The sun. [volume], April 28, 1912, FOURTH SECTION MAGAZINE, Page 14, Image 54

About The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916

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14 4 THE SUN, SUNDAY, APRIL s3, 1912.
IN exploring Pirat Islands, on? should
tirnt pruritic him'clf with a lone low
rakish craft sufficiently light In draft In
cruise Id s1ir1!ow lasoon and sufficiently
rtancli In build to weather i Vt Indian
hurricane. It t-lim!t have white awnings,
under which one ma," it ns tlir vessel bears
iouthward on the emtio swells of tlif Gulf
atrentn. and n trim deck upon which to pace
to and fro with an eagle cje sweeping .the
sax Dxorpro slowly
j horizon. This sort of n craft seems rcq-
(uisite to the sentimental spirit of siuh a
.voyage of dUcovcry mid uonidiiuly n
schooner of thi- description win 'bartered.
It hid only i'iip fault. It le.iked vi bad
ly when it reached Florida after n stormy
run from Now York tint t iio skipper de
cided he would prefer to ill his exploring a
B'ar the shore. a possible. Other boats then
. were considered aiid ut last a large. wcr
yacht was secured. It was limit like a
torpedo destroyer. 10.1 feet lone, with two
8'M) horsepower engine11 that consumed forty
gallons of gasoline an hour. It was Ions and
low. but rather more " rork-ish " that " r.ik
Ifh " as was discovered wIipii we strii'k rough
water. It was the first impottant dlsenv
' ry of the voyage. She carried a comple
ment of nine men. There weie no satin,
nothing but gasoline engine, and to satisfy
the enormous appetites of these engines in a
cru'se through uutraveled islands far from
the source of supplies, a great deal of guso
line hail to bo tnkcu nbMrd. The tanks
were tilled, twenty-five ten gallon cases were
Hacked on deck and nine large tifty gallon
Heel drums were lashed to the rails. The
jiresence of all this gasoline clanked some
what with romantic Idea, but there was a
leasing spice of danger In the thought of
, cruising about on a volcano of combustible,
a The plan of the voyage was smewhut
f'srague, but in a general way it was the pur-
TJiZZAr'NCf! IWS ItXAKitlG BAD1.Y
Vise to go first to Nassau, famous In pirate
liistury, and then cruise ulong the Out Is
lands of the ltahutmiK, touching at Klentheru,
Cat island, Wutliiig's iland, Hum Key, For
tune Maud, and possibly Turk's Island, and
finally Tortuga, the most fatuous of all pi
ir.le plu 'es. In this crime we should con
niiiit'y lie in waters and among Islands rich
in liiimincer Imp and In district" seldom
Tialled by while men.
x It was the skipper's plan to cruise down
t the I'lorid.i U-'hl, lie there until early
tuuiiiiu, aiu then make a dutdi across tut
if
Gulf rreaju, If weather eonditlont were
fnrorable. A "norther" had been blowing
fiercely for two daya and the aea out jeyonu
the light was rough how rough we didn't
know, but the skipper thought the wind and
sea might go down nufficiently for the yacht
to get across the stream on her way to Nas
sail. The first ten mites after we atarted
were in a broad and sheltered bay, where it
was possible to lean comfortably back in
deck chairs and gloat upon the pleasures of
pirating. The name of the yacht was the
Heather, rhyming with " alwaya fair -veath-cr."
It anchored Just under the light and then
proceeded earnestly to roll and wallow. Tho
deck load of gasoline seemed to act as a
pendulum that facilitated the rolling vey
much, not only raising the center of gravity
of the yacht, but threatening to raise a good
many other things.
Hy 10 o'clock the yacht was silent. Every
body was trying to store up some sleep be
fore striking the Gulf atreain. When
heavy " norther " traveling south meet a
Gulf stream traveling north, tho consequents
ar- open to criticism. At about ft o'clock
everybody on board was awakened by the
audden thrash of the propellers. We were
under way. In a few minutes we should
know whether the "norther" had spent ita
fury, d'or ("he first half hour It was not so
bad, although the yacht pitched atid rolled
nUirmlngly. Thou something happened. The
yucht staggered under a blow that made her
tremble, with her propellers " racing " and
her nose deep in the sea ahead. For n mo
ment it was thought that she had decided to
be a submarine instead of a torpedo !at.
Hut she dirsily swung hack and then began
to slide down a long hill, at the bottom of
which a mountain of sea dropped on her bow
with a startling crash. This was only the
beginning, i'or the next hour the yacht stag
gered, bu-kol, reeled, plunged, and trembled,
burying her nose and shaking ber tall so fear
burnely that those below were dreading what
would happen next. Tile hutches and com
panions were closed and. tecured, giving the
pleasant sense of security that Is felt by the
well known rat in a trap. My cabin mate,
who had been vainly trying to stick In hit
bunk, was heard to remark to himself that
be had had enough of Pirate islands : Man
hattan Isiand was the only one he was in
terested In and he wanted to reach it as soon
as the fastest train could get him there.
