But she was
growing old; and Wilbur had suffered serious financial reverses, though
the fact wasn't generally known.
"To make a long story short, he put the 'Speedwell' ashore in Ombay
Pass, on a voyage from Singapore to New York, and abandoned her as she
lay. Within a month after sailing, he was back again in Singapore with
his ship's company in three long boats and a tale of a lost vessel. No
hint of scandal was raised against the affair. The insurance companies
stood the gaff, the business was closed up without a hitch, and the name
of the 'Speedwell' passed simultaneously from the 'Maritime Register'
and from the books of her owners in America.
"Wilbur went immediately to Batavia, and there hired a schooner and crew
with the proceeds of his personal holdings in the vessel. He sailed for
Ombay Pass; after a period of magnificent sailorizing and superhuman
effort he floated the ship and patched her so that she would stay
afloat. When he appeared off Batavia roadstead with the 'Speedwell'
under topgallant-sails, it was the sensation of the port; and when it
transpired what he intended to do with her, the news flew like wildfire
about the China Sea. For he proposed to hold the ship as salvage; and
nothing, apparently, could be done about it. He found men willing to
advance him credit, bought off his Lascar crew, took the 'Speedwell' to
Hong Kong and put her in dry dock, and soon was ready for business with
a fine ship of his own.
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