South Seas Paradise

It was a most extraordinary discovery. Even now I find it hard to believe, a story written by a woman of some breading detailing with things that would not be spoken in polite society. The discovery in question, a journal which came into my hands simply because the finder could not understand the words. Words written in English but not well understood by the Chinese sailors who came upon it.

As an inspector of police stationed in Hong Kong. I'd taken up the post in 1895 and would be there until the start of the twentieth century. I loved my job and my wive did so enjoy the English community in the province.

We often have to deal with some strange incidents. As I remember it was late April and just another warm sunny day in the province. I was doing a tour offshore when I was approached by a boatman who told me a story about finding two dead bodies on a uninhabited island whilst they were on a fishing trip. He told me that the bodies had been dead for some time. He said that looking at the tattered clothing they were Chinese fishermen. He also said that there was an old abandoned shelter but no wreckage of a boat. They had buried the remains near the shelter and had marked the grave with a pile of stones they took from the river.

From his description of the location it was clear that this was outside my jurisdiction. He told me he had found a book but could not read it. He gave it to me. I gave him a small monetary reward as a gesture of good faith. At the time I flipped through the pages. Although old and faded I could see that it was a diary written in neat pencil handwriting. It appeared to be written by a woman and she was well educated by the use of words. The thing that disturbed me was some words and phrases that no young lady or even any lady should consider using spoken or written.

I kept the diary hidden until such time that I could sit in private and study the contents. I could hardly show this to my wife as she would have a touch of the vapours. In all it took me three weeks to secretly read the contents and transcribe them for you to read. The writer is a Chastity Miller. Other than her name and that of her husband Peregrine Millar there is no indication of where they came from and why they were heading into the Pacific islands. The first fifteen pages of the diary tell of a sea journey made around the early part of 1886 from South Hampton to Fiji. There is a gap after that of seven days. Further entries start again in mid June of 1886

15th June 1886

We were adrift for three days before we struck land. Now stranded on an island with no means of escape. My companion and I are lucky to be alive and it is to him that I owe my life.

It was on the evening of the 11th, my husband Peregrine and I were sat in our cabin. It was late and we would soon be readying ourselves for bed. There was a commotion in the corridor and Peregrine went to investigate. That was the last time I was to see him alive. Soon after Peregrine left the cabin there were a lot of loud bangs and shouts. A hammering on my door alerted me to an urgent situation. I opened the door and the carpenters apprentice grasped my hand and pulled me out of the cabin.

"Mrs. Miller you have to come quickly, follow me. We are being attached by pirates and the situation is very grave."

This young man, David was his name, was eighteen, twelve years younger than myself at the time. He was hansom and I had seen him on deck during our evening promenades when the weather allowed. To be truthful we had caught each others eye as I'm sure he found me attractive. I blushed and made some excuse about the sea air making my cheeks red. I don't know whether Peregrine believed me but he said no more. I found myself being extra attentive to my appearance on the off chance he may see me. In all the weeks we were at sea we never spoke, not even a "Good Morning" or a brief "Hello". The first time we spoke was when he knocked on my door in panic.

I picked up my bag and journal, I never went anywhere without these. David led me out of the passenger quarters into part of the ship that was less than comfortable. Old ropes and pieces of wood strewn around and the light was from an oil lantern that he carried. The smell was most noticeable, something like old clothes and burnt wood. We emerged onto the deck to a scene of confusion and noise. The crew were firing pistols and rifles at some men who were trying to come over the side of the ship. The crew were being driven back. I almost fainted when I saw my husband lying on the deck, blood all around his head. I started to run towards him but David pulled me back.

"Can't do anything for him now. Come with me and we can survive to tell of this and then maybe these pirates will be brought to book."

David led me to a rope ladder hanging over the side of the ship. I looked down and could see a rowing boat tied up to the ship. He took my bag and journal from me. With somewhat of a struggle I managed to follow him over the side and down into the boat despite being encumbered with petticoats and many layers of my dress.