At last, after more than an hour of agony,
there was a whirling reel, a dizzy roll or two,
and then an hour more of this, after which
the sea abruptly subsided.
" Hooray," we thought. " We're across
the Gulf stream at last. The agony'a over."
Itut it wasn't, as n look through the port
hole proved. There was Florida IJght and
it dawned slowly and alckeningly upon us
that we were back where we started from.
The captain said the boat couldn't stand
much more of that sea outside and for the
first time In thirty-two years he had turned
back.
That day two of our "piratea" left the
yacht to taka the regular boat across to
Naasau and eald they would meet us over
there. The next night at midnight tha
Heather made another try at the Gulf atream
and succeeded In getting across. We de
cided not to stop at the Rimini Islands, where
I'once de Ion thought the Fountain of
Internal Youth waa located. We weren't
looking for any more water, evei of such
an excellent kind, at this time.
You cannot have adventures without look
ing for them. For example, we might have
continued our voyage across to Nassau and
landed safely and without further mishap.
But ai we got in the shelter of the islands
along late in the afternoon the aea was so
smooth that some one thought it would be
an excellent Idea to visit Androa Island, a
Large and little known one of the Bahama
group. It was a pirate rendezvous, with la
goons and caves and a huge cliff railed Mor
gan's bluff. Wr Henry Morgan Is supposed
to have used this spot as a haven of reftign
when pursued by foes, for when once In the
treacherous waters that surround the Island
lie was safe from larger ships, The name
Morgan's bluff had a most appeallngly pirati
cal sound. Many parts of the Island have
never been penetrated by white men, and
the negroes who sparsely populate the shores
are said to have reverted back to African
barbarism. It sounded attractive. A lonely
islnnd was what our adventurous souls de
manded, There was one difficulty. The captain said
THB 311A -WA JWOUJVTAINS ROLZjJTIG
SfK-WAS RATHER. MOVE
THS tDXOK WAS ZXAVET WITH aASOZj7HR.
he couldn't take us to Androa and make
Nassau in daylight and In the time which
wan necessary iu crossing the reefs at the
entrance to the harbor. It was then pro
posed the yacht continue on to Nasiuti while
we take the little gasoline launch, the Sun
Dog, stock her with guns, food, water, and
blankets, and go to Andros in it. The sen
was calm and we felt we could safely mako
the run to the island before dark, At ft
o'clock we left th Heather, carrying with us
a chart with a compass course laid out trpoti
It.
It was a long trip. For an hour the Sun
Dog puffed bravely on and then the nun be
gan to sink ominously near the horizon. An
other half hour and the sen was in daik
ness with tho Island so far away ns to seem
like an unattniuahlo mirage. Wo ncicr
sHCiiied to get tienrer to It and pcrhurs wo
should nut have been so anxious to rea:h it
had we known that there was n dangerous
reef that la; a mile out from the shore,
fSOCK-TSlt" TAX 'KAK23H ."
Without warning we discovered It with its
tumldlt!? waters black and sinister, so closo
that It was terrifying. 1 thought a tidal wavo
was henrlng down upon us, for in the dark
ness the grctt uplifts of water looked like
huge black glistening rocks. There was a
sudden grinding on the keel and we lurched
over the reef mid Into the lagoon. Hern
there was even more trouble, for the lagoon
was full of " nigger heads " oriil peaks
that rise from tho bottom and lurk near the
surface of the water and invisible at night.
Once we struck on one of these peaks but
slid off without disaster, a good fortune due
to the fact that wo were moving so slowly.
Hnd we lieen going full apeed the bottom
of the launch would have been ripped off.
It wns Intensely dark when we reached
the low lying shore. The last hundred ynrds
we waded, llnundering over the uneven cornl
that lined the bed of the sea, In the dark
ness and with onlj n little electric hnndttght
to tww the way, we got our things asuora
and stumbled across the com! Incrusted
beach, floundering over its lavalike and
jngged atrrfacr, or plunging Into pools left by
the receding tide. It was low fide and we
carried our things to the hearh Just above
the coral rocks .uid Just at the edge of the
low Jungle growth of manTrovoa that fringed
the shore.
The driftwood furnished us fuel for a fire
end with all the sensation of shipwrecked
mariners on a 'desert island we at last
stretched out on the bench to sleep. A si
lence unbelievable hung over the lonely
beach, but as the hours passed the sounds
of lapping waters were heard as the tide
crept in over the long stretch of coral rock.
It finally approached to within a yard of the
fire. We were up by dawn and a meager
breakfast was cooked. The sea was peaceful
and the only disturbance on Its surface was
where a long curling crest of foam marked the
barrier reef, aa it broke with a roar like that
of a fast train crossing a distant bridge. We
thanked our lucky stars that a kindly fate
bad guided us safely over that sinister reef.
