Honolulu star-bulletin., 1917-03-13
MUTINOUS CREW
Is KEPT At BAY
BY CAPT. PlLTz
With Only Delaying Pin For
Weapon, Schooner's Master
Controls His Men


K. Cooper. is this week the talk oi
the waterfront
Armed with nothing more thaa the
ever-reliable Delaying pin and sinsle
handed the captain stood off for days
a crew which had openly threatene1
to murder him. That he brought the
vessel in without even the protection
or pistol is a wonder to Old salts
around the piers.
The captains hair was brown when
he left Honolulu one the ninth of last
December; when he arrived Saturday
it was quite gray. But if the old ship
master who has been in these waters
now for 40 years was true hero of
the seas he had two worthy assoei.
ates, his dog Sweetheart, and a Ha-
waiian sailor, Andrew Kalehua, a
j young fellow who remained true to his
captain in the face of'a threat of death.
Went TO Buy copra
| The southern trip was for the pur.
pose of buying copra. The Luka's
hold is good for 20 tons of the profit
able cargo and 1000 one-pound Eng.
lish gold pieces we're in the cabin for
trading purposes. The Tahitian mate,
Matuu, who tried to kill the captain
and get the gold, is now in Penrhyn,
and a Filipino, Nicholas Bilbea, who
is alleged to have been implicated in
! the plot, is under arrest in Honolulu,
as told in the late news columns of
the Star-Bulletin yesterday.
When the captain left he had crew
OF six, the Hawaiian boy, three Ko-
reans, one cook and the other two
sailors; the Filipino, and Matuu, the
mate, who had been with the Luka
for about three years, first as cook
In the latter capacity he had also
served Capt. Piltz at his home at
Makena, Maui, where the captain has
now gone to visit his wife and three
children.
From here the Luka headed due
south, touching in turn at Tanning,
Penrhyn, Rakahanga, Hanahiki and
Raratonga. The last named island lies
in the Cook group about $500 miles
south of Oahu in latitude 21.12 south
and longitude 1882 west. It was here
that all the trouble started.
Crew Learns Of Gold
The Luka stood propped up high in
the air In the Inter-Island drydOck for
general repairs and cleaning up as the
captain sat in his Attle cabin yester-
day afternoon fondly petting his dog
which had been his only companion
through those terrible long sleepless
nights far out in the sea with a gang
OF would-be cut-throats ready to do
their worst, telling the tale of the
fiercest proposition he has bucked up
against in his 66 years, 81 Of which
have been on the sea. He started in
California but most Of his life has
been in the south.
At Raratonga, Capt. PiltZ tried to
get a license from the British govern
ment to buy copra but failed on ac-
count Of the war, but he declares he
will try again To make matters worse,
Matuu beat him up when taken to
task for disobedience and then de-
serted with all of the crew but the
Hawaiian boy. British authorities
brought the men back to the ship.
Matuu then accidentally learned of the
1000 gold pieces in the cabin aud i'm.
nediately laid plans to do away with
Ignorant of this state of affairs and
disappointed in having to go home
with an empty hold, Capt. Piltz hove
to and started north. January % he
first learned his perilous position on
board.
Matuu 6fandishes Knife
That day, as the captain was coming |
up from the cabin late in the evening. |
Matuu sprang at him with long knife |
and would have ended matters there |
If the captain had not luckily lodged |
down the hatch. The Filipino was |
with Matuu, says Piltz, and together !
they taunted him, calling him cow
ard and asking him to come up with |
the promise that they would not try |
to hurt him.
Piltz did go up but not until both |
had backed away from the door. That |
night he barricaded himself in the |
cabin SO they would have to awaken |
him If they broke in, and went to sleep |
with Sweetheart on guard. His only |
weapon was huge Delaying pin which |
he had close at his side.
The next day Matuu told the captain |
that he felt he must kill him sooner or |
later and PiItz laughed it off by de- |
CidA tu6 tilc1I me- SOO, WOulu ndSC q Ao4rO \
in any killings on board. but he real |
lied fully what desperate straights he I
was in. In the meantime, the crew
had threatened to kill the Hawaiian |
if he did not join them and the cap /
tain was afraid he might be poisoned |
as he had reason to believe Matuu had |
tried to kill him that way before.
The captain could not put the men |
ashore, according to the English law;
he dared not try to arrest any one OF
them without gun, to put them in.
chains, so from January % until Feb
ruary he watched his step by day /
and locked himself in at night. At I
Penrhyn Matuu ran off in the first /
boat and without the treacherous mate |
the captain came home safely to tell |
the tale
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