The Sun.
London, England, 1836-01-08 00:00:00

RENCONTRE WITH PIRATES.

Captain Thomson, of the ship Troughton, has written
to the owners of that vessel, describing the extraordinary
escape of himself am.l crew from the perils of the sea, and
from an attack of pirates, who boarded them whilst the ship
was a wreck. Captain Thomson's letter is dated from
Canton, July 11, and it appears that he left Singapore in
the Troughton, on the 19th of June. On the 3d of July
he encountered a severe gale which carried away the masts
of the Troughton, and the men were obliged to keep work-
ing constantly at the pumps to prevent the vessel from
sinking. After being for three days in danger of sinking,
he succeeded in reaching the Manderin Cape, where the
vessel was boarded by between three and four hundred
men, armed with pikes and swords, who came to the
Troughton in two large boats from the shore. Captain
Thomson then proceeds to say :
" On seeing their intention was to murder us, the mate and
myself immediately jumped into the cabin and seized our
pistols, with which we kept firing through the companion and
skylights. The skylight were now torn to pieces and thrown
overboard, yet, seeing we were determined, none of them had
the courage to enter the cabin. They then hove down fire-
brands with the intention of burning us. Our hopes of life
at this time were but faint, for I had already received two
severe wounds in the right side, and had bled considerably.
The cabins were now all in flames, and also the berths
in which the mate and myself had taken shelter; death,
at this time, in two of its most awful forms, presented
itself, and we were left to the dreadful alternative of
being butchered or burnt alive. It was at this awful
crisis that the idea occurred to me of blowing the ship
up with all on board rather than submit. We now threw
three barrels of gunpowder into the flames, which ex-
ploded, but, from some unknown cause, did not take the
desired effect, only springing one of the beams, and
starting the deck planks, and the companion of the cabin.
At the moment of the explosion I made my escape into
one of the after-cabins ; this the mate could not do, the
berth in which he was being on fire, and their spears
pointed at him through the door ; how he succeeded after-
wards, in gaining the after-cabins unhurt is impossible for
me to say ; however, he got into the larboard cabin,
and myself the starboard. The larboard cabin being on
fire, the flames and smoke soon drove him through the stern
window into the sea, preferring, as he has since told me,
drowning to being burned alive. Here he swam for a con-
siderable time, and had a great many spears darted at
him, but fortunately was not wounded ; at last one, more
humane than the rest of the villains, hauled him into the
boat, and lashed him tight round the neck to a piece of
timber that went across the stern of their boat. After the
mate jumped overboard I found another barrel of powder,
which I threw into the flames, but it had no effect. At this
time I thought the mate had long since perished, and that
myself and one of the seamen were the only living persons
belonging to the ship. Shortly after I was surprised to hear
the second mate call me by name, and beg of me to come
upon deck, and my life would be spared ; but, being in an
exhausted state, from the loss of so much blood, and the
cabin being on fire, I ventured, and on coming up the com-
panion I received another severe wound in the head ; and
I really believe the villain would certainly have killed me,
if he had not been prevented by the rest. They then lashed
me to the wheel chain, on my back, so tight as almost to
stop circulation. Shortly after this they brought the mate
from the boat, and lashed him alongside me. They had by
this time extinguished the flames, and were breaking and
tearing everything to pieces. They soon found the dollars,
and after breaking and tearing to pieces a great many va-
lual►l. packages, and taking everything we had, to make sure
that there were no more, by te❑ P.m. they left us. After
they were gone, and the mate had recovered, the people
were found locked in different parts of the ship, the cook
and myself most severely wounded, and also one of the sea-
men ; the steward were also dreadfully burned from the ex-
plosion of part of the gunpowder. Fortunately the mate
was but slightly wounded, and, after dressing our wounds as
well as he could, we got the ship to Macao on Wednesday
morning, when the mate immediately went on shore and
stated the facts to Sir George Robinson, the superintendent
of British trade."