The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1906-04-06
VOL. LIMO. 10.

Deeu IWenIy-IOur hours on the locks anu
we could not possibly get down to her
before daylight next morning. She
asked him falteringly-"and if we get
there late, Captain?' Then, Madame
there is but one thing left to do and
would be of no avail to you. If there is
no junk in sight that fairly answers the
look of these people it will be sunk"
Later l remember noticing her walking
in the gangway with her boy and she
laid her hand on the breech of each gun
as she passed it as one would pat the
head of a watch dog. Poorlittle woman
it was to be either her husband or the
scant consolation of the bite of those iron
mastiffs. AS for the rest of us we hoped
| for both.
| We sighted the Saracen just at day
break and there were no signs of her
having been set on fire but the junks were
there; seven big ones, and as soon as they
made US out they hoisted their big sails,
slipped their cables and scuttled off be-
fore wind like a flock of ducks. We
rounded to close aboard and dropped a
couple of boats. In few minutes the
word came back-all hands are dead and
the ship is on fire below decks. The
order went back to save the bodies and
all property possible and then we rang
for full speed ahead. The widow was
advised to go into the cabin and lie
down, but dry-eyed she begged to be
| allowed to stay out on the deck and, by
the way, we all felt then it was perhaps
better so. She saw the drummer step to
the mast and beat to quarters; she saw
the guns cast loose and loaded, and then
came silence while the gun captains
steadied their eyes down along the sights
and held their lock-strings easy taunt.
Then we ranged along by one junk within
five hundred yards, and at the word,
the four starboard 32-pounders sent
their shells true to the mark; there
was volcano of flying splinters, a
topping mast and sail, a volley of
wild bowls and it was all over. So it
went for seven times, while the
widow looked on without tear, until
the last junk disappeared. Then she
could weep,
We carried the Saracen's dead back to
Hong Kong for burial. AS for the widow
of course she would be cared for and sent
home by the ships consignees; whether
it was her own idea or if it was to humor
a notion of her boy. l never knew, but at
any rate, she asked, and was granted
permission to ship her boy with US as a
naval apprentice. He was bright lad
and came to be known about the ship as
little Jack.
Well, in due course, we went up to
Yokohama and while there, was hastily
transferred to another ship on account
of vacancies from the discharge of volun-
teers. The Oneida started to sea about
two weeks aferward; it was in February
1871, and you may remember that on
her way down the bay at night, she was
cut in two and sunk by a mail steamer,
losing all hands except one boat-load of
people; and that boat-load spoke volumes
for the discipline of the ship, forit was the
only available boat left from the collision
and the people saved in it were the sick
that had been brought up from the sick
bay at once and put into her Itcertain-
ly was a close call for me, and even |
was published in the death list by the
home papers.
Years rolled on, andi 1894, long after
had resigned from the service, business
affairs carried me to Japan and China.
AS you may imagine, l found more than
an ordinary tourists interest in the trip,
recalling the old cruising times. When
reached Hong Kong found our squadron
there and it was good to get off to the
ships and swap yarns with the old China
cruisers. One evening happened to have
dined aboard the flagship, and while we
were smoking and chatting after dinner
one of the messenger boys came aft and
told me that the boatswain would like
to speak to me when was at leisure. 1
went forward to him at once, and the
following conversation ensued:
81 always thought, sir, that you went
down on the Oneida. You don't recog-
nize me from SO long ago. I'm little
Jack"
But. man alive, little Jack went
down on the Oneida. How is it?"
why, sir, had been in the sick bay
for month with the pneumonia, and
that is how l happened to be saved, and
you were detached from the ship while
was sick, so l never knew it, and l saw
your name in the death list.
There now is bit of truth that when
is examined is stranger than fiction. In
1868 an ex-lieutenant in the navy met
the boatswain of the flagship of the
Asiatic squadron who had been ship
mate as an apprentice years before, each
having good grounds for the belief that
the other was dead. l personally wit
messed that meeting. Twenty-six years
afterwards, ten thousand miles from
home, but within probably a hundred
yards of the same spot in Hong Kong
harbor, l. an ex-lieutenant of the navy,
had precisely the same experience.
Of course, in accordance with the
mathematical law of probabilities, the
recurrence of such a combination is bound
to happen some time, just like turning
five skies at single throw of dice. What
bothers me, though, is, how in the world
did it happen that the first occurrence
should have irritated me so persistently
by its apparent familiarity as something
that had already experienced? Was
this also recurrence from some former
age and condition that had left mental
germ, so to speak, for transmission to
me, or did the casual but persistent irri-
tation have any influence over affairs such
as to bring about recurrence, Or
Varieties.