My First Voyage to Southern Seas Part 23

Scarcely had Solon and I set our feet on the deck of the _Star_, than the anchor was hove up, and sail being made, we ran out of the harbour and stood away to the southward. The first land we sighted was that of the Maldive Islands, of which there are said to be upwards of forty thousand. They are all of a coral formation, and rise to an elevation not exceeding fourteen feet above the ocean. Generally they are much lower. The sea might easily be sent rolling over them, were they not protected by long coral reefs and sandbanks of a circular form. Through these reefs there are pa.s.sages of great depth, called atolls. The water inside is perfectly smooth. We entered by one of them, brought up off Mali, the chief island, which is about seven miles in circ.u.mference. It is the residence of the chief of all the group, who is called the Sultan, and is now dependent on the British Government of Ceylon. The people are Mohammedans, and their numbers are said to amount to upwards of one hundred and fifty thousand souls. They produce Indian corn, and millet, and sugar, and cotton; and there are numerous fine trees on the islands--the uncultivated portions being covered with an impenetrable jungle. There are few animals on the islands. Fish, however, is very abundant, so that all the inhabitants might exist on them.

The captain's business with the sultan was soon concluded. It was interesting and curious to sail among the tree-covered islands, some of the woods appearing to rise directly out of the water, while we threaded our way out again from the group to the westward. Our pa.s.sage across the Arabian Sea was as smooth as the most timid of navigators could desire. We made the mountainous, rocky, and somewhat barren, though considerable island of Socotra, belonging to the Imaun of Muscat. Soon after this we sighted the mountain ma.s.s of Jebel Shamshan, or Cape Aden as it is called, rising 1776 feet above the sea, with the town of Aden built on the eastern base of it.

The capture of Aden, in 1839, was one of the first naval exploits which took place during the reign of Queen Victoria and most gallantly was it accomplished by an expedition sent from India, under the command of Captain H. Smith of the _Volage_. As we approached the lofty headland of Cape Aden it looked like an island. Its position is very similar to that of Gibraltar, as it is connected with the mainland by a piece of low swampy ground. I was struck by its grand picturesque appearance, though it is barren and wild, and utterly dest.i.tute of vegetation. We ran in and anch.o.r.ed not far off the fortified island of Sirah, four or five miles from the town.

Aden, when captured, consisted of little more than an a.s.semblage of mud huts with matting coverings, and contained scarcely six hundred inhabitants. It is now a flouris.h.i.+ng place containing twenty-two thousand inhabitants, and is surrounded by orchards and gardens. This change is owing to its occupation by British troops, and the constant visits of steamers with numerous pa.s.sengers to and from India.

I went on sh.o.r.e with Captain Armstrong to make more inquiries about Alfred, or rather the vessel in which he sailed. She was, I found, called the _Dragon_. The master, Captain Redman, was a very plausible person, and my brother had undoubtedly thought him a very respectable one; but things had come out after he had left Aden considerably to his discredit, and I had reason to fear that he was utterly unprincipled and reckless, and intimately connected with slavers--indeed, it was very probable that he would without scruple have taken a cargo of slaves on board if he had had the opportunity. Should he have attempted to obtain slaves on some parts of the coast, it was very likely that he would have been cut off, as the natives in many places are strongly opposed to the slave-trade, having discovered how greatly it is to their disadvantage.

For the sake of it wars are fostered, and a horrible system of kidnapping is practised; while commerce, the cultivation of the land, and the general resources of the country are neglected, the only people who benefit being the chiefs and the foreigners who a.s.sist in carrying away the unhappy slaves. Every piece of information I gained raised my hopes, although often it might have appeared to be of a very discouraging nature. I felt that it added another link to the chain by which I hoped to find my way to where Alfred was concealed.

What may properly be called the British settlement of Aden is embraced in a peninsula of about fifteen miles in circ.u.mference. It is in reality a huge crater joined to the mainland by a narrow neck of sand.

The town and cantonments are within the crater, and thus entirely surrounded by hills, except on the east, where it has a gap opening on East Bay. The town is neat and well built, and the fortifications entirely new. It is very strong by nature, and as large sums and the best engineering skill have been employed in re-fortifying it, it may now be considered impregnable, and is deservedly looked on as the Gibraltar of the Indian Ocean. It used to be supplied with water from tanks formed on the sides of the mountains, and these the governor has much improved. Wells also have been sunk, and the sea-water has been distilled to supply that most necessary fluid.

