Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1894-02-01
AN ACT OF PROVIDENCE.
How n Briggs Crew Was MiraculousIy
Saved From the MalaYs.

Saved From the Malays.
We were standing up the gulf of Siam,
with the Malay country not over 10 miles
away, when the wind died out and left us
heaving and falling on the CLASSY ground
swell 1t was the merchant brig Fear
naught, with a crew of IL men, and the
captain had his wife and child aboard. 1t
was 10 O'Clock in the forenoon when the
wind left us, and by 2 O'Clock in the after
noon we had drifted to within five miles
of the land. From noon to 2 O'Clock the
captain and mate appeared troubled and
anxious and frequently swept the coast
line with their glasses. At the latter houl
the captain called us aft and said:
"Men, you know what sort of g coast
lies over there. The Malays no longer at
tack vessels at sea, but we've drifted In
close, and there's not another sail in sight,
and it's greater temptation than they
can withstand. A crowd of them are pull
ing out to visit us. If they get aboard, not
a man of us will be alive 10 minutes later.
Will you stand by to beat them Off"
"Aye, sir!' answered one man for all
of us, "but what are we to do it within"
In almost every house in the land there's
firearm of some sort, but shipowners to
this day will send craft to the cannibal
islands without even an old musket aboard.
If the Malays attacked us, our only weap-
ons would be capstan bars and Delaying
pins. They were pulling out to us in
sort of galley, with as many as 10 oars on
a side and we could figure that there
would be at least 40 of them and all well
armed. 1t did not take us five minutes to
get ready. 1t did not take any man five
seconds to figure out what would follow
an attack. The Malays never left a wit
ness of their cruelties alive behind them.
You see men turn pale and shiver as they
go into battle. When you see men quiet
ly arming themselves to make a hopeless
fight, you mark the contrast. Their faces
flush, their eyes glare, and they bite their
lips without feeling the pain. They move
on tiptoe, they speak in whispers, they
look around them as if taking farewell
of earth. When the galley was yet two
miles away, our ship was as silent as the
grave though this silence was broken at
intervals by sobs from the cabin. The
captain had told his wife of the danger.
Womanlike, she uttered a sob of despair
now and then, but even as she did so she
was weighing her clothing and that of
her sleeping child with bars of lead If
the Malays boarded us, she would take the
child in her arms and leap overheard.
That was settled from the very first.
Did the fellows pull a lazy stroke to de-
ceive us into the belief that they We're COM
ing out some matter of great i'm
portance? The mates glass made out 43
men in the boat, and their weapons caught
and reflected the rays of the sun as they
came along. We swept the sea for sight
of sail or steamers smoke, but we were
alone. We uttered bitter curses as we re-
allied our helpless situation, but we must
let them scramble aboard of the brig be-
fore our weapons would be of any use. 1t
was positively maddening to witness their
Il
they felt so sure of victory that they need
put forth no particular exertion. The gal
ley was steered for our port broadside, and
she was within goo feet of us, and we
could look into the evil eyes of her desper
ate crew when her way was checked. Then
her captain stood up, made us profound
bow and in fairly good English observed:
Captain, l trust you are loaded with
English goods for Bangkok"
Our captain bowed, but did not speak.
because" continued the other, "that
is just such cargo as | want, and your
brig also pleases me very well. Do you
surrender"
"No MOI Nov' yelled half dozen
voices in reply.
"Ah, you do not? Do you wish to jump
overheard and drown. or shall have to
kill you and throw your bodies to the
sharks? am in no hurry. l will give
you three minutes in which to decided"
About Is of the natives had English
rifles, probably purchased at Singapore,
and the others were armed with blowguns
pistols and swords. They needn't come a
foot nearer to pick off every man of
The captain and mate conversed for min
ute, and then the former quietly said to us:
HMen, we have all got to meet death
right here and now, but let us show them
that the bri g carries no towards! BE ready
for them when they dash in!'
think their first idea was to use their
rifles, but they abandoned it for fear the
firing might betray them, though, as !
said before, there was nothing in sight
Those who had their guns raised now low
cred them, the rowers lifted the oars,
and the long sweeps had just dropped into
the water when we beheld a singular spec
tacle. The galley suddenly lifted itself
out of water and went up and up until it
reached a point 80 feet high and then turn
ed over and came down so broken and
shattered that it instantly sank from
sight. Right under the boat was the head
of q whale, and n followed 1t up for at
least Is feet. Then the monster fell on
his side, gave his tail a fiirt or two and dis
appeared from view 1t was like ma
gician's trick. The time consumed was
not over Is seconds. We saw the boat
bows on to us. We saw her high in the
air We saw few of her planks dashing
about on the waves kicked up by the
whale. That was all But for the half
dozen Malays who reached our bows and
were killed there, but for the racing to
and fro of the sharks. all of us would have
wondered if it was not horrible dream.
The wife sat in the cabin weeping and
waiting. The child slept on without NOV
ing a hand. We looked into each others
faces; we looked from sea to shore and
down at the splintered planks floating
about Then we heard the captain s voice
quietly saying:
''There comes an offshore breeze, Mr..
Merwin, and you can swing the yards and
make sail Tell the steward to serve out
grog and see if he It loosen the tongues
of the lads and get up p cheer or two"
NJ. QUAD