung her where she rested. The
shape of her hull was ancient, and she
carried a fgurehead the like of which
had never seen before.
There was lots of scroll work on the
stern of the wreck but if she had ever
had her name painted there the salt
water had effaced the letters. / looked
along her sides clear down to her keel to
see if ] could find the cause of her going
GOWN, out Jne null was perfectly sound
and in good condition / hesitated to
board her, and, in fact, it was nearly
noon before | did so. l had q fear, as [
must admit, of encountering the skele-
tons of the sailors who went down with
her When l had at last plucked up
courage to scramble over her bows the
spectacle was not near as lonely as had
pictured. Her deck was flush from stem
to stern, with no cabin skylight. The
two windows at the stern had lighted the
cabin. There was a companionway, with
slide to protect it. and something of
the same sort forward. Though the
decks were covered with weeds and
shells and slime, could make out that
the craft had carried six cannon on a side.
There had been a cook house or galley on
deck, but that had gone with other fit
ting and belongings She was fitted with
an ancient windlass, and that was still
intact, with dozen coils of rotten hemp
ed cable about it. On her port bow was
an odd looking thing of wood and iron
which the craft had evidently made use
of as an anchor, and the sight of it was
enough to satisfy me that the hulk be
longed to period far remote She had
but one hatch, and that was amidships,
with the poVprs firmly SaourOd IN, on tho,