The Cairo bulletin., 1906-08-02
FOILINC PIRATES IN
THE RED Sea

Draw steamship liltlV "''9
visible about the vessel that WASH
made in Scotland. she was herself
so was her name, and her captain
and officers are Scots, clan Mac'ach-
Ian in red letters on black hun an
nounces her christened appeliauon
on each side of the bows. Capt. Gray
commands her and when the third OF
fcer, James Robertson put his heau
into the engine room hatch TO can
the second assistant and yelled
Mac" four men answered Sir
Steve McCosh, the extra fourth OF
ficer, says the why Of the attempt Oh
the boarding party in the Red sea Is
that the old ship was hauled on the
London. Calcutta route, where she mas
snored along for many years anu
was sent off across the north Atian-
tic in a new lane This is the story
of Mr. McCosh, incredible as it seems
in these days Of twin screws ana lfl'
pie expansions.
Wed coaled up at Alden the day
before and the next mornin saw the
ship in the Bab-el-Mandeb straits, the
Gate O Tears, as the young ladies' IN
the Peninsular and Oriental boats
like to call it. We had just got
abreast o Perrin and saw the loom o
ii over to starboard, when ahead
us and on the port bow wee bit we
raised the tall mast o native dho"'
Nov, there's power o these
boats that trade along the coasts and
across the Red sea, carryin' dates
and figs and pal moil and filled wi
Arabs like an ant heap. So we PAID
no more heed to the craft till we over
hauled her and then when she lay
not half a mile to windward OF us she
hoisted a bucket at the masthead
Now the auld mans no siccan a TOOL
as to slow down his ship for boat
load O lazy blacks. but no sailor can
pass a thirsty crew, SO what does
Captain Gray do but set the tele-
graph at dead slow. and then in an
other minute the dial read stop.
For the empty bucket at the mast
head could only mean that there was
no water aboard and the next minute
a small boat put off from the dhow
/ and pulled over toward us, The men
/ at the oars looked TO be weak lot.
as If half dead with thirst, and the
heart Of every man aboard went soft
and opened up at the skinny arms OF
the black folks in the boat.
And so, as they pulled closer and
closer. slowly and wi great pain even
/ the Calcutta Mohammedans on board,
/ twistin their white cloths about
/ them. looked sorry like for the poor
brutes below They splashed wi the
oar blades and tumbled over the seats
like they was more than half dead
and the chief officer had just hailed
EN- when Capn Gray let out bis
boot and skipped over the port side
"All the rest of us stood huddled
under the bridge deck lookin an
lookin over at the Twin skulls below
and most of us didn't hear the auld
man sing out till we saw him skitter
in IN the pilot house ladder and
heard the jingle in the engine room
Then we looked t'other way, and
the eyes O me never saw the like
For there was the great dhow comm
for us like a turbine man o war I'M
der the enormous hoist of her lateeu
sail, and every black GRIMM soul in
her full 70 O the lynn sons o Mo
manned, armed wi gun o some
sort or else a spear as long as the
gaif OF a Wivenhoe cutter. These
dhows. you know, think nothin o iy
ing in three points O the wind and
the big black hull was alongside in nc
time.
Sheer off, you niger hounds!
shouted the cap'n, while the black
guards twirled their jayelins anC
barred their spiked teeth and steereC
the black shell so as TO come along
side at the lowest freeboard Their
was whirr T. the air and the voice o
the chief. Mind YOURSELF as a crap
plin' iron few over the side and tool
a grin o. the iron rail. Jamie Rob
ertson cast IL off Just as the heathen
got a turn around a cleat, wi a scor'
o. guns leveled at his head. And still
the big dhow held US. We couldn'
shake her on
why they didn't blaze away at N
wi the guns | dunno. Maybe the,
had no ammunition. Boardin wa
their little game and If they had eve
gained the main deck those - POI
eyed rascals. every beastie o them
Mohammedsu. what chance would u
II II white men ha' stood when on
own natives turned and shifted owe
10 their ain kind? Ma, ma. don
care about thinkin too much on
even now. a month after. But jus
as the air seemed TO get thick wi I'll.
iron hooks the engines got under fHi
way and We shot out ahead o a.
dhoW and the niggers shoutin liA
souls l. the pit as the screw churnci