The pioneer press. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 1893-190?, 1900-08-09

mud and slime and barnaclc and sea
grass and shells, and as she rested thefe
the water poured off her decks ana our
of her hold in such a sopbing, cnokins
way as to bring the shivers. Not
word had passed between the pa OF us
while the wave raced in and across the
island, and the ground below us was
clear of the last water before wallace
said:
Il think this ends it, and let us both
thank God! This ship was heaved up
from the bottom CT the sea, where she
must have rested for good many
years, but well have to wait a day or
two before we investigate
After a couple o. hours, to let the
ground dry out bit, we descended the
hill to see what damage had been done.
About one-haf the trees on the island
had been uprooted and carried out to
sea, and of our hue not vestige re-
NAMED. There was scarcely a stone
as large as a hens egg on the island
previous to the wave, but now we found
that hundreds of rocks had been dis
tributed 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 shcck the sky cleared,
the sun came out. and by night the
island 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 beer aboard Of her
quarter of an hour and later on we
had a dozen reasons for believing that
the dying Malay had spoken the truth.
tell you that ship was queer sight.
Her ocean bed had been hundreds Of
feet deep and the mud covered every
thing to the depth Of 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
ludiar-"cn. a.d so acEt st /. 10 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 cannon 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 augur holes bored in her bottom to
scuttle her. The great cabin and every
state room had two feet of mud on the
floor. and l may tell you that we
worked hard for four weeks before we
got the hulk cleaned out. In the mud
and among the mold and rot we found
rusty muskets, pistols, swords, pieces
Of jewelry, cutlery, crockery, glassware
and what not, but in actual money we
found only 5 sovereigns. A part Of
the cargo had been wool, but we got
nothing whatever of value out of il.
Indeed, when our work had been fin
ished, we simply had big hulk rest
ing on land mile from the beach and
were only five gold pieces better off
than before. The pirates had swept
her clean of treasure, plundering the
passengers before numbering them,
and we did not find in cabin or state
room so much as single bone of hui
man anatomy. We made the ship our
home for six months and were then
taken off by whaler, and our story
was the first news received of the long
lost ship. The English government
sent a man of-war to the island to over
haul the hulk, and mementoes of her
have long been on exhibition in the
British museum. Nothing could be
more queer than the way we found her
or rather the way she was heaved up
by the sea to be discovered. From
soundings made to the east of the
island in 1S67-63 1t was estimated that
the great ship rose from depth of
over 1000 feet. Nothing but an earth
quake could have lifted her from that
depth--nothing but tidal wave held
her up and swept her to our feet.