David untied the boat and with strong strokes we left the ship behind. From a distance I would see flames and hear gunfire and the whole of the ship was ablaze. It was then that I began to cry. My husband was gone killed by brigands, my future as a missionaries wife gone. There I was in a small rowing boat adrift on the open sea heading to god only knew where. I must have cried for hours to the point of exhaustion. When I awoke he was still rowing and the sun had risen. All around was sea and blue sky.

"Take off your dress," he said with a rather stern tone.

"What, I will not. Do you want to shame me, young man."

Was this young man, hansom as he was, going to ravage me out here on an endless sea.

"Lady, take of your dress. The day is getting hotter and you will boil inside all those clothes. We have very little in this boat, water and a small amount of food but what we don't have is a servant to fan cool air over us. So take it off or you will die of heat stroke."

"No, I'm a married woman and I won't," I said.

He said nothing more, just kept on rowing.

David was right, within the hour I was so hot I felt as thought I would faint. I wasn't going to give in to such a shameful thing. How could I, the wife of a Christian missionary.

"Take it off. I can see you are very, very hot," he said.

I said nothing. Within half an hour my resolve was broken. The heat was appalling and I felt like I would die.

"You will have to help me. There are buttons down the back," I said.

He shipped the oars and asked me to turn. With some difficulty I turned on the thin seat, now facing away from the direction of travel. I sensed him moving towards me and he placed his hand on my shoulder. I had been touched by another man who was not my husband. I could feel him undo the buttons. The hair on the back of my neck was standing on end and my body was tingling with excitement. The bodice of the dress fell forward. I could feel him undoing the buttons at my waist. Why I don't know I had become quite excited.

"Slide you dress off and pass it to me," he said.

I wriggled about on my seat until I was free of the dress and without turning passed it back to him.

"You will need to take the rest off," he said.

With some hesitation I slipped the petticoats down to expose my legs. I passed these back to him. Now I was down to my underwear.. Before I could turn and see I heard a ripping sound. I turned too quickly and the boat started to rock. I froze, not wanting to capsize us. When I eventually got round I saw he had torn my petticoat and these were now just sheets of material. I was almost in tears.

"Why did you do that? They are ruined. How do you expect me to walk around in my underwear?"

"Look lady. We need a shelter to protect us from the heat of the sun. This is the only thing we have. The sun will be high in the sky and we will burn and if we burn we will die. Lady if your modesty count for more than our lives then I am sorry."

It wasn't long before I was grateful for the shelter my petticoats would give us. We sat in the bow of the ship with my dress and torn undergarments above our heads. He had used the oars to make a simple support frame. We sat side--by-side. The heat was so exhausting that I soon fell a sleep.

When I awoke the sun was low in the sky and I could see clouds in the distance. My companion was still asleep, he had turned on his side and was half curled up. He was shirtless and I could see his muscular arms and shoulders. Much to my horror his hand was on my belly, low down. I was unnerved and quite excited at the same time. I hoped he didn't wake as I gently moved his hand out of the way. The movement stirred him from sleep. He opened his eyes, he yawned and stretched in the confined space.

"We must have slept best part of the day. Don't know about you but I need to.. you know, piss," he said.

I blushed as I knew a very difficult moment had arrived. I too needed to use the toilet, if not soon then I would wet myself.

"If you don't want to watch then you better turn around lady."

He made his way to the stern of the boat and I could see he was doing something with his trousers. Then I heard the sound of him passing water into the sea. Once he had finished he made his way back under our makeshift shelter.

"What am I to do. I can't just do what you did?" I asked.

He looked at me for a second or two, "Why don't you do it in the baler and then we throw it overboard?"

He lifted an old tin out of the bottom of the boat and held it up.

I blushed at the thought of having to do my toilet into a tin while he was there.

"You won't look," I implored. I was becoming desperate as the pain in my crotch grew

"No, I won't look."

