The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-07-14
ADVENTURES WITH PIRATES.
|, Tragedy IN Chinese Waters and q
Sanguinary Result.
From the Netc York Sun.

49,. from Shanghai In the north to Singa-
.or. in the south, was infested with pirate
raft. As for that matter. this sea had been
che cruising ground of pirates for a score
NJ years previously, but I mention these
zoo wears for particular reasons. One
xas that was engaged in a vigorous war
ere against them, and the other that the
rIose of 1854 witnessed the death of the
isading spirits and broke up piracy as a
trade.
In those far back days comparatively
rothing was known of China outside of a
law seaports. Treaties were of little &C
count. and consuls were few and far be-
tween. Every merchant ship was expected
to defend herself, and the captain of every
man-of war had authority to lombard any
town which refused to renew his water and
rrovisions Allnations were trading with
Ehna. but, aside from few seaports, all
China hated all other people. At the docks
AT Hong Kong / could drink tea with the
Chinese merchants. Half a mile away the
neople would have cut me to pieces. While
The country wanted to sell its products, it
hated the men who bought them. While it
wanted the goods of other countries, it de-
spised the makers and shippers There is
no doubt that the Chinese government
facility encouraged piracy, and could
the great mass of the population have
had It's say, not single foreigner would
have ever been allowed to land on the
coast.
In the year 1854 there was an association
at Canton, called THE Foreign Traders"
II was composed of Americans, English
men, Germans, Frenchmen, Spaniards, and
Russians, and numbered over sixty repre-
6entatives The capital represented
amounted TO millions, and the object was
threefold. We had more power with the
Chinese government that any foreign min
jster We had rules and regulations re-
garding.t the tea trade We could carry a
point by protests and threats. Every pound
Of tea from district 500 miles square had
to pass through our hands. We filed many
protests against the pirates and laxity Of
tne government in hunting them down, and
were finally officially informed that we
we're at liberty to take any steps we deemed
best in the matter. That meant we could
ct out a craft and go for the rascals right
and left handed. We had been anticipating
this, and had a craft ready at Hong Kong
She was an American schooner of excellent
model and large spread of sail, and we
knew that she could outsail ANYTHING, ma
tive or foreign, we had ever seen in those
waters We armed her with a Long Tom
and four 24-pounders, having bought the
Fl guns from the sale of the salvage of a
French man-of-war. Then we picked up q
4 screw of fifty men-all foreigners and sail
ors-aud when we went out of Hong Kong
n we we're prepared to give the pirates Hail
Columbia l was purser of the schooner.
& which was called the Revenge. and her
\ captain was an Englishman named Wether-
n bee who had served as a commissioned
n officer in the regular service. The first
4 lieutenant was an American, and other
officers were divided up among the other
n natonalities. We flew the association flag.
n and while we had liberty to go for pirates,
we were warned that any mistakes would be
made to cost us dearly.
The two boss pirates Of that date were
h Shung Wong and Climbing. The first
lad fleet Of seven or eight craft, and
& haunted the sea from Singapore north to
n the Tong Kin islands The second cruised
Il from thence as far north as Shanghai, hav
ing his headqu .rters at FOrmoSa island. He
"a was reported to have a fleet of nine craft.
That both were monsters we had hundred
proofs, and that both had grown rich and
powerful it was easy to show by the long
lst Of missing vessels han ing in the head
n quarters office. While we had kept our
n movements as secret as possible, we had no
h doubt that government officials had given
n Us away, and that the pirates would be
81 on the watch for us. To deceive them as
"a far as possible, we ran to the south for
n three days, and spoke and reported to four
ships bound for Canton. Then we ran over
toward the Philippine islands until we
4 had good offtng, when we headed up for
a Formosa to get acquainted with old Chin
Lung.
4 During the next three days we did not
sight a sail Of any sort. Then early one
morning we fell in with lot of wreckage
which showed US that a trader had
teen overhauled and burned, We were
now to the east of Formosa, and fifty miles
of the coast Men were set to work to give
tneachooner the appearance Of a vessel i'll
distress and under light breeze we made
Slow Roadway toward the island. 1t was
about o'clock in the afternoon before
anything approached US although we saw
Number of native craft at a distance.
Then a small junk came out from a bay
nbout five miles off, and headed directly
for us. Everything aboard of us seemed to
ne at skies and sevenS. A man was dashed
TO the malnmast, to represent the captain,
eve ythlng aloft was askew, and the seven
Or eight men on deck were seemingly drunk
AMI having high old time. We had man
aoit to play part, knowing that we should
be hailed in English Both of these boss
pirates had Americans and Englishmen
with them-rascals who had deserted their
hlps and voluntarily adopted the life of a
plrate-and one of them was always put
lrward to hail ship. The junk came
headily forward to within hailing distance
before she came up into the wind. This
was proof, whether she was honest or not,
mat our appearance had deceived her. The
men on deck yelled and shook their fists, as
drunken men might do, but at the first OPP
Iortunity a voice hailed us.
hatn
e, The Revenge, Capt. Thatcher bound to
shanghai, answered the man aloft.
What's the matter abo ardF'
Grew ina state of mutiny for the last
.uree days. They have dashed the captain
70 tne mast and driven me aloft."
What's your cargoN
General merchandise.
any arms aboardT
rOnly a few musxets"
mere were a dozen men aboard the
lux, but they dare not attempt to board.
tuey Chartered away among themselves
out: '''0 y
very well, we will bring you help"
WIN that the junk headed back for the
ossyi accompanied by the yells and curses
sne apparently drunken crew We had
naive aboard called Shin-Lee He had
Ss zen IN the headquarters office for several
eas, ana could be depended upon. He
ea'ol1 as his opinion that the junk was a spy
oat sent out by the pirates, who never at
a, pIaeu vessel by daylight without taking
uue PRECAUTIONS. He said we would see
tao y, ate ileet come out, IN case no sail ap-
a'fI Oh the horizon. and his words were
il0cullY verified We had been gradually edC-