The Sun.
London, England, 1855-10-04 00:00:00

THE ATTACK ON CHINESE PIRATES.

The following is a more detailed account of the
gallant attack upon a nest of Chinese pirates, re-
ferred to in our China intelligence of Monday, by the
boats of the United States steam-frigate Powhatan
and her Britannic Majesty's steamer, Rattler, Capt.
Fellowes, assisted by the steamer Eaglet, aptain
Caldwell :--
Two lorchas and five junks, under convoy of the
steamer Eaglet, were cut off by pirates, who displayed
such a formidable battery and determined front that Capt
Caldwell was unable to rescue them, and had to apply; to
Capt. Fellowes, of her Majesty's ship Rattler, for assist-
ance. This was readilygranted,and the Rattler, with Capt.
Cald well on hoard, started for Kulan, near which they
sighted the pirates, and followed them as far into the
bay as the depth of water would permit. The pirates,
quite aware of their advantage in light draught, and
conscious of their ability to resist successfully any at-
tempt that might be made on them by the boats of
the steamers, fired a few harmless broadsides in de-
fiance, and stood in towards Kulan. Capt. Fellowes
thereupon returned to Hung Kong, and invited the co-
operation of the United States steamer Powhatan, now
in the harbour under repairs ; when it was determined
that the Rattler, with three boats and 100 officers and
men of the American steam-frigate, should form the ex-
ped,ition, Captain Caldwell volunteering the use of his
steamer to tow the boats up the bay. Accordingly the
Rattler, with the Eaglet in tow, and the Powhatau's
boats astern of her again, left the harbour on Friday,
about three o'clock, the first lieutenant (Pegram) of the
Powhatan, with Lieut. Jones and his marines, taking
passage in the Rattler, and the bluejackOs in the Eaglet.
The steamers arrived close to Kulan before midnight,
the Eaglet anchoring a couple of cables' length in shore
of the man-of-war. At five next morning the launches
were Vent alongside the Rattler for the marines, and
then, with the Powhatan's cutter, and three boats from
the Rattler, besides the captain's gig, made fast astern
of the Eaglet, which, everything being ready, steamed
slowly up the bay. At Kulan only one junk was
t) be seen, and it was feared the birds had flown :
but Captain Caldwell descried a lorcha at anchor at the
head of the bay, and steered in that direction. The
lorcha got under weigh, apparently with the intention
of escaping, when Captain Fellowes despatched the
Rattler's pinnace and Powhatan's cutter* to intercept
her, and these had unfortunately got beyond recall be-
fore the pirate fleet with their prizes, numbering in
all some 36 sail, were observed at anchor in the narrow
and shallow passage from which the lorcha had started.
As the steamer approached the junks hoisted their sails,
but without getting under weigh, until several Congreve
rockets, discharged from the Eaglet's quarter-deck by
Mr. Pine, the gunner, and two marine artillerymen from
the Rattler, and 2 or 3 well-directed shots from her 32-
pounder, fired by Mr. Randall, her chief officer, startled
them from their fancied security, for up to that time the
pirates had either not observed the boats, or thought
they would not have the temerity to attack them. In
this, however, they soon discovered their mistake, for
the boats, which at first had made for a narrow neck of
land, bore up mid rounded the point, and then
from the deck of the steamer was witnessed as bold an
attack as was ever made in these waters. The pirate
fleet formed a dense mass, the larger and heavier armed
junks bringing up the rear, every now and then yawning
round and firing their broadsides at the boats, from
which, in reply, tiny puffs of smoke arose as the howitzers
in their bows discharged their more deadly contents, the
shrapnel bursting over the junks and making frightful
havoc among their crews. The boats soon neared the
pirates. Lieutenants Pegram and Rolando, with the
launches of the Powhatan, first, by volleys of musketry,
clearing the decks of the two largest, and then boarding
and driving the pirates overboard at the point of the
bayonet. This, however, was not done without a hard
struggle, for the miscreants fought with the fury of des-
pair ; but they had, of course, no chance against the
marines and blue jackets. Meanwhile the other boats
were far from being idle, and though small in compari-
son with the launches, performed their share of the work
with the utmost gallantry, officers and men vieing with
each other for the point of danger and of honour, so
that five or six more junks were soon secured. Mr.
James, the boatswain of the Rattler, particularly distin-
guished himself, having, with five seamen and a few
marines, in a whale boat dignified with the title of se-
oond cutter, boarded and carried a junk that seemed
fully a match for either of the launches. Lientenant
Pegram, in the first launch, was hastening to their as-
sistance, but seeing the battle nearly won, would not
interfere with their well-earned laurels, and turned his
attention elsewhere. The pirates' chief junk, after being
shelled by the first launch, was boarded almost simultane-
ously by her crew and that of the Rattler's gig, and
Capt. Fellowes was fortunate enough to secure the chief's
flag. The chief himself—Lee Ayfe, a principal leader of
the Wbampoa "patriots"—was shot by an English
marine, who had jumped on deck from the Powhatan's
launch, and four women threw themselves overboard
and were drowned. The ammunition on board the
pirate fleet may be judged of from the fact, that this
junk alone is believed to haye bad nearly 100 kegs of
English gunpowder, besides stink-pots, cartridges, and
loose powder.
Up to this time only one serious casualty had hap-
pened to the attacking force, a young American marine
named Adamson having been shot with a musket ball in
the groin; but two other fatal accidents followed in
quick succession. The Rattler's first cutter, in charge
of Paymaster Brewndson, ran alongside of a large junk.
Several stink-pots thrown at them missed ; but at last
one, hove from the raised poop of the pirate by a woman
with a child slung to her back, fell into the boat, and
being followed by others, the crew were compelled to
jump overboard, where two were drowned, and a third
was wounded and drowned. One of these, a marine,
who had been wounded by a spear thrust, called to his
comrades to save him, and the other, being an excellent
swimmer, gut hold of him for that purpose. The
Chinese then threw a mat over them, and the ma-
rine, still holding on by his wounded friend, dived
below, and came up clear of the mat ; but as soon
as he was observed, several stinkpots were pitched
at him, one of which struck him on the head, and though
not much hurt, he was stunned for a second or two, and
lost sight of the man he had displayed such a determina-
tion to save : the brave fellow's name is William Robin-
son. The other fatal accident was the blowing up of a
junk which for a time had offered a most determined
resistance to the gig, in which were Captain Fellowes
and Assistant-Surgeon Wilson, with five men, but which
was ultimately taken possession of by Lieut. Rolando
and his launch. Either a train had been laid before the
crew left, or some determined scoundrel fired the junk,
for she blew np with a tremendous explosion, and both
officers and men were hurled into the water. Three of
the men were killed, and several others frightfully
scorched, one of whom died the same night, while an-
other is not expected to live, but the officers miraculously
escaped. Lieutenant Rolando was burnt and Captain
Fellowes injured by the falling spars. The survivors
were, however, all picked up *by Mr. Craig, master's
mate of the Powhatan, who had luckily; gone into the
boat the moment before the explosion took place. In
this junk was an immense quantity of treasure, said to
amount to 200,000 dols. ; and the desperation with which
her crew fought may be judged of from the fact, that
.even after the Americans had gained the deck they were
encountered hand to hand. One man made himself par-
ticularly conspicuous, and, notwithstanding several
wounds, continued to throw stinkpots ; but ultimately
he ran below, and is believed to have fired the train
which blew up the-vessel.

