The Ravalli Republican., 1898-08-17
A BASE BETRAYAL.
DY CHARLES i LEWIS.

In the year 1862 an English ,ncr-
chairman, called the Red Cross, was
wrecked On q reef i'll the sulf oi
Siam, and the sole survivor of I,
crew Of 1G ne1 WAS Il sailor named!
George Matthews.
He foated an entire might and
part of a day on a piece of wreck.
age. and was finally cast ashore on
one Of the PunjanS islands. All
charts up to 1861 show a group OF
three islands. Those printed since
show but two.
AS matter Of fact, one of the is
lands disappeared in 1868, and sound
ings over the spot show a depth of
100 fathoms. It was Oh this island,
however, that Matthews was cast
ashore, after drifting for 80 or 40
miles, and he remained there for
four months before being taken off.
His island was almost circular in
form and about half a mile across,
and between tho wild fruits on the
trees aQd the shellhsh along the
shore the sailor did not suffer for
food.
He found evidences that fishermen
and shell gatherers visited the is
land at intervals, but it was 13C
days after landing before he saw {.
human face.
Matthews had been on the island
about 60 days when strange thing
happened. There was coral reef
cncircling the island and at low tide
much Of it was visible.
One morning he awoke to find
that the water had receded in all
directions until he could walk from
the beach to the reef. In other
words, where there had been from
six to ten feet of water he now
found the ocean bed.
AS the sailor looked about him
and puzzled over the phenomenon
he caught sight of the hulk of a
small vessel lying in the basin and
close to the reef It was resting on
its side, and he soon made out that
it had tumbled off its bed on the
reef as the waters receded. It was
almost dry ground between him and
the hulk, and he at once started OUT
to examine her. It was a curious
discovery he made-an old wooden
hull, incased in an armor of shells a
foot thick. He judged the craft TO
have been Of about 200 tons burden,
and she had been brig rugged Her
masts had been broken off short
near the deck, her rudder was gone,
and there was a great hole in her
bottom where she had crashed on
the reef. Although in fear that tho
waters would return at any mo
ment, the sailor gave the hulk a
pretty thorough overhauling.
He found that she had been armed
to fight, and close against the reef
he found two small cannon, the hilt
of creese and the rusty barrels of
three or four pistols. So thorough
ly incased was the hulk in her shell
armor that there was no way of get
ting into her without proper tools.
Her bulWarlzs had been swept away
10 the last inch, but the crust over
her decks was thicker than on her
sides.
at the end of an hour Matthews
heard great roaring outside the
reef, and realizing that the waters
were returning he ran for the beach.
Something like a tidal wave swept
in after him, and had he not caught
the limb Of a tree and pulled him
self up he would have been killed or
drawn out to sea.
1t was half an hour before the sea
grew quiet, and no then found that
the hulk had been swept in and left
on an upright keel so near the beach
that the waters barely covered her
at high tide. At low tide her whole
decks and two feet Of her sides were
exposed, and casual observer would
have taken her for rock.
At the first low tide Matthews
boarded the hull and pounded off
the shells about the cabin hatch al>l
finally made his way to the cabin
itself. It was full of water, of course,
and he gained nothing. He realized
that SO long as the hulk remained
where she was he could not pene-
trate the interior. He did not even
board her again during his stay on
the island.
Some SO days after his first dis
covcry he was taken off by native
boat and 20 days later was set
ashore at Singapore. His rescuers
did not notice the Shell incrusted