The Sun.
London, England, 1858-01-15 00:00:00

AN ADVENTURE IN CHINA,

(From the Friend of China,.Nov. 28.)
Her Majesty's steamsloop Inflexible wag entirely
successful in her trip to Swatow and its neighbour-
hood for the purpose of obtaining the release from
duranc3 there of Captain Rose of the wrecked brig
Kadree. She returned here on Saturday, and we
now learn the following particulars of the wreck,
the detention, and the recapture. Straits'-owned
oversea vessels, we need hardly tel our readers,
seldom have more than one Englishman on board,
the master—whose principal, if not only duty, be-
yond a general supervision, is that of navigating
when out of sight of land. Always when near the
coast native pilots are employed. Thus the Kadree
when pursuing her voyage from Macao to Amoy,
was in charge of three Chinese pilots, and there is
grave reason for believing that for a purpose, not
by accident, was the Kadree stranded a short
distance from Breaker Point on the 25th ult.

The Kadree, uninsured, had on board a cargo of
bark, tin, lead, &c., worth over 1,000 dols., and
specie (three-fourths the owner's and one-fourth the
supercargo's) amounting to 8,000 dols. Whether or
not this specie was the object of desire on the part
of these pilots cannot be said ; at' all events, un-
less there were some collusion with the shore people,
it is not known as yet whether they obtained any
portion of it.
The vessel first struck on a hard sand-pit about 4
in the morning of a beautiful day, and eventually
drifted on to the beach, where she was soon sur-
rounded by numerous wreckers from the shore.
In the course of the day two Portuguese lorchas
came into the bay, and, seeing the position
of the brig, made preparations for assisting her,
The Christian portion of the crew of the brig, how-
ever, did not wait for assistance to come to them,
and, jumping into the sampans alongside' left the
vessel directly they had completed the lading in
one of the boats of the specie, previously put into
bags.
Prior to the appearance of these lorchas it should
be stated, a man, representing himself to be an
officer of the Government, came on board, and
strongly advised the Nakodah not to land, but to
engage boats and get to Swatow as soon as possible,
aud it was arranged that for taking them there the
treasure should be given as a remuneration. To this
the Nakodah consented, and, with some dozen of
the crew and Captain Rose, the sampan and valu-
ables pushed off on the morning of the 26th. But
they had not proceeded far when they were sur-
rouaded by numerous boats, and forced towards
the shore ; the Nakodah and natives jumping into
another boat and escaping. Captain Rose, unable
by reason of weakness from fever and swollen legs
to move from his position in the stern, was the sole
prisoner.
The first business of the captors, before dragging
Captain Rose through the surf, was to strip him of
everything he had on, and thou to march him,
naked as be was born, to a village some threo miles
inland, where he was forced into an outhouse among
some straw. About four o'clock in the afternoon '
of the same day Captain Rose saw 20 dols. paid
down for him, and he was then driven out like a
wild animal, and beaten over his swollen legs with
bamboos till the blood gushed from them. He
was then made to go to a ferry, where a beat
was found laden with 30 fathoms of one of the '
ship's cables, with which they proceeded up a lake
some five or six miles, landing at sundown ; Capt.
Rose being then shown into, a hovel and made to
lie on the bate floor, still naked, a bundle of straw
for a pillow, and an old musquito curtain for a
palampo. The next day, the 427th, on they went
again overland a short distance, until Capt. Rose's •
legs could carry him no further, and then a chair
was procured with which they proceeded in a due
westerly direction to a village where our unfortu-
nate countryman was again sold for 50 dols.
On the 30th of October, five days only after the
wreck, Capt. Rose was greatly surprised at receiv-
ing a letter from Mr. Morrison, chief mate of the
receiving brig Anonyma at Swatow, dated the 29th,
asking him how he was. In reply Capt. Rose said
he was kindly enough treated, and urged of course
as early assistance as poesible. This clay, too, he
was fortunate in obtaining the goodwill of an old