I took the tin from his hand and gingerly made my way to the middle of the boat. I turned to face him, he had turned away. I sat far back on the seat to position myself right and then lifted myself just enough to slide my draws down. I soon realised the seat was too broad to be able to do what I wanted. I looked around for an alternative but found none. I knew I would have to get my companion to help, however distasteful that may be. I pulled my draws back up.

"I need your help," I said in a very quiet voice.

He turned and smiled.

"What do you want me to do?"

"You will have to hold me up while I do it, please," I said.

I was close to tears knowing what would take place in the next few minutes. He knelt behind me and held me under one arms. I slid my draws down. I knew he would be able to see my naked backside but it was this or wet myself. He held the tin and I let my waters flow. Such a relief. Once the tin was full he told me to stop while he threw the contents over the side. Once I finished I pulled my draws back up and sat down. We were both breathing quite heavily. He moved passed me and shockingly I could see he had a swelling in his trousers. He was obviously excited by what had just transpired and I think so was I. The same thing had happened once or twice with Peregrine before we were married.

We moved back under the shelter and said nothing. The sun was dipping to the horizon when he took the shelter down and started rowing again. He told me he was heading for the group of clouds I had seen earlier. As night fell he kept looking to the stars.

"So lovely aren't they," I said, "but why are you looking up all the time?"

"The clouds you and I saw today were to the north of us, I could tell from the sun. Lucky for us we have clear skies and I can navigate by using the Southern Cross. See that group of four stars behind you, that's it."

My travelling companion was not only hansom, gifted with a craft but he was intelligent with it. He would make someone a wonderful husband.

"You got a girl back home?" I asked.

"Sure have, a pretty as you could imagine. We are going to be wed when I return from this voyage, if I return."

He became silent. He had just reminded us of our grave situation. Would we ever find safety or were we destined to die in the open ocean.

I volunteered to do some of the rowing. I found I wasn't very good and my arms ached after a very short time. We took turns in rowing after that. He would do much longer than me. Eventually our second night in the boat came to an end. We had tried hard to ration the water but we had less than half of the barrel. David said we couldn't drink sea water as we would die. Thankfully not drinking meant we did need the toilet too often. The times he had to help me were less fraught for me with each happening. However he seemed to get quite aroused on these occasions

A second day was spent under our makeshift shelter as we tried to sleep during the heat of the day. It was still unbearably hot and we could not contemplate rowing. We had to rely on the current to take us. We could still see clouds ahead and they seemed to be getting closer.

On the third night we went through our routine of David and I taking turns to row. The effort on my part was beginning to tell. We had only eaten the few dry biscuits for the past two days and our water was running low. I could see from the way David was with the oars that he was suffering too. We were both glad when dawn broke and we could set up our shelter. I was so exhausted I fell a sleep almost as soon as I lay down.

When I awoke the sun was high in the sky. I was on my side and David was behind me. I had curled with my knees up and he was in behind. The shock was that he had one hand on my breast. The sensation was so arousing. More of a concern David was poking me in my lower back with his thing. It was as hard as I could imagine. Being a married woman I knew exactly what was happening. All kinds of thoughts ran through my head, should I protest and chastise him for his vulgarity, have a quiet word or just ignore it. I decide in the cause of good relations I should ignore it. It was quite flattering that he should think of me in that way. I lay still for some time pretending to be asleep. I felt David stir and he pulled his hand away from me and then his erection from my back. Through half open eyes I watched him creep slowly to the back of the boat. He knelt down and he must have done something with his trousers as I saw his arms move rapidly and his shoulders shake. It was then I realised he was relieving himself. Was that my nearness or just a manly thing? I was quite aroused by his action and curious as to what he might be concealing from me. He came back and sat on his rowing seat. I could see he was looking at me, well staring would have been more truthful. I wondered what he was contemplating? He jumped up and shouted.

"Land ahoy, land ahoy," David shouted.

