The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-07-31

y
a PIRATE OF THE PHILIPPINES.
the two four-pound guns mounted one
on each side, amidships.
You have the gun cartridges ready
where they can be got at once, Mr..
'Latimer?" he said to the mate.
Yes, sir. Stacked up by the arms
chest-12 of them charged with scrap
iron and nails
And the muskets are ready in the
rack?"
''AlI tested and oiled and loaded, sir
"a ball and three buckshot in each"
VERY well. SIR The captain sat
down on the gunwale of the quarter
boat with the air of a man disposed to
dismiss care from his mind. Here
among the Philippines, with the Sulu
sea, Of evil name for piracy, widening
southwark from our port quarter, did
not have to ask the reason for the pre-
cautions he was taking TO make sure
that the firearms on the brig should be
fit and ready for use. But 1 wanted to
hear something about the pirates,
drawn from the knowledge of a man
like Captain Apgar, who had sailed the
south seas for a quarter of a century,
visiting all sorts Of unfamiliar shores.
A man of action rather than words, it
as not easy 10 StI MIN 10 IOucn upon
his experiences, but the voyage was
making US acquainted with each other,
and I found him tonight more willing
to talk than usual.
80 there are pirates, real pirates,
still on the seas-the seas we are sail
ing" I said. They told me in Manila
that they were a thing Of the PAST;
that the Spanish warships had wiped
them from the Philippine waters"
Yes! I've heard that sort of talk
myself in Mainland not two years
ago 1 had to beat off a pirate craft
there in the very harbOr," said Captain
Apgar THE truth is there are as
many pirates in the Philippine archi-
pelago today as there ever were The
people on the coasts are all Malays in
some degree, and every Malay is a pi-
rate as surely as he gets a chance to
show what he is. 1t is in their blood.
Take their own saying: When all the
cats have become rats the Malays will
forget to practice piracy The differ
ence between now and so years ago is
that the pirates don't dare to show
their hands so openly. Steam warships
and modern guns have forced them to
lie low. The heavy cruisers sent
against them did not count for so
much; the pirates could dodge to cover
when they saw their smoke rising from
the horizon and would come out for
q.
But the gunboats that the Spanish
took to using after awhile-light
draught affairs that could follow the
proaS into the covers and inlets-
thinned out the pirates a great deal
and cowed those that still kept to the
seas.
The professional pirates in the Phil
ippines today come mostly up from the
Sulu islands. The Sulus are pirates
first, last and all the time. These Moors.
as the Spanish call them from their
being Mussulmans in faith. used to
come UP at change of monsoons. in
May, and Turk about the archipelago
until mid-autUmn. numbering and rob- |
ping on sea and land. They took cap
tives then-made them row their boats |
IS long as the cruise lasted, and then !
sold them as slaves down in the islands |
Of the Sulu seas. The gunboats inter !
fered with this industry a great deal |
practically put q stop to it for awhile /
but the pirate boats still make dashes |
up into the archipelago, and when they /
strike 1t is with as red a hand as
ever.
HE is a picturesque looking fellow. |
the Sulu, the very ideal of a South Sea !
pirate, with his brown skin, strong,
1.-the body, and fierce black eye In |
MS jacket and gay-colored pantaloons, |
decked up and down the sides with sill /
Yer buttons, with turban on head and /
sandals or MOslem slippers on feet: his
curved crees or short sword stuck in
his waist sash, a. sheaf of simbilins-
the javelinS they throw in boarding-in
his hand, he -scorns the peaceful gains I
of labor or trade prefering to seek his
fortune on the seas, wherever plumber
may be obtained by following the black
flag In proa, felucca, pontine, venta-
in every variety Of South Sea craft.
propelled by oars, or spreading lateen
sails, and ballasted with sharp rocks.
which are used by the pirates as board
ing aTnlnunition-the Sulus start on
their cruises, with their hand against |
every man who may be robbed or en-
shaved. Against vessels manned by ma
tives or Cinnamon they will take long
chances in attacking; vessels carving
cannon and with Europeans on board
they are apt to let alone, except when
they can surprise them at vantage
Sometimes the pirate craft carries
cannon or swivel on a, platform for
ward This indicates that a renegade
white man or half-caste is one of the
pirates company.
so much for the Sulus. They get
the blame for most of the piracy com
mitted in these waters and it would be
hard to say that they do not deserve it.
But the Philippine natives do a good
bit OF this work, too. There are no
regular pirate communities now in the
islands where they openly fit out cor I
sairs and market their plumber and /
captives. The Philippine pirate today is !
D fisherman or trader plying peace !
full business except when a good chance j
to make piratical haul offers itself
Then he becomes a pirate as easily as /
ne dons his turban. There are always S
recruits in plenty to bring his crew up i
70 fighting strength-escaped criminals, !
army deserters, ruined gamblers. and