uch out of him about his past. He
would not speak about himself under any circumstances, and at no time of
our acquaintance was he any sort of a sociable companion. He was very
hard upon the sailors under him, and was much addicted to the use of
strong language. I admit that I was an absolute "muff" in those days,
and Jensen was quick to grasp the fact. He was very fond of schnapps,
whilst I hated the smell of the stuff. Moreover, he was a great smoker,
and here again our tastes differed.

Our preparations in Batavia complete, we next went over to the islands of
the Dutch Archipelago, and engaged forty experienced Malay divers to
accompany us. Jensen was very particular in selecting the men, each
being required to demonstrate his capabilities before us. The way he
tested them prior to actually engaging them was to make each dive after a
bright tin object thrown into so many fathoms of water. Altogether he
spent several weeks choosing his crew. He had engaged a couple of Malays
at Batavia to help in the work of navigating the ship, but besides being
sailors these men were also good divers. The majority of the other
Malays were only useful as divers, and took no part in the working of the
ship. A native _serang_, or "boss," was appointed as chief, or foreman,
over the Malays, and he was permitted to take with him his wife and her
maid. This "serang" had to be a first-class diver himself, and had also
to be acquainted with the manoeuvring of a small boat. He was also
required to have a smattering of navigation generally. Above all, he had
to be able to assert authority over the other divers; and in all these
respects our serang was thoroughly proficient.

I may here explain that shortly after leaving Batavia the captain had the
ship repainted a greyish-white colour all over. I never troubled to look
for her name, but one day I saw Jensen painting the word _Veielland_ on
her. There was a totally different name on the lifeboat, but I cannot
remember it. What Jensen's motive was in sailing the ship under another
name I never understood; certainly it was a very suspicious circumstance.
Perhaps the ship as originally named had a bad name, and if such were the
case--mind you, I don't say that it had--the Malays could never have been
induced to go aboard. Once out at sea, however, they would be absolutely
at the mercy of the captain, and he could treat them just as he pleased.
The first thing they did before com