The Somerset reporter., 1897-11-11
THE ISLAND CAVE.

LIE ISLAND CAV h.
In the morning watch ON board the
bark Pawnee, bound from Colombo,
Ceylon, to the cape of Good Hope, We
We're washing down the decks on the
30th day of October, 1860, when a man
who had been sent aloft to examine a
sail which had been damaged in a squall
during the previous night shouted down
to the mate that he could see man on
raft about a mile away and almost
directly in our course. We were then
midway between Ceylon and the Cha
gos islands, with sea room for 800 miles
III every direction.
The announcement of the man on the
raft did not produce much excitement.
Natives are frequently blown off the is
lands on RATS and catamarans from
which they have been fishing, and we
believed this is to be such a case. We
were up with him in few minutes and
great was our surprise to find him "a
white man and sailor. The raft was
rude but stout affair, which he had
made from driftwood, and it carried a
cargo as we'll as the man. Securely
dashed to the planks and timbers were
four large elephant tusks and an earthen
jar, together with two other jars con-
tanning food and water. The raft had no
sail, but was managed to a certain ex-
tent by rude steering oar. The casta-
way took things coolly and was neither
overgrateful nor greatly surprised at
being picked up. He saw to it that his
cargo was safely aboard before he
climbed over the rail and he answered
no questions until he was alone with
the captain in the cabin. Then he told
a story which reached us two or three
hours later.
The name of the rescued sailor was
William Scott He was second mate of
Ceylon schooner called the Happy
Day. Three months before we found
him the schooner set out from some
port on the India coast for Batavia, but
encountered typhoon and was blown a
long distance to the west and finally
wrecked on a coral reef surrounding an
island. OF the crew of eight men Scott
alone escaped. He was carried mile or
more by the waves and cast upon the
beach and he was SO bruised and bat
tered that he could not stand upright
for three or four days. He believed this
island to be one of the easternmost of
the Chagos, and yet when he came to
overhaul the chart and read the descrip-
tions Of the group he could not place it
among them. 1t was an island about a
mile in circumference, rocky and bar
rem, but having plenty of fresh water ON
it. AS for animal life, there was not
even lizard to be seen, and but for the
ravines and caves the man would have
been roasted alive by the hot sun There
were shellfish i'll plenty, and he caught
many fish left in ponds as the tide re-
ceded but he had no fire. Scott lived
on the barren rock for IA long weeks
without once sighting sail, and but for
his own individual efforts the time
might have been indefinitely prolonged.
One day lot Of wreckage from some
unfortunate native craft drove ashore
and he secured planks and timbers and
set about building raft. He had made
up his mind to put to sea and take the
chance of being picked up.
The castaway had explored his island
several times, but as the ground was
much cut up and difficult to get over he
had not examined it closely. Entering
the island from the south side was a
narrow bay, being not over 90 feet
wide, though very deep. This bay came
near cutting the island III two, as it
ran within 100 feet of the north end.
1t was in the still waters of the bay
that Scott constructed his raft, and on
ly when it was finished that he made a
strange discovery. He poled it along
one day to the head of the bay, and as
he reached the end he saw the mouth of
a cave Is feet above him on the right.
1t seemed to him that men had used
tools to widen the mouth and to smooth
the way up to it from the water, and
his curiosity was aroused. He found the
mouth of the cave large enough to ad-
init hogshead, and there was every
reason to believe that it had once been
blocked up with stones squared for the
purpose and cemented in These stones
had been shaken loose by some great
jar and had rolled down into the bay.
The cave was 30 feet long by 20 wide
and 10 feet high, dry and airy, and
far better house than Robinson Crusoe
had. Now comes the astonishing part Of
tAe story. According to Scott, he found
2l0 elephant tusks stacked up in the
cave, together with five jars of gold
dust On leaving the island on his raft
the sailor secured four of the tusks 70
ais raft and also one of the jars of gold
dust Two other jars were emptied of
their contents that he might use the
jars for food and water.
Had the raft been without cargo the
man S story would have been laughed at
and ridiculed. He said he had found
gold and ivory-a great fortune, He
had the ivory and the gold to prove his
assertions. 1t made no difference that
he could not identify the island-that
the chart did not place it. 1t was
Yueer story, but with the proofs at hand
to back it what could we do but believe?
Our captain was a Sootchman, and he
took whole day to think the matter
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