Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1903-11-13

such heavy loss that in revenge they
killed everybody to the last child. They
/ then looted the ship and scuttled her
and the plumber was subsequently, d.
vided on an island in the China sea.
Some people believed this story and
some said il was absurd. The general
idea was that the Star founcered at fea
during a heavy gale. The dying state
ment OF the pirate was never fully in
vestigated for some reason. SO lar as
the investigation went it was proved
to be a fact. The pirates lad long
been scattered. many were doubtless
dead, and the idea of bringing the gang
to justice was given up as impossible.
In the year 1863 1 was one OF the
crew of the English brig Swiftsure,
which was making a survey OF the
/ islands to the northeast of Madagascar.
Al the Chagos group, as we were pull
ing into land one day, with seven men
I in the boat, we were upset in the surf
| and only two OF us escaped DEATH Ny
| Communion was a sailor named Wallace
and while in a half drowned state We
were swept along the coast OF the island
by a current and finally thrown on
shore in a bit of a cove. A boat put
I off from the brig as soon as The disas-
ter was noticed. but only two bodies
were recovered. The three Others
we're pulled down by the sharks be ore
the boat got to them Believing this
10 have been the sad fate Of all FIVE
no search was made for the pair of us
cast ashore, and before we had recov-
cred from our exhaustion and prepared
a signal the brig had departed for an
other field The island on which We
were cast is one Of group Of nine and
the innermost one of all 1t is likely
the same today as then, having plenty
of fresh water most Of il covered with
verdure and wild fruits, shrimps and
shellnsh so plentiful that shipwrecked
crew OF twenty men could get along
there for months. Wallace and 1 were
inclined 10 look upon the affair as
lark. We erected a hut in the woods,
procured fire by rubbing two dry sticks
together and after a thorough explor-
alton CT our domain, which was not
over two miles across in any direction,
we slept, ate and talked and had a
pretty easy time of it
We had been on the island about
three months when we awoke one
morning 10 find the sea like a sheet
of glass and the air as still as death
The sky was overcast, and yet of a cop
perry color, ana the birds on the island
appeared to be in great alarm. Great
focks of them came in from the sea,
and all along shore the fish were leap
ing out of the water as if it we're pol
luted. After surveying things for
while Wallace gave it as his opinion
that we were in for a typhoon or an
earthquake. The sulphury smell in
the air inclined him TO the latter, and
as soon as we had eaten we started for
the center of the island. There was
high hill in the center, bare of every
thing but couple of trees and few
bushes, and we sought it on account
of the tidal wave we knew would sure
ly follow an earthquake.
There was more than one shock, but
the first was the most violent and last
ed longest The three or four which
succeeded were thrills rather than
shocks. They ran through the island
from east to west and out TO sea, and
we heard a chorus of what may be
called the shrieks of distress from the
birds with each vibration. Two or
three minutes after the fourth or fifth
shock Wallace stood up and looked
out upon the sea to the east and shout
ed to ME:
LOOK, Look, The tidal wave is
coming in and there's big ship on the
crest of it,
I sprang UP and followed his gaze.
Ten miles away there was a wall OF
water which seemed to lift its great
white crest almost to the sky and to
reach north and south as far as l could
see. Riding or the crest was great
ship, with her three masts standing
erect and some OF the yards across
For the first ten seconds the wall
seemed to stand still. Then it came
rolling on like railroad train, and al
most before could have counted TWEEN
ty it struck the shore OF our island
and Swept across 1t. The island was
good thirty feet above water in every
part, while on tie hill we were at least
10r. but all portions save the hill were
covered by at least ten feet had my
eye on the ship alone. 1t came straight
for the hill, but as the wave divided it
was swept 10 the left and struck the
earth and was turned full about While
it hung there the waters passed on, and,
loi at our feet. resting almost on a
level keel, was as strange a sight as the
eyes of a sailor ever beheld. 1t was
ship. to be sure, but one had to rub his
ara.a lccal- and q in To be !