Instead of at once going north, we stood up the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, to the island of Perim, when we came to anchor in a remarkably fine harbour, capable of accommodating a numerous fleet. It had lately been occupied by the British, who were then building a lighthouse on it. The only safe pa.s.sage by it is that on the north, or Arabian sh.o.r.e, barely half a mile in width. That on the southern side, between it and Africa--though eleven miles wide--is exceedingly difficult, so that it might easily be rendered impa.s.sable. Thus strong fortifications on the north side might prevent any fleet from forcing the pa.s.sage of the Red Sea. As about a quarter of the island consists of a low plain of sand and coral, covered with salt-loving plants, and the remainder is overspread with loose boulders and ma.s.ses of black lava, without a drop of fresh water, it cannot be considered a desirable residence. The garrison, however, is supplied by means of tanks constructed to catch the rain, and the fort is also furnished with an apparatus for distilling salt water. The highest point is only about 245 feet above the sea.

My heart bounded with satisfaction when once more we made sail to the southward. We were at length, I felt, fairly on our voyage to discover my brother. Keeping an easterly course, we steered along the coast of Berbera till we doubled Cape Guardafui. We then once more stood to the southward along the coast of Ajan. We saw no towns or even villages, though we constantly kept close in with the land. This part of Africa is inhabited by tribes of people called the Somauli, who are in general Mohammedans. Some live in towns, but they are mostly a pastoral people.

Those who live on this part of the coast occupy themselves almost entirely as fishermen. We landed at several places to communicate with them, and got glimpses of fertile-looking valleys, and here and there of fine open gra.s.sy plains. We could hear of no vessel answering to the description of the _Dragon_ having been seen off the coast; indeed, from the business in which she was said to have been engaged, it was not likely that she would have called off there. We entered also the harbour of Magadoxa, formed by a coral reef. It is a curious place.

There are scarcely a hundred and fifty houses in the place--all of them with thick walls, and built round court-yards, but one-half of the town consists almost entirely of tombs.

We should not have been the wiser for our visit had we not fallen in with the master of an Arab dhow, who had been some way to the southward of the Portuguese settlements. Captain Armstrong had on some occasion rendered him some service, and when he saw the _Star_, he came on board with some small presents to show his grat.i.tude. On being questioned, he told us that some voyages before he had fallen in with a brig answering exactly the description of the _Dragon_, and that he had heard that an attempt had been made by her master and his crew to carry off some of the negroes from a village on the coast against their will. He had succeeded in securing a few on board, but when returning on sh.o.r.e for a further supply, the natives had set on him, and murdered him and most of his people. They had then gone on board, rescued their countrymen, and carried off the survivors of the brig's crew as captives into the interior.

Though I trembled while the account was being translated to me, yet on considering over the subject, I felt sure that Alfred would not have joined the party who had attempted to kidnap the natives, and I therefore had great hopes that he was among those who had been made prisoners, and that I should ultimately be able to discover the place of his captivity. The Arab did not know the exact position of the spot where the occurrence had taken place, as it was some way further to the south than he had gone. Yet from the information he gave, Captain Armstrong had little doubt about finding it.

Leaving Magadoxa, we continued our course to the southward. A few days after this we were standing on with a fair breeze and a light wind, when the look-out from the masthead hailed the deck, to say that there was an object on the port bow, but whether a rock, or a s.h.i.+p with her masts gone or capsized, or a whale, he could not tell. Several of the officers went aloft with their gla.s.ses, as I also did, to try and ascertain what it was which had hove in sight. We looked and looked, however, for some time, without being able to settle the point. The object was a long way off, and we drew only very slowly up to it. As we approached it seemed to grow larger and larger. It was pretty clearly not a s.h.i.+p's bottom, nor a whale, and finally it resolved itself into a high rock surrounded by a coral reef--so we judged from the line of surf which every now and then we saw rising up out of the blue sea. It was a very dangerous-looking place, on which, during the fierce gales of those lat.i.tudes, in thick weather or on a dark night many a fine s.h.i.+p has probably been cast away.

"There appears to me to be something moving on the rock," observed Mr D'Arcy, the second lieutenant. "Perhaps there are only birds there."

"No, sir; there is a man, and he is waving a s.h.i.+rt or a flag, or something of that size," I exclaimed, after looking attentively for some moments.

Having got as near as we could venture, we hove to, to leeward of the rock, when a boat was lowered, of which Mr D'Arcy took command, and very kindly allowed me to accompany him. As we pulled up to the rock, we found how much we had been deceived by the distance as to its size, for instead of being anything like the size of a s.h.i.+p, the rock, or rather the islet, proved to be nearly a mile in circ.u.mference, though when first discovered only the conical rock in the centre had been seen, the lower portion being very little above the level of the water. As soon as the man discovered us approaching, he ran down from his lofty post towards us. Why, I could not tell; I almost expected to see Alfred. We had to pull round some way before, guided by the signs he made, we could find a pa.s.sage through the reefs. At length, however, one was found, and das.h.i.+ng through it, we were soon close to the sh.o.r.e.