In the morning wc explored the beach for
a mile or two north In the hope that we
might And some wild fowl, hut there was
no sign of any nothing but a lonely beach
and a seeminrly endless stretch of low man
grove trees. Far to the north, across a great
lagoon, a few native houses were seen, but
they were too far away to communicate with
and thus lenrn where we were. So we re
turned to the camp and decided to start for
Nassau nearly forty miles away and across
the tongue of the ocean. Aa the Sun Dos
could make only five miles on hour it would
take us nearly eight hours to get across, half
of which time we should be out of alght of
land. At 1 1 o'clock we embnrked. steered
carefully across the lsgoon, the writers of
which were so clear thnt the wonderful
marine gardens were seen fathoms below.
It was like sailing in an aeroplane, so trans
parent was the wnter and so distinctly visible
were the strange submarine rocks end plant
life. Queer fishes willed along below llko
birds in the air. Very cautiously wc ap
proached tne reef and safely crossed it at a
point where the foam was not breaking. We
shuddered to think hnw blindly we hnd
rushed it in the darkness of the night before,
and realized how miraculous had been our
escape. Wc thought of it with awe, for
there seemed to be the eUdence of a guiding
hand that hid piloted us safely across. For
miles in each direction the unbroken crest of
foam was risible and yet iu the darkness
we had taken the reef at full speed, Ignorant
that a reef was even there.
For the first hour of our voyage back the
sea was tranquil. Ind dropped from sight
and we found ourselves puffing along in a
tiny boat as much nt sea as though we were
in the middle of the Atlantic and much more
in danger, for the tongue of the ocean is
a funnel through which the " northers "
sweep down and scatter luckless little boats
to the four winds. At the end of the second
hour a breeze sprung up and the sea he's me
choppy. We watched the quick transforma
tion with anxiety, for it la no Joke to be out
in a gasoline launch in a storm. Within
fifteen minutes from the moment we first
felt the breeze spring up the sea bad risen
ominously and big black clouds were bearing
down upon us. The wind had Increased to
the velocity of o gnle. It was not reassur
ing to note the look of anxiety on the face
of our sailor, for his face waa Usually aa
passive and unemotional as a piece of stone.
He waa now plainly worried. The waves
were brenking against ie bow of the Sun
Dog and sending volumes of water into the
little cockpit. The hood vt.s raited, but ns
we crowded under it the feeling of helpless
ness was heightened a hundredfold, even
though it wnrded off the deluge of water.
There were no life preservers in the boat, a
fart that did not add to our equanimity. It
was impossible to keep the boat m her com
pnss course, for the seas beat her off so sav
agely that in time we feared we were mak
ing no headway at all. Hnw soon the gaso
line would run out became an Imimrtant con
sideration, and how soon a sea larger than
the others would come on board and swamp
nr. became tho one anxious thought of all.
V grent deal of water had lieen shipped and
t.'te flywheel of the engine waa throwing out
n fountain of spray aa It revolved through
the rapidly Increasing water in the bottom
of the boat. As we later learned, the launch
had sprung a leak when he struck the reef
the night before, but we didn't know this
at the tint. One man worked with the hand
pump, out the water that broke over tht
sides made this seem futile. I don't be
lieve I had ever In my life been so keenly
conscious of impending disaster, when de
struction seemed so much more probable than
dell .crance. The chances seemed ten to one
against our ever getting out alive and I
found myself analyzing my emotions under
these "ircumstances. If we continued In our
course a big head sea would sooner or later
t-
JAHOOZTSD Off A ZOMJTLY BEACH
get ns and finally in desperation we decided
to turn and try to make Androa island again.
We could take the sens behind us far more
safely than by bucking into them head in.
but in order to teach the island we slioull
have to take the quartering or else mis
the island entirely. Going with the waves
was like tht wild rush down a roller coaster
with a pans n the crest of a wave ami
then another dizzy rush down the hill rf
water. One man kept a lookout behind and
signaled when a heavier wave than usual
was coming. The launch' was then swung
to take It fnirly Ir. the etcrn and oftcr the
wsve had passed the course would be turned
for a few minute-, nt a time in the genenl
direction of the rslnnd. In this way we stag
gered and zigzagged on for nearly two hour?,
pumping WHtor overy minute and tenacloujly
hoping that the engine would not die or the
gasoline run out- At lost land was aighted
aud we nerved ourselves for the reef. We
had to cross It or elfe lose nil hope of eter
reaching land. Two of those on board re
moved their shoes in preparation for disaster,
but 1 did uut, for I knew that If the bant
capsized I could not nwitn the mile to shore.
The leefns roaring like a Niagara and an
endless line of breaking foam marked its
location. Far away on shore was a little
clump of palm trees and a few houses. Along
the beach we could sec figures frantically
rushing back and forth waving warning sis-
THEY WAVKD Att CXCJTm WAKNMU
nnls to us. They were tellins us not to tw
to cross the reef, as we discovered later, b'.t
wo had to cross and we did, in a spot where
for a moment the foam was not breaking.
Perhaps the lift of the sea momentar 'y
cleared us, for the great purple rocks were
o near the surface that it seemed inevitaba
that we should strike them.
A quarter of an hour later, drenched to
the skin, chilled and disheveled, we landed
amidst a throng of excltad natives.
" It was the art of God," they said, " No
boat can croti tht reef out there,"