The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-02-05
.ALunatic Crew
By M. QUAD
Copyright. 1914. by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate.
By Nj. QUAD

Luzon. one Of the Philippine group.
and heading down the China sea with
q cargo for London when We caught
the tail of typhoOn. We. were ly.n.
to and making fairly good weather Of
It when Spanish ship. also lying to.
hove into sight. She was lighter and
drove faster to leeward. She was
about mile 10 windward of uS whrn
first sighted. and NJ great attention
was given her until II was seen ;hti
she was drifting sGlareiy down n"r
u.s. As she came nearer we Siw tina
her crew were dancing about on net
decks like a lot Of drunken lnen ami
paying no attention to the storm. Her
fOretOpmost had gone overheard. and
much of her canvas had blown AWAY.
and she was being held In the winds
eye by tarpa ulin set In the rigging
A sheer Of the wheel would have sent
the Spanish ship clear OF us by half II
cables length. but the fellows drifted
down without paying us the slightest
attention. and she did not move y,
ten feet. AS she rode past We could
look right into the eyes Of her crew,
They were about thirty In number.
and they yelled and screamed Mt us
like SO many lunatics Brief ms was
the time. we all noticed one pecpiiari-
ty about them.
Beyond cursing the Spanish crew for
q gang of idiots we had little to say
The idea of fear Of the storm had
made them take to drink. as is often
the case. and they were going to Davy
Jones' with jag on. Six hours later
the storm broke. and we headed our
course. but within six hours we were
pitching about on the troubled sea
without way enough to ruffie feather.
l turned in at 8 o'clock that night and
turned out again ut midnight for the
morning watch. After midnight the
sea began to 20 down very fast. and ut
2 o'clock there was only what you
might call tumble on. 1t was then
that we family caught the sound Of
voices in whooping and singing to the
south of us. 1t was thick night. and
nothing could be made out. but at 4
o'clock we got light breeze and had
not been waited along knot when
we had the Spanish ship again under
our eyes. All her t0pmasts were gone
now. while a portion Of her bulwarks
was smashed in. and she looked q bad
wreck.
We headed for the wreck ut once. and
when we came within hailing distance
We asked II help was wanted. The
reply was chorus of shrieks and
screams. while many Of the men shook
their fists ut us in defiance. It looked
like case of mutiny. and our captain
was at loss to know what step to
take. Before he could make up his
mind the Spaniards had lowered boat
and pulled for us. Every one of the
crew piled into the boat, and we saw
them grab up Delaying pins, capstan
bars and whatever else could be used
as weapons. The boat came dashing
ut us with every man yelling and
whooping. and they tried boarding us
at once. We had no better weapons
with which to beat them OF. and we
were three less in number, but when
! We looked into their fierce eyes and
saw murder there we struck to kill.
I They fought like tigers and seemed
insensible to blows. but we beat them
of ut last.
Four Of their number went to the
bottom of the sea with broken skulls
and of those pulled away all were
more or less hurt. We knew now that
they were lunatics instead Of drunken
men. and we stood by till noon in the
hope that they would calm down
They appeared to after awhile, but
Just as soon as we lowered boat they
woke up again and ragged like wild
beasts. We could understand nothing
Of their shouts except that they were
! oaths. and in the face Of their deter
mined opposition we could not board
their craft. 1t was 2 o'clock in the
afternoon before we squared away and
left them, and then fierce fight wns
going on. and ut least one nlan had
been thrown overheard to drown.
You may well guess that we aboard
the Bristol were astonished and mysti
fed by the singular incident. but the
explanation when It came was very
simple In a sense. The Spanish shiE
had Filipino for a cook. He had
trouble with both officers and men and
was determined to have revenge. Re
fore sailing from Luzon he had provid
ed himself with a quantity Of seed
from the plant known as aripe. II f.
wild kelp. and decoction makes a
mailman of the drinker. How he man
eyed to serve Il ont to the whole crew
at once will never be known, but that
was what he did and perhaps drank n
share himself. The ship was manned
by lunatic crew when she drove
down on us before the gale. and they
were lunatics when we left them fight
ing and drifting. Ten days later the
ship. which had become wreck below
and aloft. was picked up by steamer
and towed into port. Not man liv
ing or dead was found on board. They
had fought each other to the last and
then the sole survivor had sought
death beneath the waves. The cook
had probably mixed the poisonous de
coction with their coffee or wine soon
after the storm had struck them
though not before she was in shape to
ride it out. How long it was after we
left them no one could say. but very
likely not more than day or so had
passed when the last of the lunatics
gave mp his life and the ship went