But even before we touched it, the man plunged into the water in his eagerness to meet us. I looked eagerly, but I soon saw that it was not Alfred. He was an oldish, roughish-looking man, and had all the appearance of a seaman.

"Thank Heaven, friends, that have been sent to save me," he exclaimed, as he was helped into the boat; "I don't think I could have held out many days longer. I have been living on dried whale's flesh and sh.e.l.l-fish for I don't know how many months past, and I was beginning to feel the scurvy breaking out in me; but all's right now; I've no fear."

Mr D'Arcy wished to have a look at the rock before leaving it, so he and I, and one of the mids.h.i.+pmen, landed. Our idea of its being the extinct crater of a marine volcano was undoubtedly correct. At the foot of the cone was a pool, deep and clear, of pure fresh water, forced up it must have been from beneath the ocean. On one side of the islet were the remains of a large sperm whale, the flesh of which had supplied the poor man with food. He had also constructed a hut very neatly out of the bones, near the top of the crater. Already young palm-trees and a variety of vegetable productions were springing up round the base of the cone, so that this spot in a few years hence may afford ample support to any one cast away on it. After a very cursory inspection of the place we hurried back to the boat, and returned on board.

The rescued man expressed himself most grateful for the a.s.sistance afforded him. He did not, however, at first say much about himself, merely observing that he had gone through a great number of adventures, and had at last, after having been a prisoner among the blacks, and effected his escape, been wrecked three months before on this rock, when he was the only person whose life had been saved.

"And what is your name, my man?" asked Captain Armstrong.

"Bigg, sir--Thomas Bigg," answered the seaman.

"He seems to be an active, intelligent man. As we are short of hands, we may as well allow him to enter if he wishes it," observed the captain to the first lieutenant.

The stranger was asked if he would enter, and expressed no objections to do so, but said he would think about it.

When I heard the name of Thomas Bigg, I looked at the man very hard, to see if I could discover any likeness between him and Tommy, for I could not help thinking that he might possibly be Tommy's father, who was supposed to have been lost at sea. I waited till the seaman was sent forward, and then I followed him.

"I say, my man, your name is not strange to me," said I. "Will you tell me, have you ever had a son called after yourself?"

"Why do you ask, sir?" said he, looking surprised, and yet very eager.

"Because I once had a s.h.i.+pmate of that name, a little fellow, who told me that his father had been so long at sea without coming home, that he was supposed to be lost," I replied.

"Did he remember me? Did he talk about me, the poor dear little chap?"

inquired the seaman, eagerly.

"Indeed he did," I answered. "He told me how fond you were of him. He was sure that you would have come back if you could; and he, I am sure, loved you dearly, as a son should a kind father."

"Bless him! bless him!" exclaimed the seaman, brus.h.i.+ng away a tear from his eye. "But where is he now? Can you tell me nothing more about him?"

Just then Tommy came on deck. "What do you think of that little fellow out there?" I asked.

The seaman looked at him eagerly. In another moment he had sprung from one side of the s.h.i.+p to the other, and, to Tommy's great surprise, had seized him in his arms, and gazing anxiously in his face, began to hug him as if he was about to squeeze all the breath out of his body. Tommy looked up at length in return.

"Father!" he exclaimed, hesitatingly, drawing deeply his breath; "is it you, is it you indeed?"

"Tommy, Tommy, it is," cried the seaman. "I've found you, and you've found me; and if they were to tell me that you were not my own boy, I wouldn't believe them, that I wouldn't. I know you as well as if I'd never lost sight of you, that I do!"

I cannot describe how happy I felt at this meeting of the father and his boy. The tears came to my eyes as I watched them. I soon, however, went away and left them to themselves. "I trust I may be as fortunate in finding poor Alfred, after my long search for him, as Tommy has been in finding his father without looking for him at all," was the tenor of my silent prayer.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

OLD BIGG'S NARRATIVE--MY PLAN TO RESCUE ALFRED--FALL IN WITH AN ARAB DHOW IN A SINKING STATE--CATCH SIGHT OF THE PIRATE--SHE TRIES TO ESCAPE--THE CHASE--SHE BLOWS UP--THE FATE OF SILLS.

There is an old saying, that "it's an ill wind that blows no one any good." I found it a very true saying, for I have scarcely ever known a misfortune, or what might be called an ill-happening in the world without, before long, having actually seen some good derived from it, by which somebody or other has benefited. I do not mean for one moment that evil may be done that good may come of it. Very, very far from that. There is no more hateful morality in the sight of G.o.d. But what I mean is, that G.o.d often causes events to happen, which we in our blindness may think ills or misfortunes, but which, in reality, tend to our ultimate happiness. If we could only bring ourselves firmly to believe this, it would enable us to bear with far greater patience than we do the sickness and losses, the sufferings and annoyances which meet us constantly in our course through life.

