The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-10-05 00:00:00

THE NORTHERN DAILY TIMES.

of the word—once so wide spread and 89 com-

mon that' the dangers arising therefrom formed as
much a matter of calculation for the shipowner or
the underwriter, as those from fire, wars, or ship-
wreck—have, as before said,. been put down by the
united energy of civilized nations ; and of such
perils no Vessel leaving port, manned even .aCcord-
ing to the most approved peace fashion, need en-
tertain a dread. But there is another species of
piracy to which merchant vessels, especially those
trading to or from ports of half-civilized coun-
tries, and in consequence frequently having a
few • natives of them among their crews, are
still subjected ; and •of this fact our columns
lately afforded a truly fearful exemplifi-
cation. The details of the catastrophe, as
we are possessed of them, are as brief as they
are horrible—we will place them once more
before our readers. The Aratoon Apcan clipper-
bark; belonging, it seems, to Calcutta, left Hong
Kong a few months since, on her return
voyage. She was under the command of Captain
Henry Lovett; and, besides her compliment,
(made up principally of Bengalese, with ten 'Chi-
.neSe, the mates being English), appears to have
had two or more Chinese passengers and two Eng-
lish on board. According to the last entry made
in the log book of the ill-fated ship, Green island
was distant at noon on the day of their departure
N.E 52 miles. At midnight the pilot took his de-
parture, leaving the ship in charge of Mr. Wood-
burne, the second mate. Half an hour after this,
the Chinese portion of the crew, with the two Chi-
nese passengers, rushed up, armed with sharp
square knives, and after murdering and throwing
overboard the unhappy mate, made their way into
the cabin, where the captain, the chief mate, a
young relative of the former, and the two passen-
gers, one a surgeon, and the other, the late com-
mander of a merchant vessel, were in their
berths. All these, with the exception of Captain
Lovett, who was mortally wounded and left in the
cabin, were either thrown or jumped overboard.
The man at the wheel, it seems, and some Lascar
seamen, who were on deck at the time, made their
way into the rigging, and, about two o'clock, con-
trived to communicate the dreadful scene they had
witnessed to the gunner, who occupied a berth for-
ward, and was in utter ignorance of any thing ex-
traordinary having occurred. Meanwhile the
villians, having spiked the guns, cut away the top-
sail halyards, and endeavoured to set the ship on
fire, made their escape in the quarter boats.
Great hopes are entertained of their capture, as
also that some of their victims who are missing
may have .succeeded in reaching, a small island
near which the ship lay at the time of the outbreak.
Thus, then, we see that the discipline even of an
English ship, commanded by English officers, may
prove inadequate to .forstall or contend against the
diabolical daring and cunning of exasperated or
greedy savages—for the cause which provoked their
passions in the present case is yet unknown—or
how far their object, whatever it may have been,
beyond murder, was effected. The one lamentable
fact before us, that British officers have been mur-
dered, a British vessel captured and afterwards
abandoned, by a small band of cowardly savages,
is, we think, a sufficient justification for bringing it
thus prominently before our readers. If there is
once place more than another especially interested
in such a tragical occurrence, it is assuredly the
Port of Liverpool.

THE ISAAC WRIGHT.