The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1890-07-05

- - Hiteo - aIuaueu Win
Els. They number. great and
's| i rood hundred. so11enf them
qpt more li,sil IN acre Id extent,
4Hpme are iiFteen miles long. a,
1lp1 of these islands are pccunie,l'
Malays. and the remainder by,
'zIs. The flfst come fropCtbe pens
'H*s and The second from Bofnss,s
|1&e Il hut little difference befWeen
II Ho rarps. hut what there 81 fsv
i;fzIse DyHk. He ~ cleaner iii fsis.
~ aud has more mercy on his
ilons 10 the year 1850 sk3se gs,aSdA
In the China Sea were the rendezvous
Of pirates. The fellows made no sP-
cret of their trade, but practiced 1t
openly and boldly whenever oplnr.
tunity offered. 1t was estimated by
Lieutenant Cairn. Of the English ma
Wy, that they numbered $4,000 able
bodied men. With the women and
children and slaves the number could
moi have been less than 40 900. l
once saw list of the ships captured
and destroyed by these pirates be-
tween the years 1888 and 1850, and
the number was over hundred. AS
a rule everybody was put to death,
but if exception was made the cap
tive was doomed to labor as a slave.
In 1850 the English, with some as
sistance from other nations, opened a
crusade on the pirates and cleared the
islands. Those who got away fed
to the northern end or Borneo and to
the island on the north, and for seven
or eight years remained very quiet.
Then, under the leadership of Dyak
ctlled Riker they made three or four
captures in one year. England had
her hands pretty full at the time. and
the single man.of-war sent out to
break up the new colony accomplish
ed nothing. There was at this time
some international dispute about the
islands. ana John Bull fought shy OF
complicating matters by opening a
war on people who even boasted that
they were pirates.
In this emergency the foreign trad.
ers on the peninsula, assisted by 9th.
ters in Siam and along the China
eoast. bought the brig Campo of hel
Scotch owners. and quietly fitted her
out as man.of-war. She was a large,
stout and handsome craft. and was
outtitted at Pehang. She was armed
with nine guns on side, with q
Long Tom" on a swivel. and when
she left Pehang she had 130 men
aboard. This was crowding her
someW hat, but as she was a clean,
new ship and we'll provisioned there
was no growing. Her crew had been
picked up at half dozen different
points, and were all sailors and
white men. am quite sure that the
Captain and Lieutenant and fourteen
English sailors aboard were quietly
drafted from H. M. S. Kildare. but
the others were runaway sailors from
various American, French, German
and Russian ships. When the brig
went out of Pehang she was match
for anything of her size ever floated
and no crew we're ever under better
discipline. She carried three extra
boats, and, as 1 had helped to stow
her ammunition, / knew that she
had great plenty.
There were men on the peninsula
who were in communication with
the pirates. and to befOg them we
ran off up the Gulf OF Siam until we
sighted Cape Campodis. Then we
headed 10 the northeast, and at once
began the work of disgusting the
brig. An old set of sails were bent
on, the paint pots brought out. and
I'd the course of twenty.four hours
we made the Relief, as she was call.
ed, like tea barge or trader. II
was no use to hunt pirates with q
man-of.war. They were altogether
too sharp to be caught under hel
guns.
We cruised up and down the Chins
Sea for a week. keeping well ever to-
ward the Borneo cost, but met with
no adventure. Then we got the tai
end of hurricane, which we rode
out safely, and after it subsided W.
liinped along to the north with fore
topmasts down and sails torn anC
rent. A sailor LOOKING at US from {
distance of half mile would hay,
said that we had pulled through By
the skin of our teeth. A dead calu
usually follows storm in that sea
and as we were opposite OpokOnoke
or the westernmost island of tn,
PHILIPPINE group. we were not sur
prised to find ourselves within fivt
FIVE or six miles of the green coas
and without steerage way. This wa
the state of affairs at sunriAe on