The time thus occupied in securing the larger
junks enabled 16 smaller ones to get so far allead as to
render pursuit hopeless ; while, but for the unfortu-
nate absence of the pinnace and cutter, as above men-
tioned, the whole would probably have been captured.
The men in these boats tugged manfully at the oars,
and pulled a distance of 15 miles in three hours ; but,
notwithstanding their utmost endeavours, arrived too
late to take part in the fight, though they assisted in
destroying the captured junks, while the other boats re-
turned with their wounded men to the Eaglet. There
Dr. Pritchard, with Mr. Pine, the gunner, were pre-
pared to receive them, and everything was done by the
three surgeons (Pritchard, Schriver, and Wilson) that
humanity could devise or medical skill perform.
The junks were destroyed, five of which more than
ordinarily deserve notice. They wet e built of the most
substantial materials, evidently for war purposes, as they
differed in many respects from the common trading
junks. They carried very large guns-32, 24, and 12-
pounders. A. 68-pounder was found in one of them ;
another had no less than 21 guns mounted, the weight of
one of which, carrying only an 18-pound shot, was esti•
mated at not less than 50 cwt. Two lorchas and seven
junks that had been detained by the pirates were re-
leased ; two of which, however, had to be burnt, to pre-
vent their falling again into the hands of the piratical
junks that escaped, tune and an adverse wind and tide
not allowing them to be brought away. The officers em-
ployed estimate the guns taken at 200, large and small,
and the pirates at 1,000, 500 of whom were killed.
The following are the names of the officers engaged,
with a list of the killed and wounded :
British.—Commander W. A. Fell°, es ; Lieuts. C. J.
Wrey, and T. H. Greer ; Paymaster R. Brownsdon ;
Assist.-Surgeon T. Wilson ; Mate G. G. Lomax.
American.—Lieuts. R. P. Pegram, H. Rolando, and
J. H. Jones, If.S.M. ; Assist.-Surgeon A. Schriver ;
Master E. Y. M'Cauley ; Assist.-Engineer Kiliogg ;
Master's Mate S. R. Craig ; Boatswain G. Bailey.
Killed.—British: John Massey, gunner, R.M.A. ;
James Silver, carpenter's crew ; George Mitchell, A. 8.;
William Oliff, private R.M. (missing).
American.—Joseph A. Halsey, landsman ; Isaac Coe,
ditto.

Wounded.--British—John Lindsay, gunner, R.M.A.;
David Lloyd, gunner, R.111.A., burnt severely ; Richard
Clarke, stoker, slightly wounded and burnt ; Jas. Pout-
ter, A.B. ; John Eade, A. 8., burnt severely ; James
Paull, boy, burnt badly ; William Robinson, gunner,
R.M.A., contused head.
American—Lieut. R. 13. Pegram, contusion of hand ;
Lieut. 11. Rolando, burn of hand ; John Pepper,
seaman, mortally (since dead) ; Benjamin Adamson, ma-
rine, gunshot, mortally (since dead) ; Jeremiah Prender-
gast, landsman, fracture of left clavicle and burns, Sam.
Mullard, marine, burnt dangerously; Fred. Hommel],
marine, burnt very severely ; Washington Carnes, sea-
man, burnt severely ; P. Walderachmidt, marine, burnt
severely ; Joshua Lewis, seaman, burnt severely ; W. m..
Taylor, captain after guard, burnt severely ; Chas. Ting,
well, seaman, cutlass wound.

* The former under command of Lieuts. Wrey and Greer,
and Mr. Lomax, mate ; the latter of Mr. M`Cauley, master,
and Assistant-Surgeon Schriver—the English marines having
been first transferred to the American launches.

MORTALITY AMONGST NAVAL OFFICERS.—There has
been an unusual mortality amongst the higaer class of
naval officers lately, upwards of 20 admirals having died
this year.