The daily Alaskan., 1915-04-07
Picked. Up at
 Sea
By DONALD CHAMBERLIN

We were sailing on the Australian coast when a boat was espied by the lookout She was an ordinary ships lifeboat, open, and was dancing mer- rily on the waves in the bright sun light. When she came nearer we counted nine men in her. She was heading for US, and the captain gave an order to slow down. AS soon as she came alongside man in the bow hailed us and asked us to take them aboard.
 The captain questioned them, and they told him that they were members of the crew of q ship that had collid- ed with another in fog and had gone to the bottom. He asked how long ago that was and they said q week. Then he asked what had become of the officers and the rest of the crew and was told that they had gone down with the ship. There was only time to get out the one boat before she sank.
 The story didn't appeal to the cap tain as being likely, but he could not refuse to take the men aboard and did 80. As soon as they came aboard we saw that their faces were by no means attractive. They asked our captain for what port he was bound and when he said Melbourne I noticed that on the faces of some of them was q scared look. while others seemed to be saying to themselves, Not if we cau prevent It."
 I made up my mind that the men were mutlncers and had either been put of a ship or sunk a ship or some. thing of the kind, but when they were put to work they showed such ignO- rance of everything nautical that changed my opinion, That they were not what they purportcd to be was evident, but what they were we had no means of knowing.
 Our ship was q small steamer, not needing numerous crew. We usually carried eighteen men, including cap. tain and mate, being mate, but now We were reduced to twelve.
 One evening one of our regular crew came to me and told me that the strangers had taken weapons from the ships urmory and hidden them in the hold. The captain was asleep in his cabin at the time, and l preferred to act on the information rather than wake him up. He was a headstrong man and was liable to give our enc mics the advantage by some rash act.
 l sent for the man who had been spokesman when We met them and asked him whether he and his men preferred to make some other port than Melbourne. He admitted that they would. but when asked him where they would like to put in he said that they preferred not to stop at an Australian port at all. told him to consult with his mates as to what they wanted and let me know.
 I did this to put the strangers off their guard and gain time. It was eVi- dent, from their not wishing to go ashore in Australian territory, that they were criminals. After consulting with the others the leader came back and told me that they would like to be put out in a large boat we carried which was rigged with sail and In part decked over. Of course they would need to be provisioned.
 This was q dead giveaway on their part and showed that they were des' perate, for they had no knowledge Of navigation and would be at the mercy of the winds and waters. l pretended to accede to their request and dl' rected that they come On deck and get the boat ready to be lowered As soon as they went to work l sent men to collect the weapons they had stolen. When thls was done stationed men In different parts of the vessel, all armed. Then l began tO send the strangers in different directions for different articles they would need on their voyage. Some were sent for pro visions, some for water. some TOT blankets, some for fuel.
 first ordered their SpokeSman' Who was leader as well, to take two men with him and go down to the hold for some salt pork. He obcyed and three out of the nine men went below not to reappear again, fOr,as soon as they got into the dark hold hands were clapped on their mouths and they were removed to the brig. As soon as 1t was reported to me that they had been captured I sent two more men to the sail room for canvas. They, too, were secured, and within twenty minutes from the time they had started to get the boat ready I had them all under lock and key.
 When the captain appeared on deck the next morning and told him that the strangers had stolen arms he look ed serious. Then when teld him that I had the men secured he was aston Ished, not being able to understand how he could have slept through mu- tiny Finally when I gave him my