The day after we had rescued Tommy Bigg's father from the rock, as I was walking the deck, he came up to me.

"Sir," said he, touching his hat, "my boy tells me that you have been his best friend from the time you first set eyes on him, and I am grateful, sir, indeed I am. I'd do anything to serve you, and from what Tommy tells me I think I might serve you. I hear from him that you came away from home to look for a brother, and that you believe he was aboard the _Dragon_, Now, sir, I belonged to that unfortunate craft, and it was a bad day for me that I ever set foot on her deck, so I have had reason to think. I didn't know what her calling was, or I would never have stepped up her side, that I know.

"Well, sir, when we last sailed from Aden, a young gentleman came on board for a pa.s.sage down to Natal. I soon found out that he was a seaman, though he took no part in the navigation of the brig, but when he discovered, as I had done, her character, kept himself aloof from the captain and officers, and, indeed, everybody on board. He did well; for, to my mind, it would be hard to find a greater villain in existence than Captain Redman. I would have liked to have spoken to him, to tell him that he might trust me if the worst came to the worst and he required my services; but it wouldn't have done for me to have been seen addressing him.

"We called in at Mozambique, and then some of the government officers, and merchants, and great people of the place, came on board, and were hand and glove with Captain Redman. Thinks I to myself, I wonder now if you knew what sort of a rogue he is whether you would be so friendly?

But I soon found out that it would have made no difference with them, for they were one and all interested in the slave trade, and were friendly with him because he paid them hard cash for the slaves they got for him. I believe that they had arranged for a cargo for him, when a new governor of the place came unexpectedly out from home, and gave notice that he would not allow anything of the sort. Whether he was in earnest about preventing the traffic, or whether he only wished to show that a new broom sweeps clean, I don't know. Certain it was that we had to get out of the place as fast as we could, and made sail to the southward.

"I ought to have told you, sir, that I didn't know the name of the young gentleman who was aboard us, but from what Tommy tells me I have little doubt that he was your brother. I believe that he would have left the brig at Mozambique, but Captain Redman persuaded him that he was going on direct to Natal, so he remained on board.

"Now the captain had, I found, engaged to supply a cargo of slaves, and he was determined to get them by fair means or foul. Before many days had pa.s.sed, I found that the vessel was headed in towards the coast. In a short time we dropped anchor in a snug harbour with a narrow entrance, where we lay completely concealed from any vessel in the offing. In a short time a chief came off in a canoe, and the captain had some palaver with him, and he returned on sh.o.r.e. The captain then said that a number of blacks had agreed to come on board to take their pa.s.sage to some place or other, to work as labourers, but that after having signed their papers they had refused to come, 'so you see, my young men, we shall have to use force to make them do their duty,' he observed.

"We had a strong crew for the size of the brig--some thirty hands or more--and twenty or more, without a word, agreed to the captain's proposal. All the boats were lowered, and away they went, as soon as it was dark, to the sh.o.r.e. I did not know at the time why they took so much precaution, but I afterwards learned that there were two parties in the place--one headed by the chief who had come aboard, and who lived on the coast, in favour of the slave-trade; the other, who owned the country further inland, who had determined to put a stop to it, from having discovered that it was doing them every possible harm. They had also won over a good many of the coast natives to see things in the light they did.

"I and about eight other men remained on board, so did our young gentleman pa.s.senger. We waited for some two hours or more, wondering why the captain and the rest were so long in returning, when at last the boats appeared loaded to the gunnel with thirty blacks or more in them.

The poor wretches were chained two and two. They were quickly pa.s.sed below, and secured between decks, which had been fitted up for them.

Everything was done in a great hurry. I guessed that something was wrong. 'Now, my lads, we must be off again; no time to be lost,' sang out the captain.

"Away they went, and three more of our people, so that there were still fewer left on board. We waited and waited for their return, but still they did not come. At last we heard some shots fired on sh.o.r.e, and we began to think that something had happened. Still longer we waited, and we grew very anxious, and one proposed one thing and one another. There was only the second mate left on board of all the officers, and he did not know what to do. We had given up all hopes of seeing them when the splash of oars was heard, and we saw, as we thought, three or four boats approaching. It was just before break of day, and it was very dark. It was all right, we thought, and we were expecting to see our s.h.i.+pmates come up the side, when, all of a sudden, I don't know how it was, there were some fifty black fellows screeching and howling away on the deck.