The Washington weekly post., 1899-10-24
Hunting Down a Pirate.

the drug, as pienty OF o1her men ul1s
both Chinese and foreigners. he lay IN
wait for opium crafts and robbed them OF
| cargo or specie When business In that
line was duh he turned his attention TO
merchant vessels. He was stepping high
/ and carrying things with rough hand
when he put his foot in It. That is, he
! tackled a private yacht belonging 10 an
English gentleman named Rossiter. The
yacht, with a party Of about twenty peo-
I pie on board and carrying a crew OF
thirty men. had been making tour OF the
| China Sea and one night while lying at
anchor al the Paracel Islands she was
/ captured BY three junks. There was little
| or no fighting. When Whang-Ha found
that she was English he did not carry out
his intention TO murder every soul. but ne
did rob crew and passengers and take
from the craft everything ne wanted. He
also disabled her machinery so that IL was
four days before she could weigh anchor.
As soon as the yacht got under way she
proceeded to Hongkong and laid the mat
ter before the British consul. He didn't
/ lose an hour in raising q row about II.
There was more or less official corre-
spondence, and the governor of the prov
/ ince finally agreed to pay Mr. Rossiter
the sum Of $4,000 as damages, and also
gave him authority to wipe Whang-Ha
of the face Of the sea. The governor at
Hongkong couldn't order out a warship,
but he aided Mr.. ROssiter in finding, char
| teriEg. and equipping q brig, and gave
! him written orders TO board, sink, and de-
stroy any craft which might even be sus-
picious. The name of the brig was the
| Dunbar. and she was owned in Liverpool.
-Four eighteen-pounder were mounted on
I af N lafd In
| and for crew she picked up forty men
OF various nationalities, but mostly Eng
lish and Americans. She was commanded
by Capt. Wharton, a belligerent English
man, and of the fourteen Americans in
! the crew, five of US had deserted from the
| Boston ship Union. No secret was made
or the expedition, and Whang-Ha was
doubtless posted long before We sailed.
| There were fears that he would hide
among the Islands or go out of the pirate
business, but he was a Chinaman who
wouldn't take bluff, and instead of hid
ing he added another junk TO his feet
j mis- gave him four, with about two hun
dred men at his back and there was no
doubt he would fight If encountered The
brig had steam as an auxiliary, with q
! smokestack which could be lowered on
deck, and a propeller which could be lifted
up when not in use, and we calculated we
had big advantage over the clumsy
junks.
Our first move was to drop down to a
quiet anchorage and drill the men at the
great guns. As we had ten men in the
crew who had served in various navies
we got along very smartly, and at the
end or week the anchor was raised and
We proceeded on a cruise We ran down
tC the Paracel Islands and were hunting
among them for four or five days, but no
news was obtainable. Nearly all the ISL
ands were inhabited, but the people either
couldn't or wouldn't give information. in
stretching across to Manila we encounter
ed trading junk which seemed to stand
in fear Of US, and she was chased and
brought to. Among our crew was one
from the yacht. who had been brought
along 10 identify Whang-Ha and his off,
GERS in case We found them Among the
crew of the trading junk he thought he
detected a fellow who had been very for
ward in the work OF plundering the yacht
1t was vigorously denied that he was the
man, but when put under pressure he
owned up to it, and also gave us valuable
Information regarding the pirate
Whang-Ha had gone around into the
Sulu Sea, and was lodging among the ISL
ards 10 the south. The junk and the men
were bound to Hongkong to pick up in
formation about us. a week later they
were to be met by Whang-Ha and his
fleet off the island of Mindoro We had
no need to go hunting for the old pirate
Give him few days and he would come
TO US. The crew Of the trader was taken
off and the craft sent TO the bottom of
the sea, and then We bore up for the isl
and and found safe and quiet anchorage
and had nothing to do but wait For six
days the crew were daily exercised at the
!, guns and made ready for what was TO
} come. Just at dark one day We got news
that Whang-Ha's feet was beating I'D
J toward US. He had his four junks and his
200 men. He knew nothing of our pres
ence. but was making for the appointed
rendezvous in order to hear from the
junk. Before 10 o'clock at night the four
jUnks were lying at anchor in bay only
two miles to the south of us. We had few
preparations to make, and notwithstand-
ing the excitement, / think most of the
men slept soundly that night. We were
astir at daybreak and had breakfast, and
then the captain made US a speech. No
quarter was TO be asked or granted He
: intended TO run around into the bay and
and like Nelson and other great heroes,
! he expected every man to do his duty.
With daybreak came a soft land breeze.
We could not have worked cut and
maneuvered under it, but We had steam
to do it with, and the battle was half
won before shot was fired. The fellows
} had no suspicion of our presence until we
! were off the mouth Of the bay and bear
! ing down on them at full speed The bay
was about two miles deep and a mile
across, and the junks were anchored
about mile from its mouth. AS the tide
was running in they were bows on 10 US.
with space of about 200 feet between
them. There was yelling and confusion
as they caught sight of US. AS they We're
bows on they could not use single gun.
and II did not take them two minutes TO
realize that they were in a box With
never a cheer from man, but with every
man at his post and every gun loaded
with stand of grape on top of solid shot.
We swept broddside as We passed Their
decks were crowded with men, and a few
fired at US with muskets, but the lightly
built junks were simply blown out OF the
! water by the contents Of the big guns. /
was one OF the small armed men and sta
toned on the port quarter. / saw the
luIl effect OF lhe port DroadSide, and IL
was something TO be remembered. The
junk flew into crowd Of spiinters, and
what was left of the hull below the water
line went out of sight like stone IL was
{ the same with the junk on the starboard
, side
The brig ran for half a mile and then
turned During this time the junks were
making every effort to get under way.
Gables were cut and sails spread 10 the
light air. and while one made for the
shore, the other drifted out TO sea. As we
began oyerhauling the one which hoped 10
beach herself. the fifty or more pirates on
her decks began yelling in defiance and
despair. AS they saw that We would pass
them TO port they got out four big oars.
hoping 10 run US aboard, but they were
too late. The brig ran down so close that
you could have tossed your cap aboard