, 1897-11-18
A SEA r
By {. Z. LEwls.

company S ship the Star of India set
sail from Madras for London, having on
board V 200 passengers, and among
them Lord Glenham, General Swift,
Lady Artwell and her two daughters,
and other men and women Of note at
home and abroad. Aside from her gen.
eral cargo, the ship carried treasure to
the amount of $3.50, 900. The bankers at
Madras figured out that the passengers
must have had at least 500, 900 among
them, while IN Indian potentate, On his
way to be received as a guest of royalty.
had a strong box Of lewelry and gems
valued at so great a sum that no one
dared speak it. 1t was intended that
the ship should be conveyed as far al
the cape Of Good Hope by a man-of-
war, as there were plenty Of pirate
craft still afloat, but the government
vessel met with a mishap at sea and
was detained somewhere, and the StaI
finally decided to sail without her, and
there was little fear but that she could
take care Of herself. Two days out Of
Madras she was sighted and reported,
but that was the last seen or heard Of
her until the year 1864.
The loss of the Star made a great sen
sation for several reasons, and when il
was finally concluded that she had been
lost various vessels were sent in search
of her, and every effort was made to as
certain her fate. In 1856 a Malay sailor
who died aboard of an English tea ship
told her captain that the Star was at-
tackled and captured by pirates to the
south of Ceylon, and that he was one OF
the men engaged in the attack. He said
there were five native crafts, and that
they came upon the Sta in u calm and
carried her by boarding. The ship made
q long and stubborn resistance, hut was
finally captured, and the pirates had
suffered such heavy loss that in revenge
they killed everybody % the last child.
They then looted the ship and scuttled
her, und the plunder was subsequently
divided on AL island in the China sea.
Some people believed this story and
some sud it WAS absurd. The general
idea was that the Star %foundered ut sea
during n heavy gale. The dying state
ment of the pirate wal never fully in
vestlgated for come reason. So far as
the investigation went it was proved to
be a fact. The pirates had long been
scattered, many were doubtless dead,
and the idea of bringing the gang to
justice was given up as impossible.
In the year 1868 l was M of the
crew of the English brig Swiftsure,
which vas making n survey of the
islands t. the northeast of Madagascar.
AT the Chaeos group, as we were pull
ing into land IL day, with seven men
i'll the boat, we We're upset i'll the surf
and only two of us escaped death. My
companion was u sailor named Wallace,
and while in u half drowned state we
were swept along the coast Of the island
by u current and finally thrown on
shore in u bit of II Gov A boat put off
from the brig as O o as the disaster
was noticed, but only two bodies We're
recovered. The three others We're pulled
down by the sharks before the boat got
to them. Believing this to have been
the sad fate of all five 10 search was
made for the pair of us cast ashore, and
before we had recovered from u en-
haustion and prepared Il signal the brig
had departed for another field. The
island on which we were cast is Il OF
u group Of nine, and the easternmost
one of all. 1t is likely the same today
MS then, having plenty,of fresh water,
most Of it covered with verdure, and
wild fruits. sLrimps and shelltish SC
plentiful that Il shipwrecked crew of 90
men could get along there for months.
Wallace and i were inclined to look
upon the affair as a lark. We erected a
hut in the woods. procured fire by rub
bling two dry sticks together, and after
a thorough exploration Of onr domain,
which was not oye- two miles across in
any direction, We slept, ate and talked,
and had Il pretty easy time of it.
We had been on the island about
three months, when we awoke II
morning to find the sea like Il sheet OF
glass and the air as still as death. The
sky was overcast, and yet of a coppery
color, aud the birds OH the island ap-
peared to be i'll great alarm. Great
fiocks of them came in from the sea.
and all along shore the fish were leap
ing out of the water rs If it were pol
lifted.
After surveying things for awhile
Wallace gave it as his opinion that we
we're in for u typhoon. or IN earthquake.
The sulphury smell in the air inclined
him to the latter, and as soon rs we had
eaten we started for the center Of the
island. There was n high hill i'll the
center, bare of everything but q couple
Of trees and u few bushes, and we sought
it Oh account of the tidal wave we knew
would surely follow an eavthGuake. Al
helpless except to keep clear Of the for
est. Il was midday before anything oc-
CURED. The menacing look of the sky
and the sea increased, and fish by the
thousands drove mp on the sandy beach
their death. 5ust ahout noon, when
We vert wondering what 1t was to b.
the whole island suddenly began to heave
aDd trenible. For what seemed q full
minute it wal like riding u choppy sea
IN /, .mall boat. ouly the senation was
ssrare..y bewildering aud made the
head swim.
Their WAS more than ono shock, hut
tho frs wat the most violent sud lasted
langest The three or four which suc-
ess1ed were thrills rather than shocks.
pey ran th.ungh the islasd from east
041sst and cat 70 ~, ard we heard .
adb1eus Of 1hnfsnay b callsd sEriaks q
-pes ltam5 ~ hie1s with meh vt1EA-
Tea q - Dinn1ns aa1Ar TIE
-N1-Wa 1nsm asA -