Year: 1878




In the winter of 1873 very unsea-
worthy merchant sailing-vessel "a Sia-
mese), the Tye Wat, set out from the
north Of China to Siam, with cargo of
bean-cake, etc. The weather became
excessively stormy, and at last the old
vessel actually went to pieces many
miles from land in the Gulf of Pe-che-le.
The crew consisted Of eight Malays,
who worked the ,ship; the captain, an
Englishman; and in addition was one
Chinese woman. They had no boats on
board, no time to make raft or means
Of doing so; and, as the vessel was rapid
ly sinking, the wretched people looked
around in despair, when q hope of
escape struck one of them as his eye
lighted on large wooden water tank
which was on deck. This tank was
strongly made, about six feet long, five
feet across and five feet high, with a
large hole at the top into which q man
could squeeze, and tight-fitting cover.
There was not a moment to lose; a hole
was bored in the bottom to let out the
water it contained, then quickly plugged,
and all ten squeezed themselves in hur-
riedly, put on the lid, and awaited their
fate. In quarter of an hour after they
we've thus packed the ship sunk under
them. They first whirled round, and
then hoated off freely, and felt them
selves rolling and tossing about fright
fully on stormy sea. The weather was
intensely cold-so much that the icicles
had hung from the rigging of the sunken
ship the day before; and being so tight
ly packed, perhaps it was fortunate the
weather was so cold. In their haste to
save life, they had brought only part of
ham which the captain had snatched
up, and bottle of brandy; and thus
these poor creatures were tossed about
from day to day, hungry and thirsty,
jostled like potatoes shaken in barrel;
now and then, when they dared, letting
in little air by raising the lid. The
situation strongly reminds one of Gull
liver in his box when the eagle carried
him out to sea from the land of the
Brobdignags.


On the fifth day the Malays said they
must kill and eat the English captain;
but the Chinese woman Ito the credit of
her SEX vehemently opposed them, and
succeeded in saving him for that day.
On the sixth day the Malays said they
must eat her; but the captain in turn
saved her for that day. 1t is difficult to
imagine more horrible situation than
that of this poor Englishman, surround
ed by eight starving men, determined to
eat him--which they certainly would
have done had not an English vessel
rescued them on the seventh day. II
happened thus /: The captain of that
vessel sighted large box tossing on the
waters, and at first never thought of
minding it, only supposing it part of
some wreck, as the weather was SO bad;
but as he looked, to his utter surprise a
head popped mp through hole in the
centre and then vanished, to be followed
by another figure, making frantic ges-
ticulations. With much difficulty this
strange box was got alongside, hauled
up, and its poor inmates dragged out to
light, barely alive, and emaciated fear
fully, finding the man-hole easier to pass
ont Of than to get into; which was re-
versing the fable of the weasel who got
into the barn. The captain of the rescu-
ing vessel was kind Englishman, and
did all in his power to restore his guests.
They were still in the Gulf of Pe-che-le,
and did not reach the port of Swatow
sooner than six days, where doctor was
called in to visit these liberated "Jacks-
ina bcx." He said they were singular
proof of how much human beings can
endure. All lived and recovered per-
fectly. Certainly they were all young
people. The Malays went home. The
English captain went to Singapore, and
showed himself really grateful to the
poor Chinese woman who had saved him
from the jaws of the Malays-C Chambers
journal,