woman, who gave him a pair of trousers to put on,
and another dressed the wounds on his legs, the
females throughout the detention exhibiting a
kindness in marked contrast to that of their brutal
lords.
On the Ist of November another letter came, say-
ing 20 dole. had been sent for his release ; and on
the 4th a third letter was brought, stating that t,ie
20 dols. would be increased to 100 dols. directly he
appeared. But no sign of a move was made by the
flesh holders until the 6th, when a man named Sin
Kit came, bringing and paying down 230 dols. or
250 dols. On the 7th, after a good deal of chaffer-
ing and noise, a chair was brought, and in it Capt.
It; se proceeded on his return eastward, passing,
going and corning, no less than three walled towns,
one of them Ton-goo, and some dozen large
villages care being taken, however, to keep
the rano- sho ff of an English face from
official and general gaze. It took them a
day to reach the village of Hoa-lien, Sin Kit's
dwelling-place. There Capt. Rose was kept until
the 16th, when a letter was handed to him from
Commander G. A. C. Brooker, of the sham-sloop
Inflexible, in which that gallant officer explained
that he had come to Swatow fur the purpose of
releasing Capt. Rose from the villagers. In this
letter Capt.,Brooker stated that several sums had
been offered for the ransom of Capt. Rene, that a
war steamer had arrived on his account, and that
he had intimated to Sin Kit that if the prisoner
were not released Sin Kit would be handed over to
the Mandarin at - watow, or taken to Hong Kong.
To this Capt. Rose replied that the ransom had
been reduced to 370 taels, bat that without the
appearance either of money or force his release was
hardly likely. Five more tedious days passed, and
then, when almost despairing, Capt. Rose was
agreeably aroused from a noonday nap with, " Oh,
you Englishman, prisoner ! wh€re are you ?"
Rousing himself he found the house in possession
of a score of British marines and Vuejackets. Not
a moment was lost in preparing for a return to the
ship, anchored some nine miles off, Capt. Rose's
toilet being soon completed—a thick coat from his
last owner, together with the trousers before spoken
of, being his sole wardrobe.
And here we must pause in the narrative to give
expression to our sense of admiration of the very
judicious and gallant manner in which Commander
Brooker effected Mr. Rose's release. Finding fthin
the reply that the holders were still disposed to pre-
varicate, with a view to gesting more money, he at
once, with the concurrence, of course, of Captain
Sullivan, of the Anonyma, whose genei ous aid, as
well as t hat of Mr. Morrison, his chief mate, cannot
be too highly spoken off, seized on Mr. Ahi, the
go-between, and told him that without more ado
his life should pay the forfeit unless he led the way
to the prison-house.
Forthwith the anchor was weighed and a day
spent in searching for the bay, some three miles
from the beach of which Hoa-lien was said to be.
At last it was found, and early on Friday, taking
the cutter, pinnace, and gig fully manned, Capt
Brooker landed with his frightened guide at. a point
9 mil's, it was found, from the object of their dt sire.
Such was the aelerity of their march that every one
in thevillage was taken by surprise. How neces-
sary suclicelerity was to success our readers will as
readily perceive as we can indicate. To exhibit its
value, we quote Captain Roe's words to us when
telling the story :—" To march that distance from
any support, knowing, as I do, the thousands upon
thousands of infuriated Chinese who could have
been summoned at the mere blowing of a conch shell
was the pluc's lest thing in Captain Brooker, Lieut.
Anson, Dr. Magrath, and the 20 men I ever heard
of. I would not have done it—no, not to save my
own brother."

But little more remains to b 3 told. The In
flexible was safely reached about sundown ; 18
hours afterwards she was at anch3r in Hongkong.

Once on board the Inflexible (as represented by
her captain, officers, and crew, 'appropriately
named), the welcome and kind treatment accorded
to Captain Rose may be conceived, he says, but he
cannot describe them.

Sir John Bowling-, we are glad to find, has
headed a subscription with 20 dollars to enable
Captain Rose to purchase a suit of clothes and
some nautical instruments.