Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-12-22 00:00:00

HORRIBLE MASSACRE IN THE CHINESE

SEAS.

We take the following from the Overland Friend
of China, of the 30th of October :
Upwards of half a year has passed since we had to
recount the particulars of a ship tragedy in our vicinity ;
—and the long interval has served to rob many of us of
the caution which, now that our government has no
intercourse with that of the province, it is so necessary
to maintain. But again it is our painful task to recount
the particulars of a murder of Europeans and piracy.
The Clipper Schooner Neva on which it occurred (the
Emperor of Russia's yacht captured is the Baltic during
the war) was purchased here by the firm of Gibb.
Livingston, and Co., in the spring of this year, and, for
some menths, has been almost constantly running under
tiro command of the now murdered master, Sinden
(formerly of the Aligator) between this port and the
River Min. In pursuance of such a voyage to Foochowfoo,
she left this on Saturday last, with a cargo of Malwa,
Specie, and sundries of the total value, we suppose, of
between thirty and forty thousand pounds sterling. The
crew consisted of master and mate, Englishmen, gunner
and ten able seamen, taghaliens, carpenter. two cooks,
two cabin servants and Topaz, Chinese. There were two
Chinese passengers also—one a servant sent up by the
Coraprador of a leading firm here, the other sent
by the owners' Comprador, both of them, it is be-
lieved, trustworthy men. The tide being adverse the
schooner was brought up in the Ly-u-moon, and, as
it was getting dusk, a boat came alongside with five
Chinese bringing fifty-five dollars, which they tendered
in part payment of passage money—offering to ply a
balance of twenty dollars at Foochowfoo. They were
accepted, and, with their baggage sent forward. The
whole of the next day they kept below, saying they were
sea sick. Tacking to a moderate monsoon, the Neva did
not make much progress on Sunday—Single Island, one
of the Tooniang Group a little to the eastward of the
eastern shore of Mirs' Bsy, (a good mark for navigators,
as it rises like a cone a thousand feet or so above the
sea), at eleven o'clock p.m. bearing about north from the
ship. At the hour mentioned the captain and mate were
below, as were seven of the Manilla men crew. The
gunner was leaning against the booby hatch keeping
officer's watch and besides the Sucunny at the wheel,
there were only two other seamen on deck, and they
were looking out forward. The night was dark,
when, before he was well aware of their approach,
the carpenter and another Chinese came up, and
without saying a word, fractured the gunner's skull
at a blow. The Sucunny at the wheel, at the same
time, was cut over the frontal bone, eye and cheek
What was done with the two look outs time has not
divulged—they are missing, and it is probable were thrown
over board. Hearing the noise on deck the captain came
up from the cabin, and the last words the gunner heard
him utter were—" Oh ! Gunner, I'm done for ;" a cut with
the carpenter's axe, as his head appeared above the hatch-
way, settling his fate ; nor has his body been found. The
mate, Mr. Edwin Keen, as we have said, was below ; and
awoke from sleep by the noises, he seized a rifle, unloaded
as he found, and rushed on deck. The first object he st.s,
was a man at a gun swivelled amidships just before the
cabin companion, and he at once struck at him with the
club end cf the piece. His next impulse was to make for
the maintop, but, in doirg so, he received a blow on the
right shoulder from a crow bar which almost disabled
him. •He was able, however, to crawl up the rigging.
where he remained for about throe hours and a half.
During that period the murderers got the long-boat out,
and placed in it the contents of three boxes of treasure,
some clothing, and other plunder. But first they squared
the fore-yard, and steered steadily up Mirs' Bay, to the
same village, as described, whence the man who was
hung for the murder of Mr. Markwick was taken, on the
shore nearest Hong Kong, and ff om which it is distant
about thirty miles ;—a snugly secluded spot—unseen by
vessels bound up. There arrived, they attempted to let
go an anchor, but were unable, or had some other reason
for not doing so. They then lowered the mainsail, un
shipped the tiller and left. Mr. Keen then came down
the rigging, the lower rattlines of which had been cut
away, and groped forward to find that a chain cable had
been ranged over the forecastle hatchway, so barring the
egress of the watch below. These obstacles were soon
removed, and the vessel brought to the wind. Ono tack
took her to the Nine Pin, and a little after nine o'clock
oa Monday morning she was at anchor in Hong Kong.
On inspecting the hold it was discovered that of all
its valuable contents only three boxes of treasure e,BOO
dollars had been taken, and that some 65,000 dollars in
other boxes stowed abaft under the opium had not
been touched. The intention of the scoundrels, no doubt,
when going so far up the bay, was to anchor, and then
take all the cargo out. When they found that by moving
the chain cable to do so they would release the crew, they
then made haste on shore to procure the necessary aid.
Their disappointment afterwards, when the day broke
and the bird had flown, must have been great. The two
passengers who went on board before the vessel left the
port, was the only Chinese that remained by the ship.
They say strong inducements were held out to them to
join in the piracy, but that they declined. In this they
acted prudently, though, whether conscience or expe-
diency was the ruling motive, is best known to
themselves. With the exception of the cooks, who were
new hands, the other of the Chinese crew had been in
the vessel from the day of her first equipment in the
colonial trade. The carpenter, said to be a native of a
Place some six miles in the interior from Macao, was
strongly recommended from Mr. Lamont's yard when first
shipped, though none of the Chinese are known by family
name in such a way that they can be traced. It is not tho
practice to sign articles on these short voyages it appears,
and hence the absence of such clue. The gunner is likely
to get over his wounds we hear ; but for the Sucunny there
is little hope. Tho Neva was promptly visited by the
Hon. Dr. Bridges and the Hon. Colonel Caine, but who
the " pat ups" are was not then known, nor has success
attended the scouring of the Mirs' bay villages that we
•
have