Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1857-01-13
NAVAL ENGAGEMENT WITH THE GILL
NESE PIRATES.

Wa recant: noticed the brilliant action, fou%h.
in the Sumnerof 1855, between All Anglo American
expedition, anG piratice tse il the China seas -
AS We cor.d not Communicate win The "tiice!s OF
the expedition Tithout placing them III the .a"e F'-
si,ion OF being accessory 10 au iEtenGed eai"sy oil
themselves we necessarily committed some 'i:ght
mistakes in The narrative o tic battle. For the pur-
nose of correcting them, aGt OF doing justice TO all
concerned, we pubs!, the following account of the
affair from the peu Of Lieut. Pegram, whose rhnrac
tsristc modea,y leads him to ear that in his behalf we
have taken the wind out OF The sails OF the gallant
Commander of the expedition The bst:.o vas
fought near Koolan on the +h o. august, iS2o.
"By referring" Gays Lieutenant regram "to the
official aocounts 1t will be found that the English
had three small boat. in the battle, manned IN e.! W
about twenty or thirty meu, armed with shps.nus.
kets. Before engaging 'ne sGemy' apsan OF attacX
was g;von oy Captain Fellows, 1.-THE English officer
who commanded the expedition but an unexpected
manuuvre on the part Of tlo pirates, made It necss'
sary to alter tho eG.;e Arrangement by arapId ana
simultaneous movement oil Dur eide. THIS was done
w;tbou, order, and was the result of the emulation
between the English and American boats. which
seemed to bauish all thought OF personal danger
The boats were esua.y exposed to repeated
! broadsiiss from two heavily armed war Junks
/ each mounting upwards OF twenty guns OF large
calbre, before we got within the range ol
our twelve.pauud nowit1rs. During THE time the
men never relaxed their efforts, and every
broadside from the enemy stimulated them to stretch
o1t with renewed strength and energy al the OARS
| When more than mile half of their shot -.Scchet
ted over our heads. and va! ot ln!!l we got with
in 6CO wards of the :.ssres unEs that our Shraphei
bepan tc ,sli upon them AT point blank range theE
e,ecutlon Was fearful! they burst repeatedly on the
| c,ovdsd decks of the epsuy, and produced such
| manic that meny deserted their quarters. Op ap.
preaching within canister range iew we'll difected
rouuds hnned their numbers 10 such an extent as 10
enable us ia board while their flags were Sill nyng.
Rospdo with three cheers boarded and took posses
on of the nearest Junk whilst With the other !aSncA
| os tbe powbatan Lieut.. Pegrsm's own Doat-Edt'
torsl we pulled rapidly unGer the port how Of the
Junk bearing tie chiefs nag On Tue near approach
of or baarders tue Chinese were seen jumping over
board in every direction, and we took possession oil"
bosted our fag. Immediately after ho:a''hs our
colors Capt Fellows came cr "oard. had the
honor of hauling dcVR Tue pirates ensign to winch
font rs,ows. ~ senior in command, was Of course
o,,i,lsd and as an act of courtesy and IA compli
ment to his gallenry, insisted upon hs keeping IL.
Alter seeing their ceis tag i'll our possesslon and
formidable accession to force nde by the capture
OF two OF their argest iunks. tho remainder OF the
prstical aots were thrown into confusion and com
,,,e.eIv d;aorpanized Each endsavored to make his
and our boats for the ,rost part had to act sepa
n "A
tailed account of all the operations OF the dsy as sew
era actions were often going OF ct tine same time
There we're many da.:as aots OF lntrepdty perform
ed hv ,hs lion of both services and it would be III
yidious to draw comparisons between them.
..The action began before O'Clock, A. NJ, and wa:
kent up until 3, 2. NJ, when the men from over e1
ton and the scorching rays OF tropical sun IN Au
gust, were completely exhausted. The plratical ho
fila consisted of - unks, mounting more than Iol
guns, and manned by about 5000 nen. Our force
w., comnosed of the two whee.house boats Of tn;
povh.tan, each mounting twelve. FOUNDER howit
zer with 80 men, all told, aud three English cutters
having in all 10 men armed with muskets.
"The result of the action was the complete disper
,on of their entire squadron aud the capture of ak
,osn vssssls. ten of which the largest sized wa
;unks each mounting Iii or Is guns, mostly - or 3
noupderS, but some varying in calbre from Gl to
noupders, chiefly Of English, Portuguese and Amerl
can manufacture, and supplied with The best Erglisf
novder There must have been, at the lowest estl
ma,s. 40 carriage guns taken in tbs battle.
"T'hese war unks were either blown up o. destroyed
in some other way, as they could not be taken of
owing to the lateness Of the hour, the threstenn;
appearance of the weather, and the shoaness of tn
water. Six other vessels, principally trading junks
and sorcher, that had been taken by the pirates
we're recsptured and restored to their owners
| Near the close of the action, Capt Fellows, VII!
hi. boats crew, were cnpszed while along aide oil
Junk that was blown up after Rolando and hia mel
lad gained her deck and driven tAe crew below
is supposed ths. the pirates, in their desperation
fred train leading to the powder magazine WI"
Capt. Fellows, With number Of Others were s''ns
Cling in the water au oar vac taken to him oY one