The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-09-03

We were about forty miles duo south OF
the island and were rolling about on q
ground swell without breeze sufficient q
Ill a sail, when Javanese craft or about
3 100 tons burden was sighted coming down
upon US from the south at q
speed Of seven or eight knots an hour
There was no wind, and she had no sail
set, and when she passed us a quarter OF
a mile away we were filed with specula-
tion and establishment 1t would have
been a mysterious yarn TO spin ashore had
we not been boarded by one Of her crew
who jumped overheard as she was pass
ing, and swan to us. He explained that
she was a craft belonging TO the govern
ment Of Lombok one Of the islands 10 the
east Of Java proper and that the gov
ernOr and his wife and officials were
aboard of her. She had reached Christ
mas Island just at daybreak and cast
anchor, but half an hour later something
had picked up her anchor and tOwed her
out to sea.
Having but the one anchor and there
being no wind il was perhaps good sea
manship not TO slip the cable and let the
marine monster carry of the mass o.
iron. The sailor had been ordered by the
governor to leap overheard and request
our captain TO render such assistance as
he could as soon as breeze sprang up
This we were ready TO do, but il was
nearly six hours before the wind came,
Meanwhile the native craft had been
performing some curious evOlutious. She
ran to the south for or miles and then
returned almost over the same course.
For an hour she was towed about in a
circle Then she ran TO the
east-turned to the north-swerved
around to the west. and finally came back
to US. No one could make out what sort
Of ffv Al Iyl y,f1 siaVs
it been a whale he would have had to
show on the surface sooner or later, and
he would have run straight away in his
fright. Nothing that we had ever seen
seemed strong enough to tow that craft
the best part OF a day without a moment
rest. | have asked several naturalists
what 1t could have been, and none of
them was clear about it, though leaning
to the belief that il was a species Of devil
fish.
The craft was two miles away when
the breeze finally came, and she was
being lowed in a circle when we got near
enough to lower a boat and carry a rope
10 her. No sooner had the monster felt
the strain of our ship behind him than
the anchor was loosened. When it was
brought to the surface there were no
evidences that it had been torn loose
from gills or mouth, and it is "a mystery
how it was carried around so long.
There is no stranger tale of sailor life
than that to be related of the fate of a
portion of the crew of the French ship
Empress, wrecked on one of the Maldivh
islands. in the Arabian sea, fifteen wears
ago. She was a large ship, making a voy-
age to India, and had a crew of eighteen
men. She was blown far out of her
course by a gale and badly damaged, and
one night at midnight she struck a reef
three miles off the south shore Of Addoo
island. She soon broke up, and ten of the
crew reached the shore on the wreckage.
The island was not inhabited, but they
found plenty of fresh water and a great
deal of stuff drifted ashore from the
wreck. They set up a tent and made
themselves comfortable, and as all the
officers had persisted, the men determined
to have a good time of it before being
taken off To the east Of their island and
by a channel not over 200 feet
wide, though deep enough to float ship,
was an island of about an acre in extent.
1t was almost of rock and had neither
water nor verdure.
One day while the men were bathing
one of them crossed the channel to this
island and found some curious carvings
on a rock He jumped to the conclusion
that there was buried treasure there and
upon his return his story so excited the
others that they set out at once to see for
themselves. He was tired with his swim
and did not go with them. They had
been on the island three weeks and had
bathed in the channel daily without see
ing shark Francois Moran was the
name of this man, and he related that the
swimmers had scarcely reached the rocky
island when three great sharks made
their appearance and began patrolling the
al 60. a
but after an hour or two the men on the
rock began to realize the fix they were in.
While the weather was warm, they were
without food or drink. and they were also
tormented by gnats,
The crossing was made about 10 o'clock
in the forenoon, Soon after noon some of
the men entered the water to return,
thinking to shout and splash and brighten
the sharks away, but two of them were
quickly seized and drawn under and two
more large sharks made their appear
ance. This put an end TO all further idea
of quitting the rocks by swimming while
the sharks remained. The survivors
drew away to the center of the island and
there spent the rest of the day and all of
the night, but next morning there were
five sharks patrolling up and down the
channel. The sailors had rescued several
barrels of beef and pork from the sea
Moran was instructed to throw all his
meat to The fish and thus satisfy them
and he opened the barrels and heaved
every piece into the waters of tina chan
mel. The result was what might have been
anticipated had the sailors reflected a
bit. While the five sentinels doubtless
got some of the meat the splashing or the
scent of food called up q school of sharks
TO devour the bulk of it. The sailors
flung rock at the fish until their arms
ached, but they would not be driven
away. Whenever a man approached the
water they made ready to rush at him.
and it would simply have been going to
a horrible death to attempt the passage
Moran eXerted himself to the utmost to
relieve his shipmates. He tried to float
logs and planks across TO them TO make a
raft, but there was a current to battle
him. He constructed fire raft and
ioated it through the channel, but it did
moi brighten the monsters in the least.
Had the men on the small island kept
their heads he would have saved them.
He built raft, attached lengths enough
of rope to cross the channel, and then by
means of a stone heaved stout cord
across. This was the third day of their
captivity. They were SO eager for the
raft that they broke the String in pulling
over the rope This occurred several
times, and when they finally got the rope
they fought over it and the raft got
loose, IL took Moran two days to COM
plete another, but by that time the sailors
were lying helpless and could not be
aroused. The seven of them huddled to-
gether and died, and they had been dead
for three weeks when craft put in and
Il. ~