The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1906-04-06
A Surprising Coincidence
BY EDWARD w. VERY,
Late L. s. Navy.

BY EDWARD w. VERY,
Late L. S. Navy.
Possibly my natural fondness for
mathematics has held in check the devel-
opment of my imagination; at any rate,
| find almost invariably that the narra-
ton of incidents which would in their
nature interest me lose all force if an at
tempt be made to add spice of mystery
in the presentation of them. Fake for
example, cases under the favorite CONVEX
sational head of surprising condolences
As conincidences they have no more in
terest to me than the turning of five skies
at a single throw of the dice. | know
that the combination is bound to occur
at some time and if know all the ele-
meRfs of the combination can readily
compute the probability. When, how
ever, it comes to the actual recurrence of
an event which can be traced from one to
the other it makes very commonplace
affair most interesting. For instance. l
was concerned once in such recurring
event, and give it to you without the
slightest attempt to embellish the de-
| tails.
| 1t originally happened one evening in
Hong Kong harbor in the early part of
'6S, just after we had arrived out from
home in the flagship. Agentleman came
to call one afternoon, who proved to be
an old shipmate of our admiral. He had
resigned and gone South at the outbreak
of the war, and this was the first oppor-
tunity that he had had to stand once
more on the quarterback under the flag
You can we'll imagine the old service
yearning that came over him on finding
the same warmth of handclasp and
hearty welcome, as if nothing had ever
| interviewed. He dined aboard, and after
dinner we youngsters gathered about
him on the main deck aud listened eager
| ly to the yarns of the old times before the
war; cruising in the Spanish Main, and
along the West African Coast. Just
across the deck from US the warrant off,
GERS were smoking, and the conversation
was clearly audible to them. All at once
the boatswain, pipes McCaffrey, cross
ed over to our group and said, "Why,
Mr.. G., l certainly believed that you
were killed in the fight below New Or
leans. You don't remember me, sir, but
l was your hammock boy in the old
| Ohio on the South Pacific Station in So
Apprentice Mccartney l was then, sir"
Our guest sprang to his feet and threw
his arm over Pipes shoulder "Remem-
Der you, Mac, God bless you, that do,
but l thought that you were killed at
New Orleans on the Hartford"
Now there is all of this specific occur
renee that needs reference to, and GER
tainly there was nothing in it more than
what may be termed commonplace re-
union. considering that it was just after
our Civil War. 1t was interesting in a
way to us youngsters, and added a zest |
to our already pleasant evening. And
just because it was so commonplace l
was the more irritated afterward by a |
certain persistence of mental familiarity |
with the scene as if l had seen it before |
either in actual life or perhaps on the |
stage. l never could locate anything of |
a corresponding nature, but the idea |
kept cropping up over and over againfor |
certainly two or three years, gradually |
fading out until at last it ceased to bother
me.
At that time the navy was being re-
duced from its war footing, and the |
created gaps in the compliments of the |
ships to fill which we youngsters were
utilized, so that for US there was consid- |
eratle shifting about from ship to ship, |
and in this shuttle became for quite
time watch officer on the Oneida, a |
smart little corvette with a complement
of about 10 people, and we were kept |
pretty steadily on the 60 throughout the
station limits. One of the most disagree
able of the squadron duties was that of
breaking up the gangs of pirates that in
tested the whole southern part of the
China Sea. If you are unfamiliar with
that part OF the world, look On most any
map and you will notice down off the
southeast part of the main land of China
about 300 miles south of Hong Kong a
big island called Hal Nan. This has al
ways been a sort of No Mans Land on
the border between China and Tonkin,
inhabited by as lawless set of rascals as
from below this island, across toward
the Philippines, is a series of groups of
ugly reefs, known collectively as the
Paracels, and lying right across the fair
way for vessels bound down from Chi
nese ports to Singapore and the Indian
Ocean. The outer group OF the Paracels,
called the Macclesfeld Reefs, used to be
the happy hunting ground for these Hal
Nan pirates, especially during the bad
seasons of April and October, accom-
panying the change of monsoons, which
made the Macclesfelds a particularly
dangerous spot for the big sailing yes.
sells in the tea and silk trade. 1t was al
most hopeless case if ship took the
rocks there and hung for as much as a
day, for the junks would be around in a
jiffy and then came loot, murder and the
burning of the ship.
One time the Oneida was ordered out
for general trip through that part of
the station; SO after steaming out from
Hong Kong we hauled fires, uncoupled
the screw, made sail, and slipped off east
ly before the northeast monsoon. Along
late one afternoon, about fifty miles
north of the Paracels, we made out an
open boat beating up and showing dis
tress signals. We got the people aboard
as soon as possible and found that they