The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-07 00:00:00

A BRUSH WITH PIRATR.

The China Mail gives a description of a rear pattle with
pirates. The gunboat Algerine, Lieutenant Doraville
commander, was the victor. One junk bad already been
captured. At daylight on Sunday, the 31st May, the
gunboat again set out, this time directing her course from
Stanley to the west coast. Dodging into Macao for fur-
ther information and fresh water, she afterwards made
direct for Namos, and it was on her return from that
place (between Namoa and St. John's) that she met her
opponentsin the shape of a large fleet of eight heavily-armed
piratical craft. This was on Wednesday the 3rd, about three
o'clock in the afternoon. On hailing the junks, and asking
" whither bound and where from r Lieutenant Dom-
ville received the reply " From Macao to Hainan ;"
but, on being asked for their papers, they refused point-
blank, defied the gunboat, and threatened to blow the
diminutive " Fan-kwwei " out of the water. This was,
however, a task not quite so easy of accomplishment ; and
the little gunboat at once sent a " feeler" in the shape
of a shot between two of the pirates' 'junks. Thus
challenged, the pirates, now in ful line, immediately
opened a brisk fire upon the gunboat, which was
returned by the Algerine in a general sort of way,
with shot and shell, for about four hours, at the end of
which time the little gunboat was as far from being blown
off the scene as ever. All this time the gunboat was
rolling heavily, but, in spite of this, her gunnery told with
considerable effect upon the sails and hulls of the
opposing junks. One of the latter, while trying to skulk
in towards the land, was cut off and boarded ; her papers
were found in a measure correct, but as she had been
also engaged, her guns were tumbled overboard, and her
captain taken prisoner on board the gunboat. The
Algerine next gave chase to the remainder of the fleet,
which in the interim had sheered off to the westward,
and came up to them about dusk, when it appears
one of the briskest engagements with Chinese on record
ensued. Having hailed the pirates with the same result
as before, Lieutenant Doraville and his men began work
in earnest at close quarters ; the Algerine's fire was quickly
returned, the result of which was that some sails were cut
and the fore-rigging was considerably damaged, and this
lasted for about an hour and a half. During the early part
of this scrimmage the pirates are said to have manoeuvred
their craft with considerable skill, but the volleys of grape
and canister from the big gun of the Algerine at point-
blank range appear to have been too much for them. As
darkness was now coming on, and they were getting into
shallow water, while at the same time the Chinese were
beginning to show signs of having had quite enough of it,
the chase was given up. The junk which had been
crippled at the commencement of the action was now
found to be trying to get off to seaward ; but the gunboat,
too quick for her, immediately gave chase and succeeded
in capturing her about two hours after dark. She was found
to be well armed, with eight guns and 21 of a crew, besides
the captain previously captured, and to have on board a
miscellaneous cargo of about $7,000 in value. At mid-
night she arrived in tow of the gunboat. The pri-
soners are a sorry-looking set of fellows, as they now appear
on board bound to various places on deck, andtwo of them
are severely wounded by the bursting of shells. They will
most probably be forwarded to the Chinese authorities.
It is said that the Chinese have never been seen to stick
to their guns so pluckily as they did on the present occa-
sion, they having fought well, and never whispered of
surrendering. Considering the long odds between the com-
batants, the result is, to say the least, most satisfactory, and
reflects no small credit upon the lieutenant commanding
and the officers and men of the Algerine. That no
casualty occurred on board the gunboat is owing to the
fact that the pirates fired at much too high a range, and
consequently damaged the rigging only. It is calculated
that the Chinese must have numbered over 800 men and
about 130 guns, while the Algerine, with her " Big Ben "
and two small guns, has a complement of only eighteen or
twenty, all told.