Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1898-02-05

COlQ tnaC tney would De llDeral with all.
1t was hard bargain the Scotchman
drove with the rescued sailor, but Scott
fell in with the idea ana the course of
the ship was changed We were 200
miles to the south of the Chagos, hav-
ing passed them so miles to the east,
and as the wind was from the north we
had to beat back This was slow work,
and we had not yet made half the dis
tance when we got gale from the
west which sent us driving away to-
ward the Javanese coast until we were
almost i'll sight of it. We had then to
recover our lost ground, but what with
the loss of two topmasts and several
sails in a squall and continuation of
bad weather it was l6 days before a
man was sent to the masthead to look
for land.
The Chagos archipelago consists of a
score of islands, banks and reefs Scott
believed that his island was the eastern
most one of all, but as he could not be
sure of it we had to examine all Run
ming between them and around them
was slow work, and we had to feel our
way, and it was six or seven days be-
fore we reached the last. We had found
no such island as described by the sail
or, and in our disappointment and
chagrin he came in for plenty of abuse.
He retaliated by pointing to his treas
ure. If there were no island, no cave and
no treasure, how did he come by the
ivory and gold dust? 1t was convinc-
ing argument, and our captain decided
to bear away to the east and search at
haphaZard. At the close of the fourth
day, sailing back and forth across sea
supposed to contain no land for hun
dreds of miles in every direction but
the west, we sighted Scott island. Our
man identified it as soon as it could be
seen from the deck, and we ran in and
came to anchor for the night within a
mile from the beach. Had the night not
been SO dark believe the captain would
have had boat down, but as it was he
dared not chance it. Such was the ex-
citement aboard that no man slept for
all hour, and as soon as daylight had
come and the men had a bite to eat we
set off to secure the treasure.
We soon found the opening of the bay
and rowed into it. Scott had been on
the island for over year and the hut
he occupied and the flagstaff he erected
were in plain sight. At the end of the
bay we came to the cave, and, leaping
out of the boat, the captain was the first
to enter. A moment later he reappeared
and for the next quarter of all hour he
I L.
or since The cave had been plundered
One broken tusk had been left behind,
and there was perhaps an ounce of gold
dust lying on the spot where Scott emp
tied the jars That was proof enough
that he had told straight story. When
we landed and went up to the hut, we
soon solved the problem. Some whaler
had touched there for wood and water
For wood they had used all the wreck
stuff lying about and had also partially
pulled the hut to pieces. They had filled
their casks at the spring, and we could
still see the marks where they had been
rolled down hill to the boats
Then the Scotchman did mean thing
by the rescued sailor. He made great
dllO VI llOW u6 udu ucNliueu IrOLu HIS
course and lost fortnight's time and
insisted that Scott divide with him. I
believe he threatened to leave him on
the island if he didn't. There was trou-
BILE for few hours, and then the sailor
came to terms, but not SO much as a
penny's worth was ever handed over to
the owners or distributed among the
crew Scott was transshipped to a craft
bound for Java and that was the last I
ever saw or heard of him. A year later,
however, | met an American runaway
sailor in Batavia, and he told me that
his craft, the Bessie Herrick Of Marble
head, put i'll at the island, remained for
two days, and her captain discovered
the cave and the treasure while fishing
in the bay He gave every man aboard
500 in cash as present, but kept tho
dust and the ivory and turned them into
cash at Singapore. 1t was rich haul
Of treasure, and the captain must have
been made independent for life. How
old the island was how the treasure
came to be deposited there, who were
the rightful owners of it-well, those
are questions ! cannot answer 1t was
at least two years after we visited the
place before it was surveyed and char
tered &C. B. Lewis.