Los Angeles herald., 1906-08-05
AN EAST
INDIAN
HURRICANE
Copyright by James Elverson.

Copyright by James Elverson
r. IL were making passage from Sama-
wv rang, In the Island of Java, to Singa-
pore, which, as most readers are
!ESYEs7I aware, lies close off the southern ex-
49, tremity OF Malacca, and is one of
the greatest commercial emporiums
OF the world.
our snip, the Lion vessel of about seven
nunured tons, was loaded with coffee and pep
per- large quantities of these articles he;rg
carried from Java to Singapore. and thence
reSmpped to other ports upon demand.
we nad as passengers an American physi-
Vian ana MS wife, who brought with them
iaIge number of beautiful Javanese birds
w1ich wich they hung In cages about the deck
cabin 'A' ue'A
III larger cage placed in the open air.
eney nad wild peacock, with its mate, these
supeLp supa. IoWIs being very common in the deem
would ~; Java, Where they must often, one
bors. pieas"n' heigh-
VI ieavlng Samarang, we were able To head
oiIeaGey Ior our place of destination, with the
hhSortneast monsoon squarely on our broadside,
a ploWlng gentle breeze of five or six knots
an nour' winch, IN about five days BROUGHT
US within sight of the tall treetops of SinSa.
poie' chat looked, as seen through our glasses
d. Instance OF some twenty miles, as # thew
spTang directly out of the water
Here mere however, there fell a dead calm, the
appearance which we aid not ike. for nru aii sIi
though not cloud was visible, the whole
heaven assumed strange, brassy look that
was reflected on board the ship.
me captain and mate conferred anxiously
togetner; The hands forward squinted Mt the
sky and shook their heads, and the two mass
engers, Doctor Alton and his wife, were evi
IDENTIFY not little startled The yery nea-
cock tailed to cry out that day, as was his
custom, and the birds in the cabin were more
than usually dumpish
On the other hand cat which we had ~,
board became strangely restless, darting hither
and thither, and staring about her in such n
wild manner as led the second mate to remark
that 1t must be high water, if there was anv-
thing to be told by cats eyes.
Hurriedly the lighter spars were sent down
to the deck, and while this work was in prog
ress, there came sweeping toward us three
prodigious rollers in close proximity to each
other, the central wave being, as we judged,
twenty feet high, while those which accom-
panied it, and were merely its consequent ad-
juncts, were considerably lower.
AT the end OF an hour, however we received
second visitation, precisely like the first,
except that the swells were somewhat heavier.
They struck the ship upon the bows, and, as
her position for the moment was the most fa-
vorable one possible, she received no injury,
although pitching 'bowsprit under"
Another hour, and we saw third advanc-
ing column, which, like the first and second,
consisted Of trio of waves, but with an in
creased weight and terror. The ship was now
stern on, and we awaited the result with
great anxiety.
There was terrible grandeur in the ap-
pearance of the rolling deluge. The middle
wave could not have been less than thirty
feet high, while those in front and rear may
have lacked some eight or ten feet of this
altitude.
The foremost of these combined seas swept
under the ships counters, throwing her stern
in air till the deck lay at most unusual
angle. Then the bow eorrespondingly rose,
while the stern sank, and now the middle wave
hung like moving mountain close to the
taffrail.
But it was too steep and too near its fellow
wave for the ship to ride it safely She had
glided swiftly down from the smaller, and The
larger caught her at a disadvantage
As the stern began to rise the ton Of tba