Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1896-10-03

looked out upon the sea 10 tne east
and shouted to me:
"Look Look! The tidal wave is
coming in, and there's a big ship on
the crest of it,"
sprang up and followed his gaze.
Ten miles away there was a wall of
water which seemed to lift its white
crest almost to the sky, and to reach
north and south as far as could see.
Riding on the crest was a great ship,
with her three masts standing erect
and some of the yards across. For
the first 10 seconds the wall seemed to
stand still. Then it came rolling on
like railroad train, and almost before
could have counted 20 it struck the
shore of our island and swept across
lit. The island was a good 80 feet
above water in every part, while on
the hill We were at least 100, but all
portions save the hill were covered by
at least 10 feet. had my eye on the
ship alone. 1t came straight for the
hill, but as the wave divided it was
swept to the left and struck the earth
and was turned full about. While it
hung there the waters passed on, and,
10 at our feet, resting almost on a
level keel, was as strange sight as
the ewes of sailor ever beheld. 1t
was ship, to be sure, but one had to
rub his eyes and look again and again
to be certain of it. There was the
great hull-there the three masts-
up aloft the yards, and there were
scores of ropes trailing about like
Shiny serpents. From stem to stern
and from keel to masthead the fabric
was covered with mud and slime and
barnacles and sea grass and shells,
and as she rested there the water
poured off her decks and out of her
hold in such a sobbing, choking way
as to bring the shivers. Not word
had passed between the pair of US
while the waves raced in and across
the island, and the ground below US
was clear of the last water before
Wallace said:
II think this ends it, and let US both
thank God! This ship was heaved
up from the bottom of the sea, where
she must have rested for good many
years, but We'll have to wait day or
two before we investigate"
After a couple of hours, to let the
ground dry a bit, we descended the
| hill to see what damage had been
done. About one-half of the trees on
the island had been uprooted and car
ried ont to sea, and of our hut not a
vestige remained. There was scarce
lily a stone as large as hens egg on
the island previous to the wave, but
now we found that hundreds of rocks
had been distributed around, while the
dead fish were so numerous that we
were hours in gathering them up and
giving them to the tide to bear away.
Two hours after the last shock the is
land was fairly dry in all parts. We,
however, gave the ship all next day
to get rid of her water and harden in
the hot sun. You are prepared to
hear, of course, that she proved to be
the long-lost Star of India. We found
that out before we had been aboard Of
her quarter of an hour, and later on
we had dozen reasons for believing
that the dying Malay had spoken the
truth.
tell you that ship was a queer
sight. Her ocean bed had been hun
dreds of feet deep, anG the mud cover
ed everything to the depth of a foot
in some places two or three. Neither
one of US had heard of the Star or her
loss, but we knew this wreck to be
that of an Indiaman, and we went at
it to clear away the stuff and get into
her. We were full week doing this,
and at every turn we came across
evidences to prove the story of the
Malay. Three or four Of her guns
were yet in place, and from the way
she had been knocked about by can
non shot it was easy to figure that she
had made hard fight and suffered
great loss of life before she gave in.
Even before we began work we
found the augerholes bored in her bot
tom to scuttle her. The great cabin
and every stateroom had two feet of
mud on the floor, and I may tell you
we worked hard for four weeks before
we got the hulk cleaned out. In the
mud and among the hold and rot we
found rusty muskets, pistols, swords,
pieces of jewelry, cutlery, crockery,
glassware, and what not butin actual
money we found only FIVE sovereigns.
A part of the cargo had been wood,
but we got nothing whatever Of value
out of it. Indeed, when our work
had been finished, we simply had Il
big hulk resting on land a mile from
the beach, and were only five gold
pieces better off than before. The
pirates had swept her clean Of treas
ure, plundering the passengers before
numbering them, and we did not find
in cabin or stateroom so much as a
single bone of human anatomy. We
made the ship our home for six months,
and were then taken off by a whaler,
and our story was the first news re-
ceived of the long lost ship. The
English government sent man-ot-