I was wide awake and on my feet, the boat swaying with my frantic movements. He came towards me with a smile. His arms went around me and he hugged me tight, so tight I could hardly breath. I felt him against me, firm and strong. He released me and turned me in the direction he was pointing. There not too far off was a grey mass of land. My spirits were lifted and I turned and I kissed him. Not a friendly peck on the cheek. This was full on the mouth. I'd moved so quickly that the boat had started to rock and we fell on to the deck.

With some embarrassment I recovered and slowly got up into a sitting position on one of the seats. He followed and looked at me quite sheepishly.

"Better get the oars ready and try and get to land."

He quickly set the oars and started rowing. With every stroke I could feel the land getting nearer. I offered to help but he said he was fine. It was then that I was struck by the death of my husband. Cut down by thieving pirates on his way to do good works amongst the very people who had killed him. I wept.

David was frantic in his rowing. Pulling hard on the oars and trying to look around to ensure we were going in the right direction. He was soon breathing heavily and started to slow.

"Move over, one oar each and we can make better headway," I said.

He slumped on the oars waiting for me to join him. Knowing I was right. It was a small boat and a tight squeeze but we sat together and rowed. He kept looking around to ensure we were going in the right direction. I wasn't long before the waves started to get bigger. He told me that this always happened as you got closer to land. We were soon bobbing along, fighting to keep the oars in the water. Being an inexperienced rower I would loose the water and end up with an oar waving through the air. As we came closer the waves got higher and David told us to stop rowing. The tide was carrying us in. Looking around I could see the sandy beach ahead. To either side was some rocks. The land looked lush with a lot of trees.

We were still some way off the shore when a wave must have caught the boat and the front reared up and we were propelled shoreward. I was feeling sick, the first time in all my days at sea. There was an all mighty crash, the boat lurched to one side and the next thing I knew was the taste of salt water. I panicked, I couldn't swim. I could see water and some light in font of me. My arms were flailing about and I knew I would die.

My head came above the water and I spluttered, just about able to breath. David had hold of my hair. He then lifted me up and I found I was standing on the seabed. Water was up to my ribs. I grabbed his arms, frightened to death I would still fall into the water and drown. He helped me onto the beach where I slumped exhausted onto the sand.

The boat had hit a rock and was stranded. David went back into the sea and climbed onto the wreck. He picked up a box and the water carrier and climbed back into the sea and brought them ashore. He made three more trips, bringing back each of the oars and some of the wood from the boats hull. Thankfully he had retrieved my bag, the journal and my clothes.

He stood on the beach, water dripping from his skin. He looked at me and smiled.

"Your wet," he said.

I looked down at myself. Wet cotton clung to my skin and it was transparent. His smiling was the result of being able to see my breasts and further down the hair between my legs. I quickly covered myself with hands and arms.

"Well Mrs. Miller, you better get used to seeing each other because unless we are rescued soon it going to be a daily occurrence," he said.

I was angry at his smugness, the little lout wasn't going to see me walking around with no clothes on. I was still a bit shaky from the near drowning. I turned my back on him, unbuttoned my blouse and slipped it off. I wrung out the water and was just about to slip it back on when I heard a crack. I half turned, David jumped on me and we both fell to the ground. I screamed, I thought he was about to ravage me. Then I heard a thump.

He shouted, "It's all right, I'm not going to harm you. The coconut came from the tree and if it hit you it would have been very bad. We had a sailor who was hit a year back and he was dead as a nit."

He stood up and pulled me to my feet. I quickly put on my blouse. He was watching me all the time. I had my head down doing up the buttons but I just knew he was watching me. He held my hand and turned it palm up. Blisters had formed on my hand and the salt water had made them hurt. He took my other hand and looked at the blisters.

"These look nasty, you going to be alright. Best thing, salt water."

Close up and with my hands in his he could see my near nakedness. He just stood looking at me. I was getting excited.

"Come on, let's get everything we can up the beach and away from the coconut trees. Be careful," he said, "I'll look in the boat and see if there is anything else we can take."

"What about my dress and petticoats?" I asked.

"I'